When he was an undergrad at Princeton, Acuna said the chapel became crucial to his college life.
On his way to class every morning, he’d pass by the chapel for a silent prayer. He’d return for the noon Mass and again at the end of the day for one last prayer.
“Princeton is a very busy place and there’s a lot of noise both externally but also internally because we’re so busy and we’re always worried about the next thing,” he said. “Sometimes you just want silence, and you just want a place where you can lay down your burdens.”
At the close of one recent Mass, David Kim and his girlfriend Savannah Nichols continued to pray near the altar, holding hands, kneeling or prostrating on the floor in a sign of reverence.