He Started Looking

Gabe Klement ‘27 didn’t come to St. Mary’s with a clear sense of what it would be.

Growing up in Coppell, TX, he had seen glimpses of what a strong Catholic community could be. Through mentors like his dad Kurt, his brother Kolbe, and his friends, he had seen enough at an early age to know it was real. But it hadn’t been the center of his life. Most of his closest friendships growing up weren’t rooted in faith.

“I was very involved in the not Catholic bubble,” he says.

So coming into college, he knew he wanted something different. He wanted something real. Friendships that would challenge him.

He had heard about St. Mary’s through his brother Kolbe, but that was about it. When he showed up to his NSC, he saw someone talking about Connect outside the MSC and decided to check it out. He didn’t really know what a church community would look like in college. It just seemed like a good place to start.

That first step led to another. He got involved in John 15 his freshman year. He met more people and kept showing up.

Looking back, he can see there was already something in him that was searching for more.

He didn’t have it all figured out.

He just started looking.

*Gabe (second from left) plays music in a backyard for an outreach event for Greek Life Students.*

*Gabe leads music in a fraternity house for Mass.*

He Stayed

What began as a few small steps didn’t stay small.

After encountering Jesus his freshman year in John 15, Gabe kept coming back. Not because he had to, but because something about the community he found felt worth returning to.

The friendships began to take shape. They weren’t built around convenience. There was a depth to them he admits he hadn’t experienced before. He saw people who were serious about their Catholic faith, but still themselves. That drew him in.

Over time, he found his place within the St. Mary’s community.

It started simply. Joining a small group. Playing music at Mass. Then, gradually, more was asked of him.

He began playing music regularly at The Rock, a weekly praise and worship night on Tuesdays.

Around the same time, he got involved with Emmaus. A ministry focused on reaching students, especially those in Greek life, who might not otherwise find their way into the Church. It creates space for authentic Catholic community through simple invitations. A meal. A night of prayer. A conversation.

First by being part of it. Then helping lead it.

Now, as president, he helps create those same easy entry points for others in Greek life. Masses celebrated in fraternity houses. Nights of prayer and worship in college house backyards. Gatherings that feel familiar enough to walk into, but different enough to stay.

None of it was a single decision.

It came through staying.

What He’s Learning

With the Eucharistic Adoration chapel minutes away and daily Mass easy to step into, there is a kind of structure and rhythm to life at St. Mary’s that doesn’t feel forced.

When you are first learning something new, training wheels help. It’s easier to stay balanced when there’s a community holding you up.

Being surrounded by a community that seeks Christ above all things begins to change you. It forms you in a way that makes you aware that what you receive here is not meant to stay with you.

Gabe is learning something his dad has shown him over time, and something St. Mary’s has helped bring into focus.

Learning how to walk with people.

Not in a clean or predictable way. Not as a straight path.

“Our faith is not a straightforward path,” he says, trying to find the words. “To live on mission… you have to learn how to walk with someone through their questions… their doubts… and love them where they’re at.”

It’s not always about having the right answers, but about staying with people. That’s the part that’s starting to take shape for him now.

It Didn’t Start With Him

What Gabe is learning now didn’t begin with him.

Years earlier, his dad, Kurt Klement, was here. Class of ’92, though he admits it took a few more years to finish, and for most of that time St. Mary’s wasn’t part of his life.

He had grown up Catholic. His dad was a deacon. The faith was there, but mostly in a cultural way. When he got to Texas A&M, he lived a different kind of college life. Fraternity life. The typical college experience.

St. Mary’s was there. He just wasn’t.

That began to change when he found himself asking questions and realizing, as he put it, “I didn’t know anything about my Catholic faith… despite being raised Catholic.”

It wasn’t one moment, but a slow return. And it started through an unexpected friendship with a priest, Fr. Dean Wilhelm.

They spent time together. Played tennis. Sat and talked. Things unfolded naturally over time. And through that, something opened.

Not through a program or a single moment, but through someone who walked with him.

What began in those later years of college was a springboard into his life after college, into the way he would live, and eventually into the way he would raise his family.

What Continues

When Kurt looks at St. Mary’s now, he sees the same move of God continuing.

Years ago, someone took the time to walk with Kurt. A priest who stayed, who listened, who let something real take root.

Now Gabe is here, learning to do the same.

St. Mary’s was there for Kurt.
St. Mary’s is here for Gabe.

And by God’s grace, it will be here for the next student too.

Every student who walks through these doors brings their own questions and hopes. This story shows what happens when those questions meet the living presence of Christ and a place ready to receive them.

Your generosity makes this possible.

You’re not only supporting a place. You’re helping form apostles for the Church and the world.

Thank you for making stories like this possible.