Alumni Reflections from Matthew Verive

Hi everyone! My name is Matthew Verive, and I was a part of the DePaul Class of 2018, graduating with a B.S. in Information Technology. I currently work at Fidelity National Financial doing information security work, after spending three years doing the same stuff at United Airlines.

CCM’s impact on my daily life

Even after graduating, I can’t seem to get away from my DePaul CCM experience. Many of the friends I made through CCM have continued to be my closest friends. I still go to the 8 pm Mass every so often, attend retreat reunions, and come visit the office from time to time to see how everyone is doing.

And of course, the Vincentian mission has been kept close to my heart – even in the workplace, when tasked with a problem that seems impossible, the first thing I think is “what must be done?” – what are the core issues at hand that need to be resolved? Once they are tracked down and pinpointed, finding ways to fix those issues (and therefore much of the overarching problem) becomes a lot easier since the changes needed are more precise. Then, the final touches can be made, and ta-da: the impossible problem is fixed.

Finding a new community of faith

CCM was my home at DePaul – almost all of my friends were involved in CCM, I had two on-campus jobs through CCM (Liturgical Music Assistant and Liturgy Coordinator), and I spent most of my free time in the CCM office. As you might expect, the transition after graduation was rough – no longer having that intentional faith community anymore was hard.

Naturally, I sought out a community to fill that void. As I stayed in the Lincoln Park/Lakeview area after graduation (up until recently due to COVID), St. Vincent’s has still been my home parish. Getting involved in the young adult group at St. Vincent’s, TnT (Twenties ‘n Thirties), has been one way to connect and still have some form of the faith community. I’d definitely recommend getting involved in your parish’s young adult program if there is one, and if not – start one! You’re probably not the only one looking for belonging.

Matthew Verive