Bless U.

Some weren't sure what to pray for. "Not to fail chemistry?" one suggested. "That I get along with my roommate," another said.

One girl burst into tears. McErlean hugged her. Schlageter told her roommate as he left, "Take care of her, okay?" and made a note to remember to check on her.

That's why he has the Treo, so he can keep track of appointments, get e-mail and make calls.

On the fourth floor, all male, someone yelled, "Hide the contraband!" to laughter. Guys switched off the football game. In one room he grabbed a student's cellphone away and barked into it, enjoying the reaction on the other end: "He's gotta go. This is his priest!"

He knocked loudly on one door. "You guys want your room blessed?"

A pause. "Uhhhhh . . . " said Chris Carroll, looking out the peephole, startled to see a bearded friar. Schlageter pointed to the sign on the door requesting it.

"Pranksters!" Carroll said.

But when Father Bob and the others started to walk away, Carroll told them, a couple times, to come on in.

Carroll propped the prayer card up in his Frisbee and read along with his roommate. He didn't grow up with religion, Carroll said later. But the cross Father Bob put up is still there, with their Power Rangers posters.

"It says, 'I'm always with you,' or 'I'm always watching,' or something. It's kinnnnnd of weird," Carroll said. "But I'd feel worse taking it down. Like -- denying his presence."

He's glad he opened the door. "It felt kind of good afterward," Carroll said.

In a rowdy quad room nearby, one student said after the prayer, "Want to sign our tube?" and handed Schlageter a Sharpie and a poster mailer they'd labeled the "Booze Tube."