Campus Ministry

[Gemma]

I know there are a lot of college students on these boards, so I have a campus ministry question for you: how do you make use of the services of campus ministry?

TIA

Blessings,
Gemma

[LaPetiteSoeur]

I'm there all the time. My public university has the largest number of Catholics in the country, so they HAVE to be really big. We have five Masses on Sundays, one on football game days (we're a football school), two weekday masses (one at lunch and one at dinnertime), a faith/peace/justice group, GK Chesterton group, RCIA, confirmation, Households of faith (for the families that attend), retreats, spiritual direction, free lunches on Thursdays for students, etc, etc, etc!

I go to Sunday Mass always, and would love to go to weekday masses, but my work and class schedule prevent it for the most part (next semester I can go three days a week, which is much better than last semester!). I have a spiritual director, worked with the Households of Faith group as a catechist, was a sponsor for RCIA, am a member of the faith, peace, and justice group, run retreats, and will be (hopefully!) one of the founding members of the women's discernment group.

I had to find a place to get involved at my university, and the Catholic Church seemed like the best place for me!

[MissyP89]

In undergrad we had daily Mass Monday through Friday at lunchtime, as well as Sundays. I would typically hit daily Mass twice a week, and then eat lunch there afterward.

The Catholic Campus Ministry has weekly dinner and meetings, Bible studies, and other random social events.

But I think one of the interesting points was that the Newman House was at one time a "real" house ... there are lots of couches and a kitchen, and a tabernacle upstairs in a tiny chapel.

With that kind of setup, a lot of us that hung out there would just chill, have meals and do homework throughout the day. The social component was just as important as the spiritual, IMO.

It's worth noting that the university parish is right down the street.

Edited May 16, 2012 by MissyP89

[LaPetiteSoeur]

Oh! And our church is within the campus gates; the land was given to the Church to use for 200 years or something. The contract comes up for renewal in 40 years.

[Lisa]

My campus ministry was the most faith-forming experience of my life. I went to a large, public university, so it was definitely the center of my faith- and my daily life- for 4 years. Our campus parish is right in the middle of campus, so that's super nice.

We had daily Mass twice a day, with the most popular being Wednesday night at 9 p.m. Around 100-150 students came each Wednesday. I also participated in liturgical ministries, Eucharistic Adoration (available 12-5 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays in addition to First Friday and other special events), a vocation discernment group, retreats (Awakening program), bible studies, prayer meetings, faith sharing groups in the dorm lobby, Sunday night dinners, social events (dances, root beer/karaoke night, concerts) service opportunities in the local community, mission trips in the U.S. and Bolivia, and a lot more.

The great thing is there was at least one thing going on each night; the "bad" thing was that I often had to really choose what I could go to.

We had an executive committee comprising 3 officers, a few interns (communications, social concerns, and liturgy), the campus minister, and the 3 priests. It took a lot of dedication on the part of everyone to make it happen.

[Spem in alium]

The church at my university is in the centre of the courtyard, and is open all day. Because my university is in the centre of the city, we get a lot of local people and workers coming in for Mass. Mass is held every day, with a student-led Mass on Wednesdays. I manage to make it to Mass there twice a week. It's usually quite well-attended, and the priests are lovely and get involved with student activities.

There is Adoration two days a week which I attend, and the Rosary is said on Thursdays.

There's also Bible Study, screenings of religious films, and regular courtyard discussions and seminars. The most recent one was a weekly forum on Pope JPII's book "Love and Responsibility" (written before he became Pope).

My university is quite small, but the faith life is beautiful and rich. That's one of the reasons why I decided to go there

[Gemma]

Thanks for the answers!

My son's community college has one Christian organization, but no Catholic campus ministry per se. There may not even be room for an office, but I was going to talk to Student Services and see if I could brainstorm with them.

I keep feeling the tug to do something, but don't know what. I think more along the lines of "God has a plan for you" and "keep up the good work," and hand out the Dominican prayer before study. At a community college that would be about all I could do, unless it's to stimulate lectio without them knowing what I'm conveying. Little messages, like 'remain in my love' from the Last Supper.

The summer term is very lightly attended because of the lack of financial aid. I was thinking perhaps I could do something "ad experimentum" during the summer and see how it goes. I also would have Catholic items available if they wanted them.

Blessings,
Gemma

[Lisa]

Something that is pretty easy to do is a bible study at a coffee shop. It can be pretty informal, and college students love to combine Scripture and food! You could email the local church and see if they'll put the time and place in the bulletin.

[LaPetiteSoeur]

[quote name='Lisa' timestamp='1337207953' post='2431415']
Something that is pretty easy to do is a bible study at a coffee shop. It can be pretty informal, and college students love to combine Scripture and food! You could email the local church and see if they'll put the time and place in the bulletin.
[/quote]

Our Catholic center feeds us always. As Fr. B. says "where there is food, college kids will flock!"

[Kayte Postle]

I also go to a relatively large public university, but our ministry is thriving. Our parish is right off of campus, and our newman house is on the same property as the parish. Our newman house also functions as a house for our Christian Leadership student interns, so it really feels like a home away from home.

We have daily mass, and three sunday masses, that are all well attended. Our FOCUS missionaries and our CLP interns have some kind of activity going on at our newman house or in the church every night of the week. We also have bible studies, a catholic student concil, RCIA, retreats, service opportunities, and we are starting a spirtuial direction program. I think one of the most amesome things is that we have a 24/7 Euchraistic Adoration chapel, it's such a blessing to be able to go be in His presence any time you need to.

It's a really tight knit family atmosphere, and going to mass and/or the eveing activities is always my favortie part of the day.

I have to say amen to the Spirit and food. "If you cook it they will come.."

[salveregina10]

There are a lot of national and international groups trying to deepen campus ministry, here are a few I've run into in my Religious life:
[url="http://evangelicalcatholic.com/"]http://evangelicalcatholic.com/[/url]
The Evangelical Catholic - they have training conferences, Bible study resources and more
[url="http://www.apostolevitainteriore.it/apostlesofil/index.html"]http://www.apostolevitainteriore.it/apostlesofil/index.html[/url]
The Apostles of the Interior Life, a Religious community that focuses on campus ministry
[url="http://www.focus.org/"]http://www.focus.org/[/url]
FOCUS Catholic campus ministry - missionaries, resources etc.

[Gemma]

Thanks for the responses.

It dawned on me to google "how to start a newman club"

I also found a large Catholic campus ministry site, on which I found all of maybe three of the links belonging to community colleges

Also found a group of community colleges had formed something of a consortium for ministerial support between them.

Keep praying that we will know which way to take this.

Blessings,
Gemma

[Gemma]

I was sitting in the college library working on my book (my son has one class on one day of the week) when a lady walked by, then started talking to me about her family. Please pray for them. She has suffered terribly but has great faith. I gave her a hand-written list of possible resources, and sent the prayer request to the CONF affiliate founders. She came back over a few minutes later, and said God told her that victory was at hand. A friend of hers is taking care of her, hence the reason she was on campus. The liberation of children is included in this prayer request. Kickbacks are also involved.

Blessings,
Gemma

[LaPetiteSoeur]

[quote name='Gemma' timestamp='1337464548' post='2432736']
I was sitting in the college library working on my book (my son has one class on one day of the week) when a lady walked by, then started talking to me about her family. Please pray for them. She has suffered terribly but has great faith. I gave her a hand-written list of possible resources, and sent the prayer request to the CONF affiliate founders. She came back over a few minutes later, and said God told her that victory was at hand. A friend of hers is taking care of her, hence the reason she was on campus. The liberation of children is included in this prayer request. Kickbacks are also involved.

Blessings,
Gemma
[/quote]

Will pray for her tonight.

[PadrePioOfPietrelcino]

[quote name='salveregina10' timestamp='1337291574' post='2431877']

[url="http://www.apostolevitainteriore.it/apostlesofil/index.html"]http://www.apostolev...ofil/index.html[/url]
The Apostles of the Interior Life, a Religious community that focuses on campus ministry

[/quote]

I LOVE the Apostles of Interior Life. My first Spiritual Director was one of them, but we only met a few times before I joined the military, and one of the Sisters will interview me for my seminary application and give her recommendation to the Archbishop. such beautiful women in their devotion. I only got to go to the March For Life once back in 2005 and three sisters were with us. They were a hoot and I learned a lot about Italian soccer teams. I know this is a bit of a but I get excited so much about these wonderful sisters.

I became Catholic thru my campus' Catholic Center. Friday lunches were there and I was able to come and ask my questions. As well they had Catechism classes after mass where I could go do my Protestant ministries then high tail it back across town to join them for studies. Every year changes a little here as we have no priest even in name of a chaplain, so the local priest rotate Sundays saying mass in the evening, if we are lucky a retired priest from the area might offer daily mass or something occasional like that. Adoration is offered on Thurs. The Center is student led every year with one full time staff member who has been doing a wonderful job over the last 12 years or so. I went to the March For Life as part of a college student contingent supported by the campus center. We attend the State college student convention every year. Things like that.

As well all student officers have a key to the center and there is a kitchen (it is a house own by the archdiocese for this purpose) so it is not uncommon to see students there at all hours of the day, studying or just hanging out.

My suggestion for your son is since there is nothing formal there yet is to indeed use the coffee shop idea. a weekly study maybe supported by the religious ed dir of a parish close by, and maybe another night of social get togetherness.