Campus ministers across the country are beginning to make headway in the attempt to form Catholic hearts and minds

The well–being of the Catholic Church and of society itself depends on campus ministry, according to Dr. Donald McCrabb. McCrabb, executive director of the 1,200-member Catholic Campus Ministry Association (CCMA), sees it as “vital” because it provides an educational and pastoral presence to college students at a critical, formative moment in their lives.

“Society thrives when people know what they value, who they are, the difference between right and wrong-and when they're able to be other-centered rather than self-centered,” he says. “Campus ministers have to be there to bring the Gospel, to bring community, to bring values, to bring a sense of morality and decency, and to encourage people to be formed in the mind and heart of Christ.”

With the weakened religious identity on many Catholic campuses and the fiercely guarded separation of Church and state on public campuses, campus ministry isn't a task for the faint-hearted. But McCrabb, who describes those in the trenches as “very bright, well-educated, and very hard-working,” says it's a wonderful time to be in campus ministry.

“Modernity doesn't work any longer, so people are more open to considering how we are held by this gracious mystery we call God,” McCrabb explains. “And the students are so thirsty. When you invite them to start talking about conscience formation, they say, ‘Wow!’”

Armed with the National Conference of Catholic Bishops’ 1985 pastoral letter, Empowered by the Spirit: Campus Ministry Faces the Future, campus ministers across the country have waded into the sometimes deeply troubled waters of academia. And they're beginning to make some headway as they rein-tegrate the spiritual life with the intellectual life on campuses.

University of St. Thomas

“Can we be Catholic and unashamed?” That's the question Father Jeffrey Huard has been asking since he became campus ministry director seven months ago at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. A diocesan priest, Father Huard hopes that question and others will help his alma mater get in touch with its religious roots.

“My immediate concern is to strengthen the Catholic identity of the university,” he says. “Campus ministry has a role to proclaim the Gospel and to keep that very clear from the pulpit even if it's not particularly clear in the classroom.”

Five thousand undergraduates study at St. Thomas, 60% of whom are Catholic. About 850 attend Sunday Mass on campus. Currently only 11% of the student body attends St. Thomas because it's a Catholic university. “It's my strong desire that a much higher percentage will leave St. Thomas as convinced and clear-sighted Catholics,” Father Huard says. “While I certainly want to send out loving and understanding people, I find so much of the emphasis on aspects of political correctness and some of our secular culture's agenda to be absolutely lifeless and unsustainable.”

Campus ministry has great value, he adds, as a key place where the Catholic mind is put forward. “I sit in a number of meetings related to the institutional life of the university,” Father Huard explains. “I come, not as the academic dean or vice president of student affairs, but as a person who is there to be very thoughtful about our Catholic nature. I can raise issues such as the role of moral teaching when we're discussing sexual health on campus.”

Father Huard takes heart from the growing desire among students for the sacramental life and for service to the poor, from the school's strong retreat program, and from the popularity of the new Catholic Studies Department that was started to clarify the campus’ Catholic identity. But he relies on the power of the Gospel to transform students and campus life: “Jesus Christ is ever attractive, and as the beautiful line from the liturgy says, ‘From age to age he gathers a people to himself.’”

St. Edward's University

At St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, Brother Joe Barry, CSC, has worked closely with the administration during his eight years in campus ministry. “As director, I answer directly to the president,” he says. “He sees campus ministry as a vital, integral part of who we are as a Catholic university.”

Brother Barry and two other full-time campus ministers serve St. Edward's 3,100 students, about 60% of whom are Catholic. But they don't do it alone. “Faculty and staff are very supportive of what we do and of the students’ spiritual development,” Brother Barry says. “They take an active interest in helping students make practical applications of what their faith tells them. That's one of the things I really like about campus ministry at St. Ed's.”

Approximately 400 students attend the two campus Masses on Sunday; an average of 24 go on weekend retreats; and about 25 people participate in the confirmation program, including five who will be coming into the Church at Easter. Brother Barry says these are good numbers “for our size.”

With the help of the campus community, Brother Barry tries to move students from an adolescent faith to an adult faith. “My hope is that they'll be just as well situated spiritually as they are academically by the time they get out,” he says. “That they'll have a good base that'll help them weather the experiences of life spiritually as they get older.”

Franciscan University of Steubenville

Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, has been committed for two decades to reintegrating a spiritual element into campus life. “Twenty years ago we made a real investment in campus ministry,” says Mary Kay Lacke, dean of evangelization. “Then, in 1985, using Empowered by the Spirit as one of our resources, we restructured campus ministry and student life to integrate faith into all dimensions of our life.”

Today, campus ministry, chapel ministry, residence life, works of mercy, leadership development, and evangelistic outreach all fall under the Student Life Office umbrella. “There's a tendency to look at the chapel as campus ministry, but there are many ministers in Student Life,” says Lacke, who counts residence hall chaplains, residence hall directors, and RAs among the University's campus ministers. “Our goal is to facilitate the development of a strong faith environment where students can see what a strong faith life looks like and have a choice to live it or not.”

Steubenville's nearly 2,000 students must like what they see because their sacramental participation is “off the charts” compared with other schools. According to a spring 1997 student survey, 73% say they receive the Eucharist daily or several times per week, and 66% say they seek the sacrament of reconciliation at least monthly.

Though Franciscan University offers an astonishing array of spiritual programming, Lacke attributes the high student participation to the Holy Spirit. And to households. Since 1975, students have been encouraged to form small faith-sharing groups of five to ten students, called households, and to meet weekly for prayer, sharing, and socials. Some 50 households involving 60% of the residential student body strengthen residence life and provide peer support for growing in the faith.

“When I see a person of the Church, I see someone who is in love with Christ, with Christ's people, who is ecumenical in nature, who's compassionate, and able to serve,” Lacke says. “We're all growing into that, but there are many graduates from here whom we can look at and say, ‘They really are doing it.’”

Next week: Bringing the Gospel to non-Catholic colleges and universities.

Lisa Ferguson writes from Steubenville, Ohio.