Campus Ministry: Building a Community of Faith


11/28/2014

Luke Greene '14 is helping impoverished Cincinnati neighborhoods by applying the lessons he learned through a St. Ambrose double major in industrial engineering and theology to the firm grounding in Catholicity he gained through Campus Ministry.

The money's not much. The days are long. And Greene gets where he is going by city bus.

This, though, is a start to his working life very much in keeping with the vision Greene was hoping to bring into focus when he found St. Ambrose.

"I had studied for three years at a larger university and I had questions about ethics," he said. "It felt like what I was learning was very utilitarian, very self-serving."

His search for a different kind of school started and ended with a visit to Davenport and longtime family friend, Rev. Edmund Dunn '58. An SAU professor emeritus, Fr. Dunn suggested Greene might learn more about service to others at St. Ambrose.

That, he did, said Greene, who stressed that his decision to spend his initial year after graduation in "an immersion experience" working for the Society of St. Vincent DePaul's in southwest Ohio is owed in no small part to his exposure to the Catholic Intellectual Tradition at St. Ambrose.

"I've always known through the things I learned at St. Ambrose that in order to work with the poor, you need to know the poor," Greene said, while expressing reservations about sharing his story.

"I would hate to have what I am doing sound romanticized or even sacrificial," he stressed. "I am pursuing a life of voluntary simplicity because St. Ambrose taught me that peace and justice requires action; that hope requires dignity. Graduating from St. Ambrose got me a degree. Being Ambrosian means you learn the good, you pursue the good and you share the good."

Rev. Charles Adam '82, DMin, campus chaplain, said that is the essential message of Catholicity shared by Campus Ministry, the Theology Department and the entire St. Ambrose community.

Through the Catholic Intellectual Tradition and opportunities to put faith into action, St. Ambrose does teach students to embrace the concepts inherent within the core value of Catholicity. But, perhaps more importantly, Fr. Adam said, it helps them discover those values within themselves.

"I think in many ways what we are doing is drawing the faith out of them," he said. "It is in them. They have those convictions. It is just helping them find their path."

Fr. Adam said the main mission of Campus Ministry is "building a community of faith, learning and justice. The three go together."

It is a sense of community, he said, that best helps students find their path to a lifetime of faith and service beyond their college years.

"I think students often will consider their spiritual lives inconsequential," Fr. Adam said. "We encourage them not to think of it as an add-on, but a real important part of why they are here."

Senior Luke Staudt believes that finding and growing his faith has been easier to do at St. Ambrose than it might have been in a secular college setting.

"It's not too forward, but it definitely is warm and welcoming if you want to take part," he said of Campus Ministry's role in the campus culture. "In this community, it is widely accepted, and just knowing you're not going to stick out like a sore thumb, and that you're not going to be judged, makes it something people really embrace."

Campus Ministry creates this community by providing multiple opportunities for students to engage with one another in exploring and sharing their faith.

"Fundamentally, it hasn't changed-the Eucharist is still primary; we still have daily Mass and Sunday Mass," Fr. Adam said, but he said programming has evolved. "One of the things we have learned about the millennial generation is they have an eclectic sense of spirituality and interests. Mostly, it is a matter of allowing them to lead us."

Routinely referred to on campus as "Fr. Chuck," Fr. Adam was a seminarian at St. Ambrose and was ordained into the Diocese of Davenport in 1986. He returned to Hayes Hall as the diocesan vocation director in 1996. Four years later, he became campus chaplain, joining Sheila Deluhery, who retired in June after 22 do-it-all years with Campus Ministry.

Today, the Campus Ministry staff of four includes Chris Clow, director of music ministry and liturgy, Tammy Norcross-Reitzler, director of faith formation, and Kaitlyn Depuydt, director of co-curricular service and justice ministry.

Campus Ministry is the most visible representation of Catholicity on campus, and, as chaplain, "Fr. Chuck'' embodies the university's dedication to advancing that core value.

"Fr. Chuck is a beloved member of this institution and a wonderful advocate of Catholic values and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition," said Sr. Joan Lescinski, CSJ, PhD, president of the university. "Our Campus Ministry department is our truest link to the great and lasting Catholic education Bishop John McMullen, our founder, foresaw here more than 130 years ago."

Yet, while its mission is to remain faithful to the essential teachings of the Church, Fr. Adam said that to fully provide an effective education steeped in the values of Catholicity, St. Ambrose must also be ready to "read the times" and "adapt the message of the Gospel to meet the needs of the academic community."

Students say relevance and a real understanding of their lives and needs are two vital strengths of Campus Ministry.

"Fr. Chuck has been on campus for a while now," said senior Mitchell Godfrey. "I have had talks with him about struggles I may have had staying active in my relationship with God while in college. He has dealt with more situations than I could ever bring to him. He knows what we go through day-to-day, week-to-week, every semester. He is a good source of advice."

The Bible is the ultimate source, of course, but today's students particularly appreciate hearing its messages applied to the busy lives they are leading and building.

"If I'm away for the weekend, I make sure I can get back to 6 p.m. Mass with Fr. Chuck on Sunday because his homilies are so directed toward college students," said second-year DPT student Mark Brauweiler '12. "He knows what we're going through, that our minds are racing all the time. He really directs the Gospel to your life as a college student. It's really, really applicable."

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