Campus Ministry  by Joey Montoya

 

Events Calendar


Campus Ministry at the Aquinas Newman Center is a ministry for students, faculty, and staff at both the University of New Mexico and Central New Mexico Community College.  It is a crucial ministry for the vitality of the future of the Church and of society.     

 

“Campus ministry (as defined by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops) is one of the important ways the Church exercises her mission in higher education.  Its goals include promoting theological study and reflection on the religious nature of human beings so that intellectual, moral, and spiritual growth can proceed together; sustaining a Christian community on campus, with the pastoral care and liturgical worship it requires; integration of its apostolic ministry with other ministries of the local community and the diocese; and helping the Christian community on campus to serve its members and others, including the many nonstudents who gravitate toward the university.  Campus ministry gathers the Catholics on campus for prayer, worship, and learning in order that they might bring the light of the Gospel to illumine the concerns and hopes of the academic community…Campus ministry can be defined as the public presence and service through which properly prepared baptized persons are empowered by the Spirit to use their talents and gifts on behalf of the Church in order to be sign and instrument of the kingdom in the academic world. The eye of faith discerns campus ministry where commitment to Christ and care for the academic world meet in purposeful activity to serve and realize the kingdom of God (Empowered by the Spirit, 21).”

 

Contact Fr. Dan , the Director of Campus Ministry, for more information and questions on Campus Ministry activities, davisop@aquinasnm.org or 505-247-1094, ex. 224.

The University Ministry Advisory Council is a council whose primary objective is to advice Newman Center staff and parish leadership about campus ministry, advocate for campus ministry within the parish, to listen to those whom campus ministry serves, and to connect the diverse communities within the parish and the UNM campus.

Peer Campus Ministry is a ministry in which five students from UNM or CNM, driven by their faith and call to ministry, are committed to deepening their experience of God through volunteer service to others and to the community.  While living in an intentional community at the Newman House each Peer Campus Minister facilitates a committee of students in light of the six aspects of campus ministry according to the USCCB’s document Empowered by the Spirit, forming faith community, appropriating the faith, forming the Christian conscience, educating for justice, facilitating personal development, and developing leaders for the future. 



 


 

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