Campus Ministry is a place that allows students to grow their relationship with Christ through many different activities. It is a place where students can feel safe. Campus Ministry week is when students get to participate in activities to celebrate Campus Ministry. It is celebrated by having fun activities and these activities allow students to get involved and learn what Campus Ministry is all about. 

This year Campus Ministry hosted lots of fun events for students to participate in throughout the week. These events consisted of Campus Ministry mass with Fr. Oscar Vasquez and a special guest Adam Bitter on Wednesday, making prayer bracelets on Thursday, and an outdoor theater dance party during lunch with special D.J. guest Sr. Linda Markway, CSJ. 

They also incorporated multiple fun activities that were occurring during the whole week. These included “Finding Francis” which is when a Pope Francis doll is hidden throughout the school and one hint is posted on the Campus Ministry instagram page on where to find Francis that day. The first student to find the doll wins a prize! Students were also asked to look for GOG’s (Glimpse of God) throughout the week and when they did they would fill out a fork to recognize that person performing the GOG. The Campus Ministry team also wrote affirmations on clothes pins and put them on students’ backpacks.

This week is full of fun traditions. Sophomore Molly Malone is the Spiritual Growth Chair this year and loves being able to celebrate her favorite place in the school during Campus Ministry week. 

“I love how during Campus Ministry Week all of St. Joe comes together as one family and community to celebrate our faith and individuality and I hope that every student, teacher, and faculty member comes to see how much they impact our community and how enjoyable getting involved is,” Molly said.

Campus Ministry Week allows students to celebrate their faith. Campus Ministry Week is supposed to make students feel safe and that they are able to express their faith in any way that they would like to. It allows students to know that they are not alone on their walk with God but  that the people around them are also on their own walk with God. 

Ms. Anna Hotop, Director of Campus Ministry,  loves being able to celebrate a place that she has put lots of work into.

“My favorite part of Campus Ministry Week is ‘Finding Francis’. It started when the Pope came to visit the United States and we wanted students to get excited about it,” Ms. Hotop saud. “I love Campus Ministry Week not just because of the fun traditions but because it is a week when we all get to celebrate our faith as a school community and it is also a week that allows everyone to see that they are welcomed in Campus Ministry anytime and that we would love for them to get involved.”

Campus Ministry week was a big success this year and students had lots of fun celebrating this amazing place in our school! The Campus Ministry team hopes that students will continue to get involved throughout the year.