Ciara Hopkinson | September 18, 2017
Campus Ministry seeks to nurture the faith development of both Catholic and non-Catholic students in their time at Notre Dame.
“It is our hope that a student does not go through Notre Dame without encountering the work campus ministry,” Campus Ministry communications director, Danielle Collins, said.
Campus Ministry has a hand in nearly every Catholic aspect of Notre Dame: pilgrimages and retreats, masses at both the Basilica and residence hall chapels, sacramental preparation, evangelization,multicultural ministry and outreach, various faith-sharing groups and the Anchor leadership program, Collins said. For Kayla August, the assistant director of evangelization and head of Compass Freshman Fellowship, Campus Ministry provides an opportunity to take part in people’s faith formation at a turning point in their lives.
“College is when people for the first time are taking on their faith journey for themselves,” August said. “No parents are making them go to church, no one’s checking up on them and they’re deciding who God is and how he plays a part in their lives for them and not for someone else. I love that time in life, and I wanted to be there and a part of students as they grow and cultivate that.”
As director of evangelization, August said she works with interfaith and interdenominational organizations in addition to general outreach among Catholic students and accompanying them on their faith journeys. Compass Freshmen Fellowship is one of Campus Ministry’s main initiatives to guide students in their faith formation through small group discussion and reflection, she said.
Originally published by at dailydomer.nd.edu on September 18, 2017.