Campus Ministry Manual

O’Dea Campus Ministry Manual Page 1

O’Dea High School

Campus Ministry Team


I. Mission Statement

The mission of O’Dea’s Campus Ministry is rooted in the Gospel’s call to build a community of living faith and service. We foster spiritual growth through providing our students, faculty, and staff space to worship, pray, and serve. We call upon our community to develop lives rooted in altruism and Catholic spirituality and become signs of Christ’s love in the world.

II. Philosophy

O’Dea honors the unique growth adolescents experience during high school. In the midst of the blessings and challenges of the teen years, O’Dea’s Campus Ministry team seeks to be positive spiritual mentors, assisting the faith development of our students from freshman through senior years. Our retreats, liturgies, outreach service, and all other endeavors are carried out with a caring ministerial presence. We listen to the struggles of others, guide others in times of confusion, and empower others to walk the path of faith in Christ. We want to help our students grow spiritually; we want to empower them to be student leaders for others; we want them to affect our school and community. Students who open themselves to what Campus Ministry offers will grasp St. Iraneus’ statement that “The Glory of God is a person fully alive.” O’Dea’s Campus Ministry strives to guide our students, faculty and staff towards Christ and become better disciples of the One in whom we become “fully alive.” As Christians, we uphold Jesus Christ as the prime example of being fully alive. He is our guide to bring forth the Kingdom of God. Blessed Edmund Rice experienced being fully alive through living Christ’s message. He held Jesus in his heart and desired to do something beautiful for God. He started a system of schools in Ireland for poor Catholic boys. Over 200 years later, his legacy still offers a profound example of how God’s grace bears fruit in human lives. Being a disciple today mean striving to be open, building one’s faith relationship with God, being receptive to God’s grace, trusting that God is near to us and communicating with us through Sacraments, relationships, prayer, service, and our life struggles. Being a disciple is being willing to incorporate Jesus’ attitudes and values into the fabric of our daily lives. Discipleship means doing what Christ, the Master Teacher does: reaching out to the vulnerable, loving those who are broken, and drawing others in to come and know God more deeply.


III. Goals of Campus Ministry Team Members

• To be a strong and positive ministerial presence within the O’Dea school community.

• To bear witness to the Gospel and the Good News of Jesus Christ.

• To build up and strengthen the Christian faith of our students that nurtures the attributes of an O’Dea Gentleman: S= Spiritual and A= Altruistic

• To engender Christian discipleship within our students through Liturgies, Service, Prayer, Retreats and other activities.

• To develop a new model of student centered Campus Ministry, empowering student leadership through authentic collaboration between the Campus Ministry team and student leaders.

• To create, maintain, and develop an effective Campus Ministry Team model that effectively works together to serve our students spiritual growth.

IV. Vision for Campus Ministry Program at O’Dea High School

1.) O’Dea High School is a Catholic School whose mission is to educate students in spirit, mind and body.

Central to this effort is the work of Campus Ministry to form and empower young men in faith.

Although we have approximately 80% Catholic students in the student body, the vast majority of all

of our students are coming from families and church communities where their faith is only minimally

developed. In some cases O’Dea may be the best scenario to foster faith formation and we as school

leaders may be the only Gospel the students have ever encountered. Keeping this in mind, our

Campus Ministry program needs to be developed into a robust and integrated component into the

holistic development of all of our students.

a. Essential Elements of a Christian Brother education is another key guiding document that

anchors Campus Ministry as an essential aspect of a Christian Brother education.

1.) Evangelizes youth within the mission of the Church.

a. A Christian Brother education proclaims the Good News of Jesus Christ.

b. The Gospel message of Jesus permeates the curriculum, the activities, and all other aspects of a Christian Brother education.

2.) Proclaims and witnesses to its Catholic identity.

a. A Christian Brother education gives priority to religious formation through formal religious instruction and through opportunities for faith development and service by means of liturgies, retreats, vocation awareness, daily prayer, and other programs. b. A Christian Brother education joins in the sacramental life of the Church, witnesses faith life through the prominent use of signs and symbols, fosters devotion to Mary, and is in union with the Church through commitment to service and formation of community.

c. Catholic identity permeates all endeavors of Christian Brother education: all classes and activities,

procedures and policies, services and programs.


d. All staff involved in Christian Brother education give daily witness to their integral role in the community's faith formation.

3.) Stands in solidarity with those marginalized by poverty and injustice.

a. The policies, the structures, and the climate of a Christian Brother education witness and promote concern for the disadvantaged.

b. A Christian Brother education includes advocacy and education for peace and justice, care for the

earth, and global awareness. It prepares students to work toward the creation of a just society.

c. A Christian Brother education actively encourages ministries that work with and for the poor and marginalized.

d. Education and support for mission areas at home and abroad characterize Christian Brother

education.

e. A Christian Brother education establishes tuition and scholarship policies that open its education to the poor.

4.) Fosters and invigorates a community of faith.

a. Christian Brother education witnesses and celebrates Gospel values. b. A Christian Brother education provides a disciplined, safe atmosphere in which students are free to

grow and take responsibility for their own learning and for the life of the community c. Caring, compassionate relationships characterize a Christian Brother educational community.

5.) Celebrates the value and dignity of each person and nurtures the development of the whole person.

a. A Christian Brother education values the diversity of the human family and seeks to reflect local diversity in its student population and professional staff.

b. Strong programs of personal, professional, and pastoral care are integral to a Christian Brother education.

c. A Christian Brother education embraces human fragility and welcomes God's healing.

d. Christian Brother education values co-curricular activities, special events, and other programs that are important to students' complete education.

e. A Christian Brother education strives to provide just remuneration for its staff. 6.) Calls for collaboration and shared responsibility in its mission.

a. Christian Brother education empowers all members of the community to share responsibility in the shaping of its mission. b. A Christian Brother education collaborates with parents, the primary educators c. A Christian Brother education fosters collaboration with other Christian Brother ministries on local, regional, and international levels to address common concerns and to celebrate a common heritage. d. A Christian Brother education encourages a deeper understanding and living of the charism of Blessed Edmund. e. A Christian Brother Education promotes active participation in governance by boards and diocesan officials.

7.) Pursues excellence in all its endeavors.


2.) Because the spiritual needs of the whole school community are so great and the expectations on the

“Campus Minister” are so lofty, it is imperative that a Campus Ministry Team of ministers unites their

gifts and energy. All ministers participate in specific assigned duties and roles within the

team. Together they are responsible for reaching out to build a faithful community of students and

adults. These individuals are expected to be:

a. Willing and motivated faith leaders who seek to build up young disciples for Christ

b. On contract and designated to dedicate concrete time and effort for being responsible for the

flourishing of our community as a place committed to Christ

c. Willing and able to be on a team of Ministry that discerns the needs of the community on a

regular basis and seeks to reach out with love and support to build up the Kingdom of God at

O’Dea

3.) A Coordinator of Campus Ministry supervises, contributes to, and proposes a cohesive vision for the

entire program.

4.) Several components of CM that are run by designated persons on the Campus Ministry team that flow

out of the Mission Statement and the overall program philosophy.

Specific areas of the CM program are:

a. Retreats

i. Encounter Retreats

1.) 2-3 per year, requires extensive preparation

ii. New Freshman Overnight Retreat Model

1.) requires extensive preparation

iii. Day Retreats

1.) Freshmen Retreats

2.) Sophomore Retreats

3.) Senior Retreats

4.) Faculty Retreats

b. Liturgy/Prayer service/Spiritual Assemblies

i. We have a handful of school Masses in the Cathedral and a few prayer services in our

gym each year.

ii. These need to carefully orchestrated to the standards of the Archdiocese of Seattle

AND youth friendly and relevant to adolescent experience.

iii. Students are empowered to take on many leadership roles in all school worship.

iv. Prayer Support team

1.) Morning Intercom Prayer at 8:20 AM

2.) Faculty prayer for students of concern and the whole life of the school

community


c. Christian Service Learning

i. Any Christian school should be driven towards a remarkable record of service as a way

to live out Christ’s example and help our students learn their faith through direct

service to the disadvantaged.

ii. This proposal suggests that all faculty and staff enthusiastically encouraged to take

part in one or more O’Dea service events each year as a way to mentor and guide our

students in service.

iii. Examples of powerful services sites that could be done on a monthly basis:

1.) Sacred Heart shelter- cook a meal for homeless mothers and children

2.) Matt Talbot Center

3.) St Vincent de Paul student run group

4.) Numerous other examples is various settings and locations

d. Counseling link between crisis students and professional counseling

i. When students in crisis emerge on retreats or through revelation of tragic life news,

they need to be connected into our counseling department.

ii. Our Counselors can access if outside formal counseling services may need to be

rendered.

e. Direct Ministry with students in crisis and those seeking more advanced faith development

i. We reach out to students who are going through family crisis, grace illnesses,

significant loss, or other forms of personal struggle. Students are offered

opportunities to share their struggles in a safe sanctuary of care and brotherhood.

They can be supported in prayer and care and be directed towards our counseling

department if necessary.

ii. In other cases there are students who are nurtured in a more advanced stage of faith

development. They can be given some spiritual direction and guided through the

various phases of growing in faith.

f. Faculty & Staff enrichment and encouragement

i. There are many opportunities to help build up the faith of our adult faculty and staff.

If they are attended to in faith, supported with prayer, and given a chance to share

their faith in relevant ways, great spiritual growth can occur and deepen our culture

of faith.


V. Team Roles and Responsibilities

Model for O’Dea High School Campus Ministry “But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed?

And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

And how can they hear without someone to preach?

And how can people preach unless they are sent?”

Romans 10: 14-15

“For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.

For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.”

2 Tim 1: 6-7

O'Dea Campus Ministry

Team

Encounter Retreat

Day Retreats

Liturgy/Prayer

Service CSL

New Freshman Retreat

Faculty Staff Parent Ministry

Counseling Dept

Faith Groups-Sacred Story, Brotherhood

Documents

Campus Ministry Manual