Posted by admin on January 29, 2010 under 5. TGIF! | 
CCMA Membership for 2010-2011
CCMA would like to take this opportunity to thank all members for their continued support and prayers through the past year and national convention. You all are such a blessing to us! Annual membership renewals invoices are being mailed in the next several weeks. Renewal and new membership rates remain the same:
Individual Membership: $125 per year
Team Membership (four or more campus ministers at the same campus ministry site): $105 each
Diocesan Membership (four or more campus ministers from the same diocese): $105 each
Associate Membership: $55 per year
Corporate Non Profit Membership: $150 per year
Corporate For Profit Membership: $250 per year
Membership term begins July 1 and ends June 30. In order to be included in the 2010-2011 annual directory, please renew membership by June 1, 2010. Please contact Michelle Gundrum at Gundrum@ccmanet.org or 888.714.6631, Ext. 17, for more information or to renew or join CCMA.
What Will Your RESPONSE Be?
Would you like to make a difference in your community, the country, or the world? Do you want to serve those in need and work for social justice? With nearly 200 programs and thousands of opportunities, RESPONSE 2010 is the most comprehensive guide of faith-based service opportunities available–and it’s free. Volunteers serve full-time for periods of one week to one year or more across the United States and in more than 100 countries worldwide. Summer and school break opportunities are also available. Our volunteers are from all walks of life–from high school to senior citizens and every stage in between. Positions are available for both single and married volunteers, including those with children. Contact Catholic Network of Volunteer Service (CNVS) to receive your free copy/copies of RESPONSE 2010 at 800.543.5046 or cnvsinfo@cnvs.org. You may also visit us at www.cnvs.org.
Greetings for the winter semester! CCMA offers the New Campus Minister Support Network (NCMSN) to allow CCMA members who are new to campus ministry to draw upon the resources and experience of CCMA members who have “run the race” for awhile.
Attention New Campus Ministers:
You are invited to join the NCMSN in order to dialogue with experienced campus ministers who are dedicated to helping you succeed in your ministry. You decide who you would like to contact via email or phone to begin dialogue about your new campus ministry experience.
Attention Experienced Campus Ministers:
Join the NCMSN as an experienced campus minister and help a new campus minister succeed by offering your experience and expertise.
Join the NCMSN:
To access the NCMSN, please go to the CCMA webpage (www.ccmanet.org) and click on Members (left hand side of the home page). You will need to enter a login and password. (If you need the login and password, please contact Michelle Gundrum at gundrum@ccmanet.org).
Once you are in the “Members Only” section, please click on the New Campus Ministers Support Network (NCMSN). This will bring you to the NCMSN site.
If you are a new campus minister hoping to join the NCMSN, scroll down until you see the box “Join the NCMSN”.
If you are an experienced campus minister who would like to be a part of the NCMSN, please click on “Join the NCMSN as an Experienced Campus Minister”.
In each case, you will be asked to fill out an online form. Once the form is filled out and submitted to CCMA, you will be given additional instructions as to how to utilize the NCMSN.
For more information:
Feel free to contact any member of the NCMSN committee:
Esther Sanborn, Chair, sanborn@sxu.edu
Courtney Hull, chull@mansfield.edu
Maura Neuffer, cathmincod@sbcglobal.net
Michelle Gundrum, CCMA, gundrum@ccmanet.org
Chrysta Bolinger is CCMA’s Director of Member Services and Communication.
Posted by admin on January 28, 2010 under 4. Thursday's Spiritual Smoothie |
Today the Church celebrates the memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the patron saint of all Catholic educational institutions. In the midst of our roles as advocates for faith and spirituality on university and college campuses, one of our greatest gifts and biggest challenges is promoting the link between faith and reason. Aquinas, of course, is a great example of how faith and reason are both important and compatible.
Below is a prayer from Saint Thomas Aquinas that we can use ourselves and share with our students:
O Lord, my God, direct my study,
ensure my perseverance,
and set your seal upon its completion.
You who are the fount of wisdom,
shed light upon the darkness of my understanding
and dispel the twofold darkness of sin and ignorance.
Grant me a keen understanding, a retentive memory,
method and ease in learning, fluency in speech and writing.
Finally, set me on a way of life that is pleasing to you
and grant me confidence that I will embrace you at the end.
Amen.
Sarah Heiman is Campus Minister for Education and Spiritual Life at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT.
Posted by admin on January 26, 2010 under 3. Program Swap! Wednesday |
Happy Wednesday! Check out some great footage from the March for Life last Sunday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_Q2nj1CSLQ
Posted by admin on January 25, 2010 under 2. Fat Tuesday |
Our gospel passage begins this Sunday with the same line that last Sunday’s gospel ended: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” While the initial reaction to Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom is quite favorable (people remark at how gracious his words are), tension begins to creep in: “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” Implicit in this identification of Jesus as the son of Joseph is the expectation: as one of our own, he should be of great benefit to us.
Jesus confronts their attempts to define him (and thereby control him) by pointing to a reality of the kingdom that his closest neighbors and friends do not like: the paradox that those who seem most ready for it end up rejecting it, while it is readily accepted by those least expected. The very inclusivity of the kingdom becomes cause for rejection by those demanding exclusive rights to it. This reversal is a recurring theme of the Gospel of Luke: he has filled the hungry with good things while the rich he has sent away empty.
Is our faith supple enough to appreciate the often unexpected ways in which grace manifests itself in our lives and in the lives of others? Or do we turn good news into bad news?
Fr. Peter Walsh, CSC is an assistant chaplain at Saint Thomas More, the Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale University.
Posted by admin on January 24, 2010 under 1. Media Monday |
It’s the beginning of a new semester and in case you are also new to this CCMA tool, here is a bit about this blog! This space is a vehicle for CCMA members to learn and dialogue about our ministry. The focus of each day allows us to focus on different facets and how they impact our work but there is lots of room for new ideas! We are currently looking for new members of the CCMA Technology Subcommittee so if you are interested in being a blog author or working more on the intersection of ministry and technology let us know!
In fact, the topic of technology has been a hot one this fall. From Pope Benedict’s statements on new media technologies for evangelization at the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications to the Catholic News Service Multimedia Player (www.chonline.org/news/multimedia-news.html) to the Music from the Vatican Project and their use of YouTube to promote their new album - technology and ministry are no longer strangers.
Many of you have written expressing some frustration aver finding credible and safe ways of creating a virtual presence for your ministry. One such tool is Ning. Ning, like Facebook, is a social networking tool that allows the campus minister to create closed networks and create safe spaces for students to communicate with open another and with the campus minister. The user can also then connect to other sites of interest. Especially for campus ministers with little or no web presence or access this is a great tool! Check it out and let us know what you think!
Katie Byrnes is an Assistant Chaplain at Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel & Center at Yale University.
Posted by admin on January 22, 2010 under 5. TGIF! |
The Institute of Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of New Orleans is offering a summer course June 12-17, 2010, Black Perspectives on the Gospel on Campus, instructed by Rev. Dr. Edward Branch, D.Min., Director of Campus Ministry at Lyke House at Atlanta University. This course will review the history of Catholic campus ministry and will discuss the proceedings from the first Historically Black College and University Summit. It will also study the Pastoral Plan for Catholic campus ministry in the United States and the Handbook for Campus Ministers, as well as study and create strategies and tools for campus evangelization with and among Black collegians. For more information and to register please visit http://www.xula.edu/ibcs/about.php.
The Higher Education Relations Committee is exploring the National Association of College University Chaplains. There are definite benefits to networking with this organization and we would like to know if any campus ministers are also members of NACUC. If so, please contact Debbie Neely, neelydeb@yahoo.com with your feedback. Thank you greatly!
CCMA Membership 2010-2011
CCMA would like to take this opportunity to thank all members for their continued support and prayers through the past year and national convention. You all are such a blessing to us! Annual membership renewals invoices are being mailed in the next several weeks. Renewal and new membership rates remain the same:
Individual Membership: $125 per year
Team Membership (four or more campus ministers at the same campus ministry site): $105 each
Diocesan Membership (four or more campus ministers from the same diocese): $105 each
Associate Membership: $55 per year
Corporate Non Profit Membership: $150 per year
Corporate For Profit Membership: $250 per year
Membership term begins July 1 and ends June 30. In order to be included in the 2010-2011 annual directory, please renew membership by June 1, 2010. Please contact Michelle Gundrum at Gundrum@ccmanet.org or 888.714.6631, Ext. 17, for more information or to renew or join CCMA.
Chrysta Bolinger is CCMA’s Director of Member Services and Communications.
Posted by admin on January 21, 2010 under 4. Thursday's Spiritual Smoothie |
One of the traditions relating to Epiphany is the blessing of homes. As we begin this new year, and, for many of us, a new semester, perhaps we can take some time to bless the spiritual home of our offices. Hopefully you’re able to avoid actually living in your office (or sleeping there!), but it makes sense for us to consecrate this space where we counsel students, create community, and welcome the guest. May this new year bring new blessings in our ministry!
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
and it is Christ who enlightens our hearts and homes with his love.
May all who enter this office find Christ’s light and love.
May this office be a place of faith and doubt,
a place of tears and laughter,
a place of inspiration and reassurance.
Lord God of heaven and earth,
you revealed your only-begotten Son
to every nation by the guidance of a star.
Bless this office and all who serve here.
May all whose path leads them here be filled with the light of Christ.
May our hearts, hands, and actions
reflect your love through our concern for others.
May Christ Jesus dwell with us,
keep us from all harm,
and make us one in mind and heart,
now and forever.
Amen.
Sarah Heiman is Campus Minister for Education and Spiritual Life at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT.
Posted by admin on January 20, 2010 under 3. Program Swap! Wednesday |
The following resource was submitted by Sarah L. Heiman, M.Div., from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
St. Louis University has a great website that contains a lot of helpful information for planning and preparing for the Sunday liturgy. There’s everything from exegesis of the scriptural texts to pronunciation guides to homiletical resources. The website also includes suggested petitions for the prayers of the faithful as well. To find these great resources, please visit http://liturgy.slu.edu.
Posted by Chrysta Bolinger, CCMA Director, Member Services and Communications.
Posted by admin on under 2. Fat Tuesday |
This gospel is so nice. We can almost hear the flutter of the Holy Spirit’s wings as Jesus charges into Galilee and begins his ministry of announcing the kingdom. He attracts the attention and the excitement of those who listen to him. When he enters his home synagogue and reads these hopeful words from the Prophet Isaiah, all eyes are on him:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Our reading ends with Jesus’ proclamation that these words announcing the kingdom are fulfilled even as he speaks them. Of course, another shoe is about to drop, but we won’t know that until next Sunday. This is a great example of the “already…not yet” reality of the kingdom. Frankly, it is a reality we have been living with considerable poignancy over the last week as we have been basking in the glow of Epiphany and seeing the terrible images from Haiti. How comfortable is a preacher raising a point of tension–one that is in the minds of students–without rushing to resolve it?
Fr. Peter Walsh, CSC is an assistant chaplain at Saint Thomas More, the Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale University.
Posted by admin on January 17, 2010 under 1. Media Monday |
In the world of media there are often “cool gadgets”, “great new apps” and “amazing programs” that make our lives easier and a lot more fun. More rare are the media offerings that are truly beautiful. One such offering is the Saint John’s bible project - www.saintjohnsbible.org. In 1998, Saint John’s University and Abbey commissioned Donald Jackson to produce this hand written illuminated bible. The project, described as a work of art and a work of technology, can be viewed in selections online, in touring exhibitions, or at its home, the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library on the campus of Saint John’s University. Check out the website and learn more about how Benedict’s Rule instructs the reader to “listen … with the ear of your heart.”
Kathleen A. Byrnes is an Assistant Chaplain at Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel & Center at Yale University.
