Campus Ministry
Nurture faith, inspire service, and create a wisdom and truth-loving culture.
You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22: 37-39).
The Campus Ministry department serves the pastoral, liturgical, spiritual and communal needs of Saint Joseph Notre Dame High School. Serving these needs is integral to the school-wide, Catholic commitment to develop the whole person on behalf of his/her earthly vocation and eternal destiny. SJND Campus Ministry helps to provide the pastoral presence and opportunities necessary to nurture faith, inspire service and create a wisdom- and truth-loving climate whereby all community members are encouraged and challenged to foster a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and witness to the Gospel message of love of God and neighbor.
Campus Ministry partners with faculty, who are recognized as facilitators of learning and as faith and role models, to assist with the full human development of each member of our diverse community. Central to this development is formation in faith, which is supported through SJND’s liturgical life, retreat program, servant leadership and social justice work, and peer-to-peer ministry opportunities.
Liturgical Life
Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst (Matthew. 18:20).
It is in prayer that you will find peace for your soul, the strength, enthusiasm and the means that allow us to multiply our efforts when we are overburdened (Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, founder of the Society of Mary).
Faculty, staff, and students of SJND gather in community prayer to celebrate the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the central expression of faith. The community prayer that is liturgy allows us to practice a ministry of presence with each other, to build up our interior resilience so that we can carry out God’s transformative work, and most importantly, to connect to the Source of our lives by tuning in and lifting up our hearts and minds.
Monthly liturgies also celebrate key moments in the life of our school, in which all members of the SJND family are invited to bring their gifts to the table.
PEER-TO-PEER MINISTRY
Very courageous souls are needed for the service of the good God (St. Julie Billiart, foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur).
The Campus Ministry department trains and collaborates with student ministers to design and provide opportunities to help fellow students grow in appreciation and understanding of the Gospel message, to meet their pastoral needs and to deepen their faith and spiritual life. Students serve as peer-to-peer ministers in weekly or monthly meetings and also on retreats. The Campus Ministry Executive Board (CMEB) is the student group responsible for morning prayer, the planning of liturgies and the 9th and 11th grade retreats, and general peer ministry needs. Retreat leaders are chosen among the junior and senior classes to accompany students in their retreat experience. They undergo in-depth training to prepare themselves for the responsibility and privilege of walking alongside their peers and witnessing their spiritual journeys.