UW-Milwaukee Newman Center
Margaret Rhody: Student to Campus Minister
Student Leadership Development Coordinator, 2008, The Newman Center at UW-Milwaukee
I first discovered The Evangelical Catholic as a UW-Milwaukee student in spring 2002. A small group of students and I had been praying and working to enliven Catholic Campus Ministry at UW-Milwaukee when a friend from Madison recommended that we attend an Institute. I now take a group of students to the Institute every year. Our students consistently leave this encounter with The Evangelical Catholic desiring to grow closer to our Lord, trusting in God’s ability to use them on our campus, and fired up to reach out to their peers.
In addition to the training provided through the Institute, the Evangelical Catholic has been an incredible resource to our campus ministry staff and to me personally. Several of the Evangelical Catholic staff took the time to sit down with our staff and talk through the specific challenges we are facing at this early stage in our campus ministry’s development. The questions they asked us helped our staff to evaluate how we can best direct our efforts and limited resources to meet the needs of our students.
The EC has blessed me personally as I have initiated Discipleship Training on our campus. Not only do I draw heavily from the written materials in the EC Handbook, but I have checked our progress in short phone conversations with EC staff. They shared sound pedagogical principles for our group, which have transformed our meetings. After each phone call, I felt encouraged and energized to face the challenges on our campus.
In my experience, the EC provides a secret ingredient to upgrade a campus ministry’s offerings from a meal to a banquet. Because the EC is about supporting people and not just turning out programs, their activities have a lifelong impact. Their staff has poured time, attention, and encouragement into me as a campus minister, enabling me to pour time, attention, and encouragement into the lives of our student leaders, who in turn pour time, attention, and encouragement into the lives of their peers… Who knows how many people will come to love our God and His Church as this cycle continues!
Student Stories
- Christina Giordano
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After attending a Catholic retreat during her sophomore year of college, Christina felt herself growing closer to Christ for the first time in years.
- Brad Klingele
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After being formed in his faith by one-on-one mentoring and small groups, Brad helped to renew his local campus ministry.
- Melanie Contrestan
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“I feel like the Lord spoke to my heart. ‘The Church needs you, Melanie, and you need the Church.’”
Campus Ministry Stories
- Harvard Catholic Student Center
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Faye Darnall became convinced of EC ministry methods while a campus minister at UW-Madison, so she took them with her when she went to Harvard.
- UW-Milwaukee Newman Center
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Margaret Rhody was a UW-Milwaukee student when she attended her first EC Institute. Then she took what she learned to a campus ministry position there.