Brad Klingele
At age eighteen I came to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, interested in getting a degree and, more importantly, growing in my faith. A lifelong Catholic, I was still buzzing from my spiritual awakening during my senior year of high school which occurred while attending a parish series on the Catholic view of Scripture. I was amazed to hear that I didn’t need to lose my love of science to believe the Scriptures, as the Catholic view was a far cry from the overly literalist picture I had formed as a youth. My interest piqued, I asked the lecturer if we could talk about faith, and we did—every week over lunch for a year. I learned to pray, and to read and study Scripture. Most importantly, I came to realize the palpable reality of Jesus as both a historical person and as a presence in my life.
As I entered the UW, I sought a small group with whom I could read Scripture but found nothing that was Catholic. I asked the friend with whom I had met regularly for the past year, if he would start a small group in his home a few miles from campus, and it was there that a group of students and other adults began to meet. I spent many late nights after the small group talking with one or another of the older members about faith, theology, spirituality, and the struggles of life. It became clear to me from my own search that St. Paul’s – the first Newman center in the country – did not have a vibrant community of undergraduates.
When I spoke with the pastoral staff, they asked me to work with them to form a team of peer ministers. I asked a friend from the university to help out. He was a baptized Catholic who hadn’t darkened the doorway of a church for most of his life until a year before, after he had joined the Scripture group. Like me, he would stay late after the group, discussing, arguing, inquiring. He also began to meet with some of the more experienced members over lunch to learn more about prayer and spirituality. We were pretty green, yet there we were, helping to shape undergraduate campus ministry. The staff was supportive of student ideas, and they let us run with them. Our first initiative was a Scripture group on campus complete with guitar-led worship music. Students began to take notice and become involved because an activity by and for peers was “cool” and compelling. Our ability to lead small groups of students and to help them to pray and read Scripture regularly was no accident. The friend who had taken me out to lunch every week without fail throughout high school continued to teach me the spirituality and methodology of effective peer-to-peer ministry.
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.