90 The Art of Accompaniment
help students begin to discern their vocation, as well as live out their present
vocation in a holy and Christlike way.
Campus ministry programs are the epicenters of promoting growth in
holiness in educational institutions. They play a unique role in forming stu-
dents and faculty in both wisdom and holiness, accompanying each person
as they pursue relationship with Jesus Christ.
The goal of any high school or university-level campus ministry is to
be “an expression of the Church’s special desire to be present to all who are
involved in higher education” (Empowered by the Spirit, 13). In other words,
Catholic campus ministry is called to model accompaniment within edu-
cational institutions, walking alongside all people on campus while helping
them to integrate those discoverable truths of the intellectual life with the
deep mysteries of the Catholic faith. While campus ministry should serve
Catholics on campus by offering opportunities to worship, build Christian
community, share faith, and serve the poor, it must not forget its responsi-
bility both to demonstrate spiritual accompaniment for the wider campus
community and profess Jesus Christ as the source of all truth. Since the
Church holds that those who seek to know “the highest principles that in-
tegrate all knowledge; ...the deepest secrets that constitute human nature;
[and] ...a personal synthesis in which knowledge and love are ultimately
united” (Empowered by the Spirit, 19) are ultimately seeking Jesus Christ, it
is the responsibility of campus ministry to enter into dialogue with teachers
and students alike, sharing the Church's understanding of wisdom as more
than a concept, or a theoretical answer, “but an event, a person, which gives
life a new horizon and a decisive direction”: Jesus Christ (Deus Caritas Est,
1).
In addition to bringing intellectual and spiritual integration into Cath-
olic educational institutions, campus ministry must also be the training
ground of spiritual accompaniment where young people can walk alongside
their peers as they seek to integrate the Gospel into their lives. It is im-
perative that campus ministry programs empower and train young people
to share the joys and difficulties of the Christian life with one another. By
forming young people in pastoral listening, patience, faith sharing, and vir-
tuous friendships, campus ministry programs will build up student ministry
leaders who can share the kerygma in word and deed. When it empowers
young leaders, campus ministry programs will help students mature in a