Celebrate Catholic Schools Week: Jan. 30 -Feb. 3

Catholic Schools...Faith, Academics, Service! Find out how BCHS is celebrating Catholic Schools this week.

About Campus Ministry

Mission

The purpose of campus ministry at Bishop Chatard is to provide a true Catholic environment of ministry that empowers the school community, especially students, to grow as Disciples of Christ. The Eucharist is at the heart of everything done in the Campus Ministry Department. Under the direction of the chaplain, with assistance from the director of campus ministry, the campus ministry assistant, and the campus ministry board, the campus ministry program concentrates on the areas of faith formation, Christian leadership, and service. All adult members of the Bishop Chatard community (administrators, teachers, parents and staff) are part of campus ministry.

Faith Life

Campus ministry focuses on aiding individual faith formation through providing weekly class Masses and Reconciliation, daily prayer opportunities, All School Masses, liturgical events, retreats, and individual pastoral guidance for students and faculty. The liturgical seasons of the Catholic Church year are incorporated into all of the school liturgy planning. The importance of individual participation and Christian unity among school community members is promoted. In order to encourage a connection with the wider Catholic community, the north deanery pastoral leaders are invited to all campus ministry events.

Christian Leadership

Campus ministry is designed to encourage students to embrace a role as a leader from the perspective of being a Christian role model. Students are an integral part of all campus ministry activities especially with the school liturgical events. A core team of juniors and seniors are trained to serve as team members for the underclass retreats. Campus Ministry is responsible for organizing and training adults and students to share their faith and gifts in order to create a sense of Christian community at Bishop Chatard.

Service

In conjunction with the entire Bishop Chatard community, campus ministry assists the students in fulfilling the mandatory service requirements by providing information regarding opportunities for service. The true success of the service program rests on the shoulders of the individual adults who are the service group leaders. All adult members of the faculty and staff are given a group of students to ensure that quality service is accomplished throughout the school year.

Retreats

Campus ministry provides a structured retreat program designed to enable students at every grade level to reflect on God's presence in their everyday lives and how they might bring God's presence to others through discipleship. The retreat experiences allow the students an opportunity to make a connection between their knowledge of faith and Christian values with actual life situations. The goal of each retreat is to bring the students to Christ in order to reiterate the importance of having Christ, namely the Eucharist, at the center of one's life.

Freshmen will attend a day of reflection as a class to be held during the school day. Sophomores will attend one of four retreat dates to spend a full school day away at a retreat center. Juniors have the opportunity to attend an overnight retreat held off campus, and the retreat program ends with the Christian Awakening Program, an extended retreat experience that occurs during the senior year.