Campus minister has five A's for students

Awareness, annunciation, awe, acceptance and apostolic action: According to Sister Joan Mary Hartigan, CSJ, those five A's comprise a good model for youth ministers to use in working with adolescent girls.

After five years, Sister Joan Mary is about to leave her post as campus minister at the all-girl Academy of the Holy Names in Albany to teach religious studies full-time at Maria College.

As she prepared for her new ministry, she reflected on what she has learned from the one she's ending, using a model she taught several months ago at a workshop at the National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry in Denver, Colorado.

Step one

Awareness is the first step toward ministering well to girls in their teen years, said Sister Joan Mary.

"We're finding ourselves in a postmodern era," she noted. "There tends to be a distrust of authority" on the part of teenagers, and "the task of the youth minister is to give adolescent girls something to trust in. God is trustworthy."

Youth ministers, she added, should become aware of what they have to offer their charges and how they can challenge the teens to grow in different areas.

God is here

Annunciation, the next step, refers to the announcement that "God is here, God can be trusted and we have the Gospel of Jesus," said Sister Joan Mary.

Annunciation involves youth ministers' being "an active presence" in the lives of teens -- and that presence should be a joyful one, as well.

"Adolescent girls love proms and cheerleading, or sports and games, or the excitement of doing a neat academic project," she explained. "They love the exhilaration. There's a thrill. [Youth ministers should] be part of that with them, mirror it."

Awe-some

One important part of campus ministry is service. The campus minister explained that meaningful service projects can give youth ministers a "window of entry" to help teens feel awe -- and God.

"You can be in awe with them," she suggested. "Mirror their excitement of life. I've stopped girls in the hallways [at Holy Names] and said, `Would you look at what a gorgeous day this is?' In the classroom, we pray with our eyes open -- we look out the window."

Naturally, she added, youth ministers need to feel awed by creation themselves in order to share it with those they serve.

Step four

It's often hard to tell whether adolescent girls accept what they're being taught about God or not.

Sister Joan Mary said she looks at their reactions: Are the teens dropping their defenses, and opening up about their lives and feelings? Are they responding to invitations? Are they recognizing concepts of God themselves?

"It's hard to tell if someone's surrendering to the Gospel," Sister Joan Mary remarked. "I'm a big believer in action."

Action

That leads to the final step: apostolic action. Working with the poor and others in need changes young people, said the campus minister. In her own ministry, she's taken adolescent girls to work in shelters, do Christmas caroling and try a host of other projects.

Some statistics say that teen girls are more religious than their male peers. If that's true, said Sister Joan Mary, "we have a wonderful opportunity to tap into that."

While spirituality isn't a cure-all for teen problems, she said, faith can sustain teens during hard times.

Moving on

Sister Joan Mary said it's "bittersweet" to leave Holy Names Academy.

Campus ministry, she said, is really ministering to oneself, because the minister learns so much from the youth.

"There have been many holy moments -- in a large group, in the classroom, in the hallway," she stated. "It makes you want to get down on your knees and praise God. The Lord's just been very present."

Although she has worked in a girls' school, Sister Joan Mary Hartigan noted that adolescent boys obviously shouldn't be left out of youth ministry. "Boys are incredibly inquisitive, have a sense of right and wrong and justice," she said. "The same [steps] can be applied."

(Sister Joan Mary named a couple of her favorite resources for campus ministers: the Voices Project by St. Mary's Press, which nurtures the spirituality of adolescent girls (learn more at www.smp.org); and Rev. Tony Gittens' book on missionaries, which can be applied to other ministries.)

(6/12/03) [[In-content Ad]]