Implementation of Campus Ministry Activities: Implication to Quality

Spiritual Formation

Forchia Mae G. Cutar

 Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM

Introduction

Christian formation in Catholic schools has only one aim – to enable our students

to have a deep and personal encounter with Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus Christ who is priest, prophet

and king-servant. This three-fold mission of Christ is thus reflected in the three essential

components of Christian formation in our Catholic Schools, namely, Religious Education

(prophetic ministry), Campus Ministry (priestly ministry), and the Social Action Ministry (kingly

ministry).

Campus Ministry is an extension of the basic ministries of the Church, constituting a mission

handed to Her by Christ: the ministry of the Word, including evangelization and catechesis,

guidance and education; the ministry of worship; and the ministry of healing. (Fourth Synod of

Manila, p.92). From the Christian Formation Manual of the Catholic Education Association of

the Philippines, campus ministry’s main purpose is to meet the religious and pastoral needs of

the students. While they are in the school, they should be provided with opportunities to develop

themselves not only as efficient leaders but also as God-fearing, religious and morally upright

stewards. According to Samples (2016), campus ministry involvement leads to a better sense of

worldview and pro-social character development. In the CEAP Christian Formation Manual, the

four major functions of Campus Ministry, as distinguished from the other essential elements of

faith formation in schools are as follows: Liturgical Animation, Spiritual Direction, Youth

Ministry, and Building Faith Communities. These are some of the programs and activities that

the Campus Ministry may offer to the students/pupils, faculty, and parents: Daily Masses and
confession, institutional Masses and Special Community Liturgies, Rite of Christian Initiation,

Prayer Sessions, Recollection and Retreats, Spiritual Direction, and etc. All this programs and

activities play a vital role in the life of the stake holders. These help promote spiritual

engagement and worship, encourage reflection and dedicated service.

The term spiritual formation is derived from the New Testament Scripture in Galatians 4:19

(NIV), where “the word formed comes from morphe, which means ‘to shape’” describing the

“sanctification or transformation of disciples” (Hull, 2006, p. 35). Steibel (2010) claimed that

formation and education are inseparable, and if education without formation is bankrupt, then

formation without education is also bankrupt (p. 349). Forrest and Lamport (2013) also asserted

that “Christian education is more than just content; it is spiritual formation” (p. 112). Spiritual

formation can be understood simply as cultivating or deepening a personal relationship with

God. Jesus modeled prayer for his disciples, ancient and modern -- going to a solitary place

early in the morning (Mark 1:35) or up on a mountain in the evening (Matthew 14:23), even

spending the whole night in prayer (Luke 6:12). Advocates of Spiritual Formation view

prayer as a means to an end: They see prayer as a preparatory discipline to strengthen me for

later success. Children grow spiritually as they have the opportunity to focus on others

(Carr,2008; 1 Corinthians 12:25; Ephesians 4:32). Involving children in service opportunities at

an early age is an effective way to engage them in their faith (Fowler, 2004). Since service

allows children an opportunity to live out their faith, it is an important part of spiritual

development (Carr, 2008) and is an essential part of program practices that promote children’s

spiritual development. Smitherman (2009) believes that character development and spiritual

development are so closely woven together that character development will not occur apart from

spiritual development.
Campus ministry is set up to be a person to person experience. The “new normal” of the Covid-

19 pandemic has made a great challenge to campus ministry. Campus Ministers have a difficulty

in this shift of environment. The implementation of the regular Campus Ministry activities is a

great problem in this “new normal”. In this time of crisis, many campus ministers who have

found themselves thrown off by the Covid-19 pandemic. When colleges and universities across

the country were suddenly forced online by the pandemic, campus ministries were likewise

forced to adapts to circumstances beyond their control. Emily Egan (2020), a campus minister,

emphasized that campus ministers should be “transparent and open with students about the

ambiguity of planning during global pandemic. She suggests that inviting students to reflect

about the ways in which such challenging uncertainty can lead to skill-building for self-care,

increased self-knowledge, deeper community and rich faith exploration.

San Isidro College, the oldest Catholic School in the Province of Bukidnon, was also affected by

the transition from traditional to the new normal set up of education. The school adapted the

distant learning through the use of the different application such as Zoom, Google Meet and the

schools’s Learning Management System (LMS). They also provide printed Activity Sheets for

those who have difficulty in accessing the materials online. This new set up brought a great

challenge to the Campus Ministry Office of the Integrated Basic Education of San Isidro

College. In this time of crisis, it is very important to connect to the learners and continue the

spiritual activities offered by the Campus Ministry Office. The Campus Ministry Office created a

Facebook page where they can view live online Masses and prayer sessions. The office also

offered for the first time Virtual Recollection from Grade 6 to Grade 12. This was done via

Zoom. The Spiritual Bonding Hour was also done once in this school year by class advisers to
their advisory class. Due to the restriction of mass gatherings, some activities were not done this

school year.

This study will help the Campus Ministry Office In-charge to assess if the activities given were

relevant for the learners. This will also guide them to plan and implement appropriate, relevant

and effective Campus Ministry activities for the next school years. Many of the articles written

and studies conducted deals only with the effectiveness and relevance of this ministry to the

college students in higher education. In fact, Davidson (2016) on her study, mentioned that Craft,

Weber and Menke (2009) carried out a study on the role of campus ministers in student

development at public universities and found that campus ministers supported religious, personal

and leadership developments among students. However, there has little study about the pastoral

or campus ministry on the basic education and its effect and relevance not only to the students,

but also to the administration, faculty, staff and parents. Thus, the researcher likes to know the

extent of effectiveness and relevance of the campus ministry program to the teachers, staff,

parents and students. Implementation of online activities is also understudied.

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

The research is grounded in Fowler’s Theory (1981) of Faith development generally

considered to be the foremost authority on spiritual development. It centers on the idea of

individuals possessing belief systems that develop as they move through life, it is able to provide

insight as to how faith is acquired, maintained, and altered.

This study is also anchored on the theoretical model for spiritual well-being proposed by

John Fisher (2011). This model is composed of four domains, namely: Personal Domain,

Communal Domain, Environmental Domain and Transcendental Domain.

 This study aims to enhance the Campus Ministry Program of San Isidro College

Integrated Basic Education, such that all the services offered by the program will contribute to

the development of the spiritual well-being or spiritual formation of the whole educative

community. Therefore, it is important to know first the status of the Campus Ministry Program.

It is important to evaluate the components of the Campus Ministry Program: its purpose

and objectives, the campus ministry council, planning and organization of activities and to know

its extent of contribution to the holistic development of the educative community.

Evaluating the campus ministry’s purpose and objectives determines whether they have

been achieved or not. Evaluating the campus ministry council as well provides insights on its

strengths and weaknesses. It is also important to assess how planning, organization and

implementation of activities are carried out because this also contributes to the effectiveness of

the program.

The study also seeks to find out the extent in which the Campus Ministry Program has

helped the educative community especially the learners in their practice of prayer, service to

others and building character. The responses of the participants will help the council find if the

programs and activities implemented for the School Year 2020 – 2021 are relevant and effective.

This will also help the council to plan and make some innovations of the Campus Ministry

program for the coming school year.

Schema

Independent Variables Dependent Variables

Online Campus Ministry Spiritual Formation

Activities
 Figure 1: Schematic Diagram of the Study

Statement of the Problem

This study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What online Campus Ministry activities implemented by SIC during the school year 2020 –
2021?

2. How do students describe their experiences and involvement in campus ministry activities in
terms of:

a. Liturgical animation;

b. Spiritual Direction;

c. Youth Ministry; and

d. Building Faith Communities?

3. What recommendations can be given to improve online campus ministry activities?

Definition of Terms

Campus Ministry – A part of the student services who focuses on the spiritual
development of students through spiritual-based programs, and other spiritually-based initiatives
to ensure the spiritual development of students.

Campus Minister - A disciple and a witness of Jesus Christ who actively engages with
all the members of the school community and effectively communicates the Gospel to them
through liturgical celebrations, faith formation and community building activities.

Spiritual Formation - The process of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ for
the glory of God and for the sake of others

Liturgical Animation – A function of the Campus Ministry to lead the members of the
school community into a deeper prayer life and better understanding and appreciation of the
sacraments, especially the Sacrament of the Eucharist and Reconciliation.

Spiritual Direction – A function of the Campus Ministry to support and nourish the life
in the Spirit of the members of the school.

Youth Ministry – A function of the Campus Ministry which recognizes the main target
and recipients of the Campus Ministry program: the students, faculty, and parents. This ensures
that the needs and approaches suit their level of appreciation of their faith life.

Building Faith Communities – The core of a Catholic School as it is recognized as a

community of faith.
 Chapter 2

RESEACH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research process used in the study namely: research design,

research setting, sampling procedure, instruments, data gathering procedure, and statistical

treatment of data.

Research Design

The study used phenomenology qualitative research design. Phenomenology is a form of

qualitative research that focuses on the study of an individual’s lived experiences within the

world. The study focuses on the individual experiences of the SIC IBED Learners on Online

Campus Ministry activities for School Year 2020 – 2021 as a basis for improvement of future

Campus Ministry activities.

Research Setting

The study will be conducted in San Isidro College which is located in Barangay 10,

Impalambong, Malaybalay City , Bukidnon.

San Isidro College is one of the biggest and the oldest private catholic school in

Bukidnon since it was founded in 1949. The school is located in the capital of Bukidnon which is

Malaybalay. San Isidro College is a member of Bukidnon Association of Catholic Schools

(BUACS), and in the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP). SIC offers

Basic Education that includes Pre-School to Senior High School.

Sampling Procedure
 The participants of this study are the students of the Integrated Basic Education. Since

this study is a phenomenological research, Ellis (2016) said that a sample of between 6 and 20

individuals is sufficient. The researcher will have nine research participants in the study, 3

participants from each of the three sub-units of the IBED namely: Grade School, Junior High

School and Senior High School.

The study will utilize stratified random sampling. There will be nine research participants

in the study, three participants from each of the three sub-units of the IBED namely: Grade

School, Junior High School and Senior High School.

Data Gathering Instrument

In collecting the needed data and information for the study, a researcher-made
questionnaire will be used. This questionnaire will be content validated by experts. The
researcher will conduct Focus Group Discussion with the participants. Series of individual
interview will also be done.

Ethical Considerations

The identity and responses of the research participants will be kept confidential in line
with the ethical standards of the school that includes the use of voluntary participation, informed
consent, confidentiality and anonymity. Recordings of the FGD and individual interviews will be
kept by the researcher.

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