Transforming our Spirits for Service and Leadership
3.A SPOTLIGHT ON SERVANT LEADERSHIP IN CHURCH
MINISTRY
Sponsor: The Center for Vocation and Servant
Leadership
Partners:
Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology, Division
of University Advancement,
Campus Ministry
Description: This initiative will use print and
on-line media to ‘spotlight’ particular servant-leaders,
providing mini-biographies and web profiles describing journeys
from calling, through discernment, to commitment and to share
stories of students and graduates aspiring to, or already
working in such fields as business, law, academia, medicine and
social work. Those presented will include ordained clergy,
seminarians and lay men and women actively involved in ministry,
or aspiring to such ministry.
This initiative’s mini-biographies of those active in
ministry will appear in regular columns in: the student
newspaper, the Catholic Advocate of the Archdiocese of Newark,
and various other Seton Hall publications including the employee
magazine, the alumni magazine, and through various newsletters,
as well as on the Seton Hall website.
This initiative will highlight traditional ministries in
various religions, including ordained ministry, youth ministry,
music ministry, and catechesis. It will also introduce the
public to new or non-traditional opportunities for lay people,
including prison ministry, hospital ministry, and parish
management.
3.B ‘CALLED TO EVANGELIZE’
Sponsor:
Campus Ministry
Partner: The Center for Vocation and Servant
Leadership
Description: The basic outreach, which is focused
around small group Bible Studies and the Sunday Liturgy, is
accomplished through many personal invitations with the help of
young peer evangelists from the Colorado-based Focus Program.
The Focus Program has done a great service by training young
people to call their peers to the faith by reading with them the
Word of God and providing for their ongoing spiritual support.
The Bible Studies are led by Campus Ministry and the peer
evangelists who have been trained by the Focus Program. The
Bible Studies take place in the residence halls or in another
convenient place for commuter students. The Focus program
develops leadership among the students, whereby the number of
Bible Studies can be multiplied and the campus is thus prepared
to continue the program when the Focus leaders move on after a
two-year commitment.
The Director of Campus Ministry has been in touch with
the Colorado-based Focus Program. We would like to support four
of their young evangelists (two men and two women) for a
two-year commitment to Seton Hall University. The general
agreement with the Focus Program is to provide a $10,000
stipend. We believe that this program will lay a firm foundation
for the support of every sense of Christian vocation.
3.C ‘F.A.S.T. FORWARD’ (FACULTY, ADMINISTRATION,
STAFF TOGETHER)
Sponsor:
Center for Catholic Studies
Partner: The Center for Vocation and Servant
Leadership
Description: This initiative calls for a weekly
reflection group consisting of members of the faculty,
administration and staff. The purpose of the group is to offer
opportunities for key members of the University community to
share their personal stories in an informal yet structured
environment. By using narrative, storytelling, and various art
forms, participants will be able to freely and creatively
express their dreams and challenges for their work in a
supportive and relaxed environment. These weekly meetings will
afford an opportunity for faculty, staff, and administration to
become reacquainted with sources of sacredness and grace that
are within them, but often overlooked in daily lives. Initially
it may appear that the faculty, administration and staff would
benefit most directly, but our students may actually benefit
most from having more centered and passionate role models among
them.
3.D AUTHENTIC PREACHING
Sponsor:
Immaculate Conception Seminary
Partner: The Center for Vocation and Servant
Leadership
Description: The Authentic Preaching initiative will
have two major components:
1. An Authentic Preaching Seminar. An instructional
program that seeks to improve the quality of homilies must
necessarily transcend a strictly academic or intellectual focus.
Sharing their intimate response to the Scriptures, the seminar
will equip each preacher with the skills that are necessary to
understand that the preacher’s task is not the explanation of
God’s word but the vivid revival of the original message and its
dynamic application to the lives of our contemporaries.
2. Visiting Preachers and Homileticians. Each semester,
two renowned and exceptionally talented preachers would be
invited to speak to the seminarians on the task of preaching.
The educational aspects of these experiences would be matched by
the inspiration and encouragement of these encounters. Specific
problems could be addressed and remedies could be applied and
practiced at subsequent training sessions.
3.E INTERNSHIPS IN CHURCH MINISTRY
Sponsor:
The Career Center
Partners: The Center for Vocation and Servant
Leadership,
Lay Ministry Program of the Immaculate Conception Seminary
School of Theology,
Center for Catholic Studies,
Campus Ministry,
Archdiocesan Offices of Pastoral Life and Catechetics, and
faith-based organizations in the surrounding communities
Description: The Career Center, working with the Lay
Leadership program in the Immaculate Conception Seminary School
of Theology, and in collaboration with a group of Seton Hall and
external partners, will develop an ‘Internships in Church
Ministry’ program. Religious institutions, of a variety of faith
traditions, will be sought to sponsor interns. Internships will
be developed for students in a wide-range of degree programs,
both undergraduate and graduate. These will include the
traditional religious disciplines such as Theology, Religious
Studies and Catholic Studies but will also include other service
and professional disciplines such as Social Work, Nonprofit
Organization Management, Law, Education and Nursing.
3.F EXPLORING FAITH, SOCIAL JUSTICE AND VOCATION
THROUGH THE ARTS
Sponsor:
College of Arts and Sciences
Partners: Center for Vocation and Servant Leadership,
Theatre in the Round,
Department of Art and Music,
Poetry in the Round,
Walsh Library Gallery
Description: This program is designed to encourage
arts programs across campus to develop and sponsor arts
programming with the theme of ‘Exploring Faith, Social Justice
and Vocation through the Arts.’ Programs might include:
- 1. A Sacred Music concert representing a variety of faith traditions
- 2. Art exhibit focusing on poverty and social justice issues
- 3. Play or film with a focus on faith or the life of a servant leader such as ‘Gandhi’ or ‘Archbishop Romero’
- 4. Poet or author whose work focuses on faith
- 5. Sponsor playwriting or short study competition for students on faith, social justice and vocation topics