Recognizing a change in student populations, campus ministers at Midwest Jesuit high schools adapt to bring spirituality to their students

By Patricia McGeever

Schoolwork, sports and social activities can quickly fill a teenager’s calendar—so much so that their spiritual lives can suffer. To address that challenge, and the reality that an increasing percentage of students are either not Catholic or not practicing their faith, campus ministers at Jesuit high schools across the Midwest are shepherding teens to find God in all things.

“When I started 23 years ago, I could have gone on a retreat and not question that 75 to 80% of the students had gone to Mass on a regular basis, knew how to enter into prayer, knew how to walk into a chapel,” says Ed DeVenney, director of campus ministry at Saint Ignatius High School in Cleveland. “That is not the same anymore.”

The role of the campus minister is more evangelical than it used to be, he says, and basic reverence is something that needs to be taught. “We have to go to where the students are. We have chaplains for our different student activities, predominantly sports, but we also have chaplains for the theater, the choir, the band. We’re meeting them where they are more than we used to.”

DeVenney loves Jesuit spirituality and the Jesuits’ approach to social justice. Years ago, he discerned the priesthood himself. Instead of becoming a priest, he went to college, met the woman he would marry and earned his master’s degree in theology. He’s been at Saint Ignatius for several years, the last five as director of campus ministry.

More than half of students at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis are not Catholic, but Shaughn Phillips, the school’s director of campus ministry since 2022, works to accompany them on their faith journey no matter what their beliefs are.

“I think part of my role as a lay ecclesiastic minister working alongside the Jesuits here is trying to create that culture of encounter,” he says. “To create a space where everyone is seen and heard just for who they are even with the challenges, joys and crosses.”

Phillips says there are two important qualities every campus minister must have: a solid relationship with Christ and a love of young people. The rest, he says, can be learned through education, workshops and conferences.

“I tease, in our budget I have candy, and I put it down as relational ministry,” he says. “We have students coming into our offices to grab a piece of candy, but it’s in those small little encounters of asking, ‘Hey, how’s your day going? How’s your heart today? What’s a rose? What’s a thorn?’ Sort of a mini Examen of sorts.”

For Susan Nye-Brothers, working with a predominantly African American male student body that isn’t Catholic at Loyola High School in Detroit is very different from her previous roles in young adult ministry in the United States, and diocesan work in Canada.

“I don’t look at it as a challenge,” she says. “I look at it as an opportunity to offer them the beauty of the Catholic faith and have conversations with them about where they are.”

Today, she is the sole campus minister for 120 students.

By contrast, St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati has a campus ministry team of six for 1,364 students. Director Nick Mayrand says he and full-time campus minister Tim Beerman and religion teacher John Eby are aided by Jesuit Frs. Tom Manahan and Richard Millbourn, who help with retreats, confessions and school liturgies. A Jesuit novice, Jon Herrington, also worked in campus ministry and taught religion at St. X this past year.

“At each grade level, I’m incredibly amazed by students’ willingness to give themselves over to the experience, to engage with the material in the spiritual instruction we present them, and allow themselves to flourish in this environment,” Herrington says.

Being part of the formation of the young men at St. X was a gift, he says. “You never know which conversation is going to spark a change or what gesture or activity is going to transform them.”

Besides having campus ministers available during school days, all Jesuit high school students have the opportunity to go on a retreat, which would include Mass, reconciliation, prayer services and group discussion. Themes differ in various grades and schools, but upperclassmen are able to take part in the somewhat universal Kairos retreat.

“You can be busy, busy people but if we don’t reflect upon what we’re doing, we can’t really find the God piece in it, or the faith piece in it,” says Fr. Manahan.

DeVenney says students often reflect on how their retreat experiences have helped them grow spiritually.

“I’ve led easily more than 200 retreats in all my years,” he says. “I’m still in awe of the moments when I see something happen in a student, when I see that graced moment where they see God.”