Campus Ministry fosters a spirit of hospitality that supports and encourages all students, faculty, and staff in the search for truth grounded in faith and reason. Campus Ministry is particularly attentive to the Catholic faith and Sacraments while encouraging all members of the UD community to deeply know and freely live out their own faith’s sacred texts and traditions in everyday life. This rootedness in particular faith traditions is coupled with a commitment to  increasing religious literacy, dialogue, and reverence for the faith traditions of others. In this environment of education and transformational growth, there are safe and respectful opportunities to wrestle with the hard questions of faith. Individuals and communities grow in a deep understanding of faith and express it in authentic practice.

Campus Ministry supports, challenges, and accompanies members of the UD community to respond to the call to follow Christ as disciples and as faith-based leaders. Discernment of faith, skills, and values, in both an individual and communal context, equips all to embody the Gospel for our campus, local community, the Church, and the world. Faith-based leadership calls us beyond ourselves to empower others in their faith within the context of community and the common good. Therefore, leadership formation that empowers individuals to accompany their peers on their faith journey is integral in the development and execution of all Campus Ministry programs. 

Exploration of vocation empowers individuals to discern how God calls them to use their gifts, talents, and passions in faithful service for the common good. Campus Ministry equips the UD community to embrace their relationship with God as a foundation of their identity, purpose, and response to the needs of others. This exploration is rooted in ongoing, active, and dynamic discernment and accompaniment that honors an individual’s context and development, which continue to evolve throughout a person’s life.

Campus Ministry invites students, faculty, and staff to become community - where relationships in faith are transformed and deepened and people are gathered and sent. A variety of communities create diverse opportunities to gather for meaning-making and to cultivate a sense of belonging. Community is formed in the spirit of our Marianist identity, calling members to faith that inspires solidarity, commitment to social justice, and service for the common good. Through prayer, various faith practices, leadership, and participation in Campus Ministry, communities  listen in faith and respond to God, one another, and the needs of the world. 

Recognizing that spirituality extends well beyond any one particular faith tradition, Campus Ministry accompanies students, faculty, and staff as they make meaning of life experiences using a lens of faith. Campus Ministry walks alongside individuals and communities as they celebrate life’s joys, become aware of God’s grace, and discern the Spirit’s movement in their daily life. In times of challenge or crisis, it can be especially hard to recognize God’s presence. In these moments, Campus Ministers accompany individuals and the community as they ponder life’s most difficult questions. Through spiritual accompaniment, Campus Ministry inspires the community to wonder, reflect, and deepen its relationship with God.

Action for social justice and peace permeates all areas of Campus Ministry and the University of Dayton. Inspired by the social ethics of diverse faith traditions and drawing from the Catholic tradition of social change and the Marianist Charism, Campus Ministry invites all to weave faith and action together in order to practice love in a broken world. Campus Ministry challenges the UD community to live out the values of human dignity and solidarity by engaging in action at the local, national, and international levels. Prayer, advocacy for positive change, service, accompaniment, equitable relationship-building, raising awareness of social and environmental justice issues, critical reflection, and dialogue are crucial components to discern our call to challenge ourselves beyond what is comfortable. The integrative education for peace and social justice inspires passion to be lived in and beyond the UD experience. 

The image of the round Marianist table inspires Campus Ministry to include and lift up all members of the human family who are equal in their belovedness. Valuing diversity and inclusivity of voice, perspective, identity, and experience, Campus Ministry is committed to journeying with students of all identities as they discover their authenticity of self and faith. Campus Ministry seeks to grow increasingly more attentive to the participation in campus leadership, worship, and spiritual practice of those who have been historically marginalized and minoritized. Campus Ministry acknowledges and works towards healing the wounds and systemic inequities caused by racism, sexism, and other identity-based forms of discrimination and exclusion present in the history and practices of society at large and in religious institutions, which includes the Catholic Church. Campus Ministry is committed to growth in knowledge and praxis of diversity, equity, and inclusion.