Tough decisions had to be made but we’re glad we made a decision last spring to make major changes to our campus ministry program. We didn’t just tweak it a little…we looked at everything, dismantled it and started new.

We are taking a big risk…a big gamble, really. With close to 58,000 ASU undergraduates we had to up our game. We weren’t making the impact or connecting with enough students like we knew we needed to. So, we added to our budget, more people, more events, more activities, and even more food. All to make this program have the biggest impact it can have. We didn’t just add a little here and there...we 2.5x’d our campus ministry program. We had a lot of great things already in place - Sisters of Life, our sacraments programs, most of the pieces of daily Nemwan life, but we needed to do more. We had to make some new substantial investments, not costs…investments.

We now have 10 campus missionaries, not four. We hired the very best campus ministry leader in Ryan Ayala. We brought back Focus Missionaries, and we strengthened our partnership with St. Paul Outreach to help round out our team. Tear it down to make it great. That’s what we did. And now, the missionaries are having a record number of encounters with new students on campus. Our College Night and Newman Nights are filled with more than 200 students. The women’s and men’s nights are seeing increases in attendance every month. Our Masses, especially the 6:00pm, are again filled with students…it’s working.

Doing this was the right thing to do. Campus ministry is our mission. Impacting the lives of the students and bringing them closer to Christ is why we are here. It’s paying off. Our biggest fundraising effort for campus ministry is our Fall appeal, which goes through Tue, Nov 28. We are halfway through the appeal and we are less than 60% of our goal. In years past we have usually been very close to meeting the goal by now. Not this year. If you have been a regular contributor to Newman at this time of the year…Thank you. If you haven’t made your gift yet and plan to before Tue, Nov 28, thank you in advance. If you’d like to make a contribution, visit www.is.gd/asucatholic and make your gift.

Double the impact for new and lapsed donors. If you’ve never given to Newman, or your last gift was more than two years ago, now is the best time to make a gift to campus ministry. Right now your gift will be matched by a generous family. Your $20/month becomes $480 for Newman. A $50 one-time gift becomes $100! Visit www.is.gd/asucatholic.

Fundraising is a necessary part of our pastoral life. We feel that when we are speaking about the importance of campus ministry, the fundraising part is easy. We hope you will prayerfully consider supporting the campus ministry mission during this time.  Help us keep the momentum going. Invest with us. Invest in campus ministry.

With every prayer and good wish, yours in the Lord,

Fr. Rob Clements, Director
Fr. Aaron Qureshi, Associate Director

P.S. College campuses are under siege right now around the U.S., help us be a place of Give by Tue, Nov 28, www.is.gd/asucatholic.

BACK TO LIST