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About The Prospector (Helena, Mont.) 1916-2015 | View This Issue
The Prospector (Helena, Mont.), 28 April 2004, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/TheProspector/2004-04-28/ed-1/seq-3/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY APRIL 25 26 27 28 Godspell, 8 pm PAC Observatory O pen, 9 pm Midnight B reakfast O Q 10-11 pm ^ Last day of classes! Godspell, 8 pm PAC 30 MAY 4-on-4 S occer Tournament Godspell, 8 pm PAC Super S aturday 01 Cinco de Mayo Celebration, noon, lower C ube Godspell, 8pm PAC 02 B()OK 03 FIN A L EX BUY BACK M 04 A M W E E K ONDAY- THURSD 05 \Y 06 Residence halls close at noon for non-graduates 07 Baccalaureate 11 am - C athedral Commencement 2 pm - PE C enter 08 In her own words: Perrier reminisces about time at Carroll Submitted by Christine Perrier Carroll. So many deep emotions and experiences arise when that word resounds in my ears, mind, heart, soul. From before I began to walk, CarrolfCollege has been part of my family history, and my family has been part of Carroll’s history. As Carroll shaped the lives, identities, and faith of my twelve sisters and brothers throughout the years of my youth, I was influenced by their growth. When I finally decided to attend Carroll College—my sopho more year, incidentally, because 1 tend to follow my heart along the scenic routes of life and had spent my first year finding my o.wn identity at a college in Minnesota—-little was I truly-prepared for the formation I would receive. I discovered Carroll College to be like rich soil that nourishes the seeds planted in its depths. Faculty and staff were not merely conveyers of knowledge, but mentors in life. My faith became integrated into all aspects of my life because all aspects of my life were integrated into my faith...hence I understood the mean ing of wholeness. My prayer was that I may be authentic...to be fully the person God created me to be. Along with that prayer came chal lenge—to be honest, to enter strug gles, to be fully human, to acknowl edge imperfection and failure while continuing to seek goodness and truth. That prayer for authenticity also carried responsibility—to rever ence life in all forms, to be disturbed by injustice and moved to transform structures that foster injustice, to reflect the demands of the gospel in all I do. I learned to be gentle with myself and others as we patiently walk the often obscure journey to authentic living. My time at Carroll allowed me to create relationships that are still deeply intertwined with my journey. I felt embraced, not because I knew all the answers or could articulate why I believed what I did, but because my dignity was inherent. As a student I was valued and affirmed as a member of the People of God, the Church of Christ...an understand ing of church lived not only on cam pus but within the diocese. My opportunities to engage the broader faith community created a support system that continues to nurture me in my professional, ministerial, and personal development. Consequently, I learned to trust the presence of God in experience and history, to know that goodness, beauty and truth in experiences are reflective of the Goodness, Beauty and Truth of God. Worship truly celebrated what I expe rienced internally and within the faith community; likewise, the experiences of the Carroll community were cele brated in our worship. Liturgy became our prayer and arose from our experience of the presence of God in our midst, while challenging us to become what we celebrated and consecrated. Having matured in this environ ment, I have striven these past six years to join with my colleagues to continue to create the rich soil of for mation for a new generation of stu dents at CaTrOll College. So much has changed since I was a student, but the essentials are principles that transcend time. Arriving at the birth of the Kirchen Ministry program, Fr. Jeff Fleming and I relied on the rich ness Carroll had been for us, even as we learned from Patty Opitz’s wis dom (drawn from her 17 years of ministering at Carroll) that effective ministry must begin with the history, culture, and experience of the stu dents and the community, creatively conveying the message in ways authentic to our beings while inviting students to discover the authenticity of the Message in their own lives and experiences. Deeply connected with the spirit of the Carroll community, we have given from our hearts, from our genuine care and love for the stu dents, faculty, and staff we have encountered. Liturgy flowed from the experience of the community, and the community flowed from litur gy...’’All are Welcome!” and all are valued, in this searching, confusing, difficult time of growth and integra tion toward wholeness, holiness. It has not always been an easy road, and the last two years in partic ular have presented multiple chal lenges as we had to deal with staff reductions and personnel changes. Being aware of blessings energized and renewed our often drained spirits. Yet these same experiences of love, ministry, and companionship within a nurturing community are the reasons why I am also concerned about the structural changes within Campus Ministry. I am concerned that stu dents who are fragile or vulnerable in their faith development will feel alienated, unwelcome, or unworthy. I am concerned that a genuine quest for unity amid all our diverse spiritu alities and legitimate plurality of beliefs will be superceded by the desire for conformity in faith beliefs or spiritual practices. I am concerned that the true integration of all aspects of a person’s life and his/her holistic development into a fully human, authentic being will be replaced by an unhealthy, artificial emphasis on the spiritual life divorced from the totality of human nature. I am con cerned that the rich soil of the Carroll community is being eroded by such fundamental changes not grounded in a campus-wide needs assessment nor promoted by true collaboration among the people most directly involved in and affected by the min istry mission of this community. I am concerned that the institutional commitment for qualified profession al campus ministers has been com promised over the years, or perhaps had never been fully established. I am concerned that the pain and wounds that have been created by this issue are not being healed, and that genuine concerns have not been addressed at the root level. My experiences of formation at Carroll College, both as a student and especially as an employee, help me to trust that God’s spirit is present with in this community, even despite or in spite of institutionalized efforts to mediate God’s presence. My faith reminds me that God has been pres ent before I ever entered the scene, and will exist far beyond my depar ture. This truth humbles me when I meet a new person, or enter a new ministry, or encounter a different cul ture, for it forces me to be open to the Mystery of God beyond my understanding and to acknowledge the sacredness of the ground upon which I tread. Yet this truth also empowers me to listen to and to trust the Mystery of God and the sacred ness I discover within myself and within the communities of which I am a part. Affirming this internal treasure has been a gift others have imparted to me, and I only hope I am able to give others the gift of self- affirmation as well. My opportuni ties to accompany the amazing, diverse people with whom I have been blessed to journey have been replenishing and fulfilling; I have been overwhelmingly surrounded with support, and continually sur prised by grace. I am extremely grateful to the members of the com munity at Carroll College over the years who have nurtured, supported, encouraged, and affirmed me, and showed me the Images of the Holy that they are, members of the Great Mosaic of God reflected in human history. The approach to ministry that I strive to embody, and have attempted to express here, is thoroughly Catholic and recognizes what Archbishop Oscar Romero so elo quently expressed about our ministe rial mission. I hope Carroll contin ues to live this vision in the years to come: It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction o f the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way o f saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church’s mission. No set o f goals and objectives includes everything. This is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future prom ise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense o f liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets o f a future not our own. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2004 VOLUME 87, NO. 7
