Campus ministry seen as model for faith formation in grade school

Published: 2006-04-21

ATLANTA (CNS) -- Campus ministry, typically thought of as a staple of colleges and even some high schools, can also be an effective model for faith formation in a grade school setting, according to the campus minister of a Catholic grade school in the Detroit area. After reading the U.S. bishops' 1997 document "Renewing the Vision: A Framework for Catholic Youth Ministry," Kathy Calcatera Chateau saw immediately it "could be a framework for elementary school," even though the document was aimed at the high school level, she said. Chateau has spent about a dozen years as either campus minister, religious education director or teacher at St. Clare of Montefalco School, which straddles the border between economically distressed Detroit and the prosperous suburb of Grosse Pointe Park. "The pastor saw a need to connect the school to the parish," Chateau told an April 20 workshop audience at the National Catholic Educational Association's 103rd annual convention in Atlanta. "He said, 'Go figure out how to do it,' and I said, 'OK.'"

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .