ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Friends in Christ,
I am delighted to be with you to celebrate this Mass and to have the opportunity to express personally my gratitude to you for your involvement in Campus Ministry. Your dedication to this ministry demonstrates that you have a real understanding that a crucial aspect of higher education for young men and women is their spiritual formation and participation in the sacramental life of the Church. Through your efforts, many young men and women grow in their appreciation of how special they are in the Church, and what contributions they can make to further the mission of the Church. By your availability to them, so many young people are aided in their relationship with God, who invites them to grow in holiness as they grow in wisdom, knowledge and maturity.

The Servant of God Pope John Paul II, in Pastores Gregis, the 2003 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Bishop, Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World, emphasized the solicitude which the Bishop must have for young people. "The Bishop, as pastor and father of the Christian community, will be particularly concerned for the evangelization and spiritual accompaniment of young people. A minister of hope can hardly fail to build the future together with those to whom the future is entrusted.... [Y]oung people are ready to commit themselves in the Church and in the world, if only they are offered real responsibility and an integral Christian formation" (53). Campus Ministry, then, is a great collaboration with the ministry of the Bishop who keeps ever close to his heart the young men and women who are the future of society, the future of the Church.

Within universities and colleges, young people, often away from home, find themselves in an often-overwhelming new world. As you know so well, they are immersed in an intense schedule of academics in unfamiliar surroundings. They find themselves removed from any parental supervision and exposed to various influences, some of which are not always positive. Through you, brother priests, religious sisters and brothers, and lay leaders, our young people find a safe refuge in Campus Ministry Centers, a renewed connection with the Church, and a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. Please know that you are a valuable resource to the Bishop in his solicitude for these young people, and on behalf of the many Bishops with whom you work throughout the country, I offer heartfelt thanks.

You know well that the Bishops—and all ministers and teachers of the Church —are entrusted not only with safeguarding the truths of our holy Catholic faith, but also with proclaiming to all people the good news of Jesus Christ. Through the ministry of the Word and in the administration of the Sacraments, the Church offers to all people an encounter with the living Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life (Jn 14: 6). In the gospel passage just proclaimed, Jesus declares the necessity of listening to His words and putting into action the message which is entrusted to those who believe in Him: "Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rains fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock" (Mt 7: 24-25).

The truths of Jesus, transmitted through the teaching of the Church, are enduring and provide the firm foundation of which Our Lord speaks. It is our mutual task—our very mission—to nurture all people, but especially our youth, with the truth and to sustain them through the sacramental and liturgical ministry of the Church. Thus they are able to survive temptation, stress, hardship and loss, the storms and squalls of everyday life. Fidelity to Sacred Scripture and to Sacred Tradition provides security, stability, and even serenity in times such as our own, which are turbulent, yet remarkably full of hope.

Jesuit Father Manuel Ruiz Jurado, commenting on the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, explains the mission of Jesus transmitted to the apostles, and to the entire Church. "Christ’s apostles do not draw out morality and dogma from their own ideas, nor do they compromise them through discussion or haggling. They are servants, not the Master. They have received a ‘deposit of faith’ which must be conserved and transmitted intact (1 Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 1:14). This is their glory" (For the Greater Glory of God: A Spiritual Retreat with St. Ignatius, 179).

Frequently, as they mature and develop intellectually, young people question or seek to understand more fully the teachings of the Church. In some instances, however, in some institutions of higher learning, students are encouraged to challenge or dismiss Church teachings, or are offered personal opinion in place of authentic teaching. This causes confusion in the minds of young people, and, even worse, may lead them away from the Church. Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, in his April 17, 2008 address to Catholic educators at the Catholic University of America, addressed this very issue with a stirring reminder: "These harmful developments point to the particular urgency of what we might call ‘intellectual charity’. This aspect of charity calls educators to recognize that the profound responsibility to lead the young to the truth is nothing less than an act of love."

Where sometimes the academic sphere falls short, you, dear friends who are engaged in the work of Campus Ministry, act in charity to offer the truth, to guide young people through their sincere searching and questioning to understand the truths of our faith. Although yours is not the academic setting, in various programs which you sponsor, guest lectures which you organize, or faith-formation opportunities which you provide, and retreat experiences which you direct, young men and women advance in their knowledge of the Catholic Faith. Furthermore, you help them to live the faith in the celebration of the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament of Penance. Young people also appreciate opportunities to experience anew or reacquaint themselves with devotions which have deep meaning in the life of the Church. The Rosary, the Lenten practice of the Stations of the Cross, and, most especially, Eucharistic Adoration, foster within young people a more intense friendship with the Lord Jesus and a deeper understanding of the role of Mary in the whole plan of the Incarnation.

"Young people," wrote Pope John Paul II, "through personal relationships with their pastors and teachers, must be encouraged to grow in charity and be trained for a life of generosity and availability for the service of others, especially the needy and infirm. In this way it will be easier to speak with them about the other Christian virtues, especially chastity. By taking this path they will come to know that life is ‘something beautiful’ when it is given to others, following the example of Jesus. Thus, they will be able to make responsible and binding decisions, whether about marriage, the sacred ministry or the consecrated life" (Pastores Gregis, 53).

These sentiments of Pope John Paul II can also be applied to those engaged in Campus Ministry. Your joyful witness, steadfast living of what has been entrusted to you, and the love with which you welcome young people through Campus Ministry will continue to have a positive and life-giving influence on them. Do not underestimate the importance of your work, of the daily routine of your ministry, of offering that firm foundation. As companions of the young, you have a lasting impact on the future, for to lead young people to Jesus Christ is to assure them a future full of hope. Your partnership in this great work is a blessing for all.