We are pilgrims on a journey: 25 Years of Campus Ministry with Notre Dame Dublin
In celebration of 25 Years in Ireland, Jack Rooney (2016 - 2017) helped us collect stories from our Campus Ministers over the years.
Campus Ministry has played a vital role in the Notre Dame Dublin study abroad programs since its inception. Today, the position is a one-year graduate fellowship where Campus Ministers serve the Notre Dame student community part-time, while pursuing a full-time, one-year masters program at one of Dublin's leading universities.
If you have questions about the Campus Minister Graduate Fellowship with Notre Dame Dublin, please reach out to dublin@nd.edu, or check out the job posting on Handshake. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis through May 2024.
Jack Rooney
Campus Minister, 2016 - 2017
During my time as campus minister for the Notre Dame Dublin Programme in 2016, I started keeping a prayer journal. This small, soft-covered black notebook, usually kept in my back pocket, holds a running list of prayer intentions that I repeat each week.
I typically add or change some petitions depending on what’s going on that week, but to this day, I always pray, “For Ireland and all my friends/family and the Church there, especially everyone in ministry for ND Ireland.”
My wording is intentional (if you’ll forgive the pun). When I pray for everyone in ministry for Notre Dame in Ireland, from Dublin to Kylemore and beyond, I am really praying for everyone who works for the University there. In my experience, Notre Dame’s entire presence in Ireland is an act of ministry.
Cups of tea and chats in the O’Connell House kitchen — that’s ministry. So is sharing a meal every Monday night before class with Kevin Whelan. Pilgrimages to places like Glendalough, Croagh Patrick, and the murals of Belfast? Those are most certainly ministry, too. Even forging lifelong friendships, and perhaps even meeting your future spouse (like I did) in Dublin, that’s all a form of ministry.
Most everything Notre Dame and its students do in Ireland are acts of ministry because the programs there have grown in the belief that we are there not to be tourists, but pilgrims.
Since the beginning of this pilgrimage 25 years ago, the Dublin campus ministry program has been dedicated to this mission. Generations of ministers have served with devotion to ensure Notre Dame’s presence in Ireland remains rooted in our Catholic faith — this pilgrim Church on earth.
To celebrate the 25 Years of Notre Dame in Ireland, we asked campus ministers past and present to reflect on their time in Dublin, and distinctive spirituality they found there.
Wicklow Mountains during a retreat
lead by Andrew Hoyt in 2008.
Andrew Hoyt
Campus Minister, 2007 - 2009
The most distinctive spiritual aspect of the Notre Dame Dublin Programme for me is a sense of invitation to pilgrimage. The programme, with its profound hospitality and strong sense of welcome, fosters deep, joyful relationships.
I would imagine that all alumni of the programme will remember the sacred ground we traversed, the beautiful vistas we encountered, or the opportunities for service and accompaniment we were offered; but perhaps most of all, we treasure forever the relationships we formed with our fellow pilgrims.
When you view the experiences of studying abroad through the lens of a pilgrim, you see an invitation in every journey, every challenge or difficulty, and every simple delight. An invitation to approach your time with an attitude of gratitude. As campus minister, I did my best to encourage students and fellow pilgrims to find God in all things — and to pay attention to how God calls us to engage more deeply during this special period of time in Ireland.
This charism was modeled for me by Michael Downs, my own campus minister when I was a student in the Dublin Programme. His immortal phrase, which I tried my best to pass on during my time as Campus Minister, captures it perfectly: The tourist demands, the pilgrim gives thanks.
Each semester, I would take a group of Notre Dame Dublin Programme students to Glendalough for a weekend retreat, walking in the footsteps of St. Kevin and taking time to reflect, pray, and laugh in that beautiful setting.
After a wet, rainy hike to the Upper Lake and a reading of the Seamus Heaney poem “St. Kevin and the Blackbird” in St. Kevin’s Cell, we returned to our lodging. Our group was a little soggy and exhausted after our long walk, and I suspect they might’ve thought that I was crazy when I suggested that we circle up and gather in the garden to play a few yard games and sing some songs together.
As Matt Perron accompanied our group on the guitar, a full rainbow appeared over the Wicklow mountains behind us. It was a great reminder to keep finding the light even when we’re a little weary — plus we were able to get some pretty incredible group photos!
Mary McGraw
Campus Minister, 2017 - 2018
I think there are a lot of beautiful spiritual aspects of UND Dublin. I found both the students and myself were presented with many situations that allowed space to discern our faith life. Being in a brand new country, away from our regular routines and structures and using field trips, nature, new friends, Dublin itself as a city and engaging with Irish culture inspired many of us to dig deeper into our own identities and spiritual selves.
My time as campus minister gave me a huge amount of respect for all faiths and walks of life, and allowed me the opportunity to practice compassion towards myself and others in ways that still stick with me to this day. I think being campus minister while also discerning a spiritual life outside of the traditional Catholic Church has imprinted on me that spirituality is foundational to the human experience and finding greater meaning and faith in something above ourselves is vital.
OCH and UND Ireland are so special. There truly is nothing quite like it. I will be forever grateful for my time with UND Ireland as it was the door that opened up Ireland to me, which has now become my forever home.
Laura Eckert
Campus Minister, 2018 - 2019
One of my favorite memories was a student-led Mass in the Gothic Chapel at Kylemore Abbey. Students stepped up to read Scripture and lead the group in hymns. Others shared their musical gifts by leading a worship session after Mass. It was an honor to facilitate and witness the students’ faith and passion in these sacred moments.
I grew so much from the conversations I had with the students and staff at O’Connell House. Engaging in service for the year also helped me grow closer in my personal relationship with Christ.
I was blessed by so many personal relationships within and outside of OCH. It was a year of growth for me and informs how I approach people in my current field as a mental health therapist for children. It reinforced my desire to meet people where they are and journey with them in whatever way they desire.
Kate Sescleifer
Campus Minister, 2019 - 2020
The most distinctive spiritual aspect of the Notre Dame Dublin Programme is its ability to connect you with communities within Dublin that reach far beyond Notre Dame. This programme connects students with isolated individuals, young children, community gardens, food pantries and so much more.
It calls our students and staff to live in solidarity with those around Dublin and to keep those connections beyond a single semester. Those who participate in the Notre Dame Dublin Programme often find themselves returning to Dublin for one reason or another, but the spiritual accompaniment the programme instills in everyone who encounters it certainly is a driving factor.
My time as Dublin campus minister allowed me a lot of space to grow in my faith. You're surrounded with reminders of faith while living on Notre Dame's campus in South Bend and I remember the uncertainty about what my faith life would look like after I graduated. The Dublin campus minister position was a bridge between the faith community at Notre Dame and my faith life beyond.
I was able to connect to pieces of my faith that mean the most to me — such as companionship and community — through Solas, our weekly community reflection nights, and daily life at O'Connell House. The year serving as the Dublin campus minister informed what my faith life looks like today and taught me ways to grow as a Catholic in ways that speak the most to me.
Ryan McNelis
Campus Minister, 2021 – 2022
My most vivid memory of my time as campus minister came on the final night of the Dublin Summer Program. Kevin and I hoped to offer the group a chance for some brief and quiet reflection before their departure. We gathered the students together, and we all pulled chairs into a wide circle. We asked that the students share their responses to just two questions:
What moment rises to the surface when you look back at your weeks in Ireland?
When you return to America and to Notre Dame, what will you bring back with you from this place?
What followed we could not have manufactured nor anticipated. As each student offered up the memories, friendships, and personal growth that they had found in Ireland, I heard them give voice to the very reasons that O’Connell House exists.
Some students discovered a new and more joyful balance between their work and their passions. Some spoke of spiritual renewal at the summit of Croagh Patrick. Others simply felt they had grown up.
At the close of the evening, and after the last student had retired, Kevin looked at me and simply said, “That’s it.” Maybe for the first time, I understood what I had been doing as campus minister for the past year.
In O’Connell House and in Ireland, spirituality is never confined to the overtly religious. Certainly, God’s presence is felt on University Church on St. Stephen's Green, during the Mass and during the joyful calm of House of Brigid’s Wednesday night Taizé services.
But God can also be recognized in the waves buffeting the cliffs of the Aran Islands, in the ancient pilgrim paths of Glendalough, or in the radiant smile of a giddy American student holding a lamb for the first time on some farm in the West. During my time in Ireland God was everywhere, and I believe he delights in being recognized.
Elephant Rock in Ballintoy,
one of Ireland's northernmost points.
Molly Light
Campus Minister, 2022 – 2023
I believe the most distinctive spiritual aspect of the Notre Dame Dublin Programme is shaped through experiencing God in community and nature.
Studying abroad is a courageous choice that requires surrender and self-growth. More often than not, students who come to Dublin enter Ireland only knowing a handful of peers in their programme, if any. The resulting challenges and joys allow unique opportunities for self-discovery and the formation of new and lasting friendships.
Students experience all this while adventuring together around some of the most beautiful landscapes not only in Ireland, but in the world — Giant’s Causeway, Achill Island, the Ring of Kerry, Dingle Peninsula, Howth Head.
As someone who has experienced the Notre Dame Dublin Programme both as a student and staff member, I’ve seen firsthand the focus this programme puts on creating a sense of the Notre Dame community thousands miles away from campus, while bringing its own unique touch. This experience can inherently shape and impact the heart and the soul of each of the students who passes through.
Outside of the spectacular experiences of growth in the Notre Dame community in Dublin, serving as Campus Minister also allowed me to truly call Ireland home in ways I will never forget. Ireland has filled my heart, I hope I will be fortunate enough to return to her beauty and radiance many times to come as my life journeys on.