Creighton University

As Director of Campus Ministry at Creighton University, I welcome you to our department, a destination of import for students on a spiritual journey.  I have been at Creighton University since 1997, when I began teaching Scripture in the Theology Department.  Since that time, I have been blessed with stupendous colleagues, outstanding students, and a talented, enterprising Campus Ministry staff.  We are here to accompany students on their journey of faith, to encourage, support, and challenge students as they make life choices that will join their holy desires with the needs of God?s people throughout the world.

My journey to Creighton has taken me through two other Midwestern Jesuit universities where, like many of our students, I was "ruined for life" in the best way.  Jesuit education, as you may know, has a way of forming students who want to change the world, discover and live their holiest passions, and be exemplary team-players and leaders in their communities.  They are the "Magis" people who strive to be ?more,? to give more fully of themselves, to ask the more profound questions of life, and to serve others without constraint.  I knew that I would have to stay connected with these principles to nourish my intellectual, spiritual, and vocational development, and that is what I did.

St. Louis is my home (Go Cardinals!), so at St. Louis University (SLU) I studied philosophy, theology, and classical languages, while also working full-time at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital and becoming involved in pastoral ministry.  I earned my doctorate, specializing in Scriptural Theology, at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Go Packers!).  At Marquette, I served as a full-time administrator for an international center for education while finishing my degree.  It was in Milwaukee that I became a founding member of the Ignatian Associates of the Wisconsin Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), a lay community who, like Ignatius of Loyola, ?finds God in all things,? and tries to serve in ways that meet the most pressing needs of the world.  Experiencing the Spiritual Exercises anew changed my life completely!  Since that time, I have served in a variety of Ignatian educational apostolates in Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Omaha.  At Creighton, I have taught core, elective, and graduate courses in biblical, historical and systematic Theology.

Now that I am an older companion on the journey, I invite students to learn a ?faith that does justice? by welcoming them to ?Justice Walking,? ?Hand-in-Hand,? or retreats like ?Finding God in All Things.? I invite them to go outside their comfort zones, and to participate in communities of faith that will support them.  I also invite them to delve deeply into life?s big questions, not to be afraid to love the ?quest? part of questioning, and to allow God to be the inexhaustible Mystery that consumes and sustains all of us.  In the midst of the quest, it helps to have a spiritual companion to help us keep an ear open for God?s call, in whatever form that may take.  I encourage students to read classic literature, to listen carefully, and to grow in awe and wonder of God and creation as they engage the questions surrounding their callings.  With students in mind, I edited The Union of Minds and Hearts, Celebrating the Spiritual Roots of Creighton University, An Introduction for Newcomers, a collection of essays by Creighton authors, which includes some history about Ignatius, some key terms every Ignatian student should know, Ignatius? vision for education, discernment, prayer, and living a faith that does justice.  Ask for a copy in Campus Ministry!

I consider myself a lifelong student, so my continuing education is my disciplinary research and a desire for greater breadth and depth of knowledge in fields like feminist philosophy, aesthetics, theoretical physics, cosmology, botany, and eco-spirituality.  This keeps my reading lists full and my imagination and curiosity intact.  I know from engaging students as a Theology teacher, and ministering to them in times of joy, crisis and discernment, that they are fabulous fellow students of life. If you would like to visit me, you can find me in Campus Ministry, or out walking in the Jesuit Garden, or milling around St. John?s at the heart of our campus.  If I?m not in a meeting, I?m probably in the library.  I'll be the short one behind the big pile of books!