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 16 November 2011
BALTIMORE--ESTEEM, Engaging Students to Enliven the Ecclesial Mission, a national campus ministry program that prepares young adults to serve as leaders in the Catholic Church, was honored by the Catholic Campus Ministry Association for its efforts in developing future leaders. Archbishop Henry J. Mansell of Hartford accepted the award on behalf of ESTEEM at a November 15 reception held during the fall assembly of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore.
“For the hundreds of participants and alumni, ESTEEM works. They feel confident in their Catholic faith, and they are ready to serve the Church at every level. By living out their faith joyfully, these students serve as witnesses to their friends and family,” said Katie McKenna, who serves as program coordinator for ESTEEM. “We are heartened that CCMA recognizes the value of ESTEEM, and we look forward to its continued growth as we bring more sites online.”
Now in its second year, ESTEEM is active on 8 college campuses across the nation. Its pilot year in 2010 included sites at Yale University and Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, Michigan State University, The Ohio State University, Stanford University, and UCLA. They were joined this year by Purdue University and California State University at East Bay.
ESTEEM is a joint venture of the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management and St. Thomas More Catholic Chapel & Center at Yale University. The program is based on a core curriculum that includes workshops, retreats, and mentoring and service opportunities. Each pilot site is encouraged to customize the program to its students’ needs while embracing the core values of ESTEEM. In Ohio, an overnight retreat helped students discover their gifts and show them how they can best serve the Church. Students in Michigan lobbied that state’s legislature to abolish the death penalty. And at Yale, a strong emphasis on the mentoring component led to a New York Times profile of the program last May.
“The Church has untapped access to an abundance of talent in its young people, and ESTEEM reminds students of their baptismal obligation to serve the Church,” said Kerry Robinson, executive director of the Leadership Roundtable and a member of the ESTEEM executive committee. “Part of the challenge is persuading Church leadership that young adults can be capable to serve now, and encouraging them to welcome this talent into their parishes and dioceses in meaningful and fulfilling ways, whether that be on parish councils, diocesan finance councils, or boards of Catholic nonprofits. This honor from CCMA affirms the work of ESTEEM campus ministers and students, and it will strengthen the case for young adult leadership.”
For more information, visit www.ESTEEMleadership.org.
(Photo: Accepting the CCMA award on behalf of ESTEEM from left to right: Most Rev. Henry Mansell, Archdiocese of Hartford; Kerry Robinson, executive director of the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management; Katie Byrnes, assistant chaplain at St. Thomas More Catholic Chapel & Center at Yale; Most Rev. Peter Rosazza, retired auxiliary bishop of Hartford. Courtesy CCMA).
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