Susan Mountin (right), director of Marquette University’s Manresa Project, discusses vocation awareness ideas with Kristina DeNeve, director of Cardoner at Creighton, which received funding about one year after the Marquette program.

In keeping with their Jesuit tradition, Marquette and Creighton universities are exploring new ways daily to encourage young men and women to think about how they are being called to do God’s work be it in the everyday world or in service to the Church in a religious vocation.

Both schools are focusing greater attention on the longstanding issue of how to encourage vocations by tapping into $176 million available through the Lilly Endowment, Inc. Concerned that too few young people consider life work as ordained, religious, or lay ministers in the mainline Christian churches, and that society in general is losing its religious values, Lilly is providing three rounds of grants to 88 church-sponsored colleges and universities in the United States.

The grants are for what Lilly calls “programs for the theological exploration of vocation,” and they support a two-fold approach for developing a new generation of talented, energetic, creative, and committed ordained, religious, and lay leaders. The strategy is designed to:

• Nurture and provide formation of young college-age men and women who may already be thinking about church ministry and service; and
• Develop a generation of more caring,more concerned, more ethical, more just and more faith-filled adults.

Creighton and Marquette are among the 88 schools receiving up to $2 million each for five-year projects to advance the Lilly approach. In all, eight Jesuit colleges and universities are among the 21 Roman Catholic institutions receiving grants.

Besides helping students to pursue an enduring relationship between their life’s work and their calling, Cardoner also reaches out to faculty, staff, and the larger community – especially alumni of Jesuit institutions seeking to reaffirm or redirect their lives toward service of God and others.

Begun in 2002,Marquette’s Manresa Project is named after the city in Spain where Ignatius spent a period of intense prayer and discernment. Elements of the project are woven into the school’s tradition of forming “men and women for others.” To this end the Manresa Project is steeped in Ignatian tradition and The Spiritual Exercises as a means to help students and members of the Marquette community reflect on what God is calling them to do in their lives. Participants ponder how to use personal gifts and talents to help meet the world’s needs as they seek to bring their personal faith to their work.

Both projects employ a variety of programs, including retreats, scholarships, internships, conferences, workshops, and speaker series to build upon existing university resources to advance their aims.While the projects share many similarities, each is specifically designed to meet the mission, identity, and culture of its own institution.

HERE’S WHAT PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROJECTS ARE SAYING ABOUT THEIR WORK.

	‘Our program is about helping Creighton students, faculty, staff and alumni figure out what God is calling them to do.’
Kristina DeNeve (Creighton)

As a psychologist, Kristina DeNeve focused much of her research on “happiness.” In the past several years, additionalstudies in theology led her to a deeper understanding of how faith, theology, and happiness intersect.

Now, as director of the Cardoner at Creighton, her work in this first year has involved a combination of minor and major challenges – like setting up an office and hiring staff, developing a mission statement, developing a logo, and launching new programs – all of them rewarding in their own way.

“Our program is about helping Creighton students, faculty, staff and alumni figure out what God is calling them to do and affirm that calling,” says DeNeve. “I get to oversee spending $2 million to help all of us at Creighton to discern, respond, and renew our call from God. How exciting is that!” Incredibly exciting from the tone of her voice.

Kristina is most excited by the Cortina Community (named after Fr. Jon Cortina, SJ) in which 57 sophomores reside together in a “living-learning community,” take classes, pray, study, and do service in the community.“These students are experiencing community at a level largely unprecedented for undergraduate students,” she says.

	‘My Manresa experience propelled me to search for God in ministry in addition to refining practical ministry skills.’’
Paul “PJ” Shelton, nSJ (Jesuit novice and Marquette alum)

A first-year Jesuit novice, Paul “PJ” Shelton credits Marquette’s Manresa Project with giving him the spiritual fortitude he needed to enter the Society of Jesus.

“The Manresa Project began my novitiate in a way by expediting my spiritual direction and forcing me to reflect honestly on my relationship with God,” Shelton says. “My Manresa experience propelled me to search for God in ministry in addition to refining practical ministry skills. The abilities to assess my relationships with others, examine how the Lord is present in my day, and learn important ministerial techniques are all in practice at the novitiate.”

As a Manresa scholar, Shelton worked at St. Jude the Apostle Parish in Wauwatosa,Wisconsin, doing Confirmation preparation, youth retreat work, and coaching the Catholic Youth Ministry high school senior girls basketball team.

Manresa allowed Shelton to meet many students, faculty, and administrators at Marquette who actively discern God's will in their lives. “They inspired me by their deep desire to serve the Lord in some manner.”

Shelton hopes the project transforms the disposition of students on campus. “I have already heard from other Jesuits that Marquette students appear happier than in years past. This coincides with Marquette's realization concerning the incorporation of Ignatian spirituality into its mission. The Manresa project seeks to make the Holy Spirit a more integral part in the way students, faculty, alumni, and administrators engage the world.”

	‘It has renewed my enthusiasm for what we are trying to do.’’
John O’Keefe (Creighton)

As chair of the Theology Department at Creighton University, John O’Keefe had to resist the temptation to get too involved too early and intentionally took a minor role in Cardoner Project planning.

“I believed the project would be more effective if it were an all-university effort, rather than something dominated by the Theology Department,” he says. A member of the Cardoner at Creighton Advisory Committee, O’Keefe couldn’t be more pleased with the results and is encouraged by what he has seen in how the program invites students to consider important questions of faith more deliberately.

“It has renewed my enthusiasm for what we are trying to do,” he says. “One of my great concerns is that when people at a university talk about Catholic identity and mission the conversations are often reduced to talk about ethics. Cardoner’s emphasis on helping students discover how God is calling them to live their lives in whatever profession they choose helps to address more spiritual issues.”

	‘Having the opportunity to talk about what is most important – faith, God, meaning, purpose – is so exciting.’
Dionne Eastmo (Marquette)

In her work as student affairs coordinator for the Manresa Project, Dionne Eastmo encourages the general student population to ask questions about life, faith, meaning, and purpose – a challenging and life-giving task at a large school like Marquette.

In large part that means overseeing a vocation-focused speaker series, a first-year student reading program, and a student leadership development vocation strategy designed to involve leaders throughout the campus community. One of the fruits of her efforts came when Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave a very well-received speech on campus during Mission Week last year.

Eastmo, a Creighton alumna, says she cherishes the opportunity to work on a project that has such great potential to meaningfully impact student lives.“Having the opportunity to talk about what is most important – faith, God, meaning, purpose – is so exciting.Working on a project which invites students to look at their gifts and talents and how to use them to glorify God…what more could you want?” she exclaimed.

She is gratified and amazed by the way the project and its ideals have been embraced by so many members of the Marquette community.

“Students light up when we introduce some of the Manresa ideals to them; faculty and administrators have been receptive.” She said the project has become her passion and vocation.

	‘My hope is that the project will open up a space in our students’ lives to consider how faith guides them.’
Fr. Tom Hughson, SJ (Marquette)

Teaching a course titled “Christian Discipleship” gives Marquette theology professor Fr. Tom Hughson, SJ a ringside seat, even some in-ring influence, to how students explore Christ’s example in their life’s vocation.

Fr. Hughson credits the Manresa Project for urging him to regularly seek new ways to help students and faculty reflect on what they are doing to follow Christ’s example in their lives. Be it in the classroom or in Manresa faculty workshops, he continually seeks to help others discover meaningful ways to live their life’s journey faithfully and justly.

He assigns all his students a major paper in which they write about how discipleship might make a difference in their professional and career lives. He also includes a service component that requires 14-20 hours of outside community work. His activity in workshops, both as a participant and as a presenter, inspires other faculty to explore their personal vocation journeys as he openly shares his own.

“I have strong support for the purpose and vision of the Manresa Project,” he says. “My hope is that the project will open up a space in our students’ lives to consider how faith guides them, not only through ethics, but by creating a space to ponder how their choice of future might be framed in the vision of faith. It is a deeper and more profound understanding of their lives,much like the First Principle and Foundation of St. Ignatius.”

	‘Creating a space for students to ask good questions is part of the process.’
Sean Steele (Creighton)

After Sean Steele graduated in the top 10 percent of his class at the University of Texas Business School, he was one of 200 graduates hired by Enron as financial analysts. Life was profitable, but not enriching.When the company went bankrupt, Steele realized how much he desired a different kind of life.

“I wanted to use my gifts and talents more in keeping with my deepest desires,” he says. So in summer 2001 he took a youth ministry position at Boys and Girls Town in Omaha while beginning graduate studies in theology at Creighton University.

Sean was in the right place at the right time last summer (one could call it a moment of grace). He was taking a theology class with Kristina DeNeve, Cardoner director, who invited him to apply for a Cardoner graduate intern position. Steele is now one of two graduate students working with the project. He lives in a residence hall as a chaplain with his wife and serves as minister in the Cortina Community. Commonly called a living-learning community, Cortina is designed to help students ask important life questions in an environment that includes service opportunities, time for prayer and reflection, and Ignatian discernment.

Along with four resident assistants, Steele leads more than 50 young men and women on his floor in prayer, reflection, and discussion about community, service, faith, and justice.

“The way you live, the way you pray, the questions you ask will help you discern God’s will for you. Creating a space for students to ask good questions is part of the process,” he says. “My hope is that people at Creighton will see this project as worthwhile and that we will make an impact that will improve the university for a long time to come."