News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.
Join the Holy Cross community and the University in celebrating Mass on Thanksgiving Day! All are welcome to join in this special celebration at 10:30 a.m. in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher.
Mass will be celebrated to give thanks to God for the many blessings and graces that we have received throughout the year.
Our concern for the dignity of every human being as God’s cherished child directs our care to victims of every injury: prejudice, famine, warfare, ignorance, infidelity, abuse, natural calamity….Our mission sends us across borders of every sort. Often we must make ourselves at home among more than one people or culture, reminding us again that the farther we go in giving the more we stand to receive. Our broader experience allows both the appreciation and the critique of every culture and the disclosure that no culture of this world can be our abiding home.
“Constitution on Mission.” Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross
On October 27, in response to Pope Francis’s call for a day of prayer and fasting for peace, Campus Ministry offered Mass for the Preservation of Peace and Justice followed by a time of Adoration and silent prayer. As the war in Israel and Gaza continues unabated, bringing horrendous loss of life and devastation, our UP community continues to need opportunities for prayer and reflection. In our Catholic tradition, prayer is efficacious not only in converting hearts but in promoting solidarity and compassion with those most vulnerable to the evils of war.
Beginning November 22 and continuing each Wednesday until December 6, the Chapel of Christ the Teacher will be arranged between the hours of 1-3 p.m. to provide this space of prayer and solace to all members of our UP community. Meditative music, lighting, a visual focus, and reflection guides for personal prayer will be provided. On December 6, this time of prayer will conclude with a prayer service in the University Peace Garden at 3 p.m. The University’s Committee on Catholic Mission & Identity conceived of this initiative with the support of the Offices of the President and Provost.
In addition to this opportunity for prayer, the University commits, through our Holy Cross mission, to dialogue and study on issues of peace, justice, and human dignity as expressed in our Common Core and Academic Programs. Faculty and students have the classroom as an important resource for respectful discussion, mutual support, and probing exploration of the critical issues of our day. Help is available for all community members who may be struggling. Students may contact the Counseling Center, Campus Ministry, or Division of Student Affairs. Employees may contact Human Resources and/or their supervisor to learn more about University-provided resources.
Catholics believe in the Communion of Saints—the spiritual connection with those loved ones who have gone before us and the saints that lived as examples for us. Through the month of November, we remember all of those who have gone before us in faith, especially our loved ones who have died.
Campus Ministry invites the UP community to remember in prayer those loved ones, especially among our families and friends, who have died. Please submit their names through our online portal, linked here, so that we can pray for them. The collection of names will be printed and then will be placed near the altar in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher during Mass for All Saints Day on November 1, and they will continue to be a focus of prayer throughout November, the month of remembrance. We will also continue to check the portal regularly throughout the month to include any more submitted names.
Thursday, November 2, is All Souls Day, which commemorates the faithful departed. Mass will be celebrated in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher at 12:05 p.m., remembering, through our intercessions, all faculty and staff who have died in the current and past years. A wreath will be blessed during Mass to be placed at the Faculty and Staff Memorial near Buckley Center.
For more information contact Campus Ministry at 7131 or ministry@up.edu.
As a part of the Eucharistic Revival initiated in the United States by the Catholic Bishops’ conference, Campus Ministry invites our campus community to join us at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 3, for a Eucharistic Procession. The Eucharist is at the heart of Catholic faith, and Catholics believe that the bread and wine offered at Mass become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus is really and truly present in this way, and Catholics refer to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. It is customary then to reserve the consecrated bread, Christ’s Body, in Catholic Churches and Chapels. The Chapel of Christ the Teacher and each of our residence hall chapels has a tabernacle in which the reserved Blessed Sacrament resides. You can find it by locating the lit red candle that burns in each chapel. This signals to us that Jesus is present in the Eucharist in that space.
In many parts of the world, one custom is to carry the Eucharist in procession. Our Eucharistic Procession will begin at the Chapel of Christ the Teacher and follow a route throughout campus, passing by every residence hall and our academic buildings as a way to show our faith in Jesus’ presence among us in the Eucharist and ask for his blessing on our campus. We will sing Taizé hymns and litanies as we process, and we hope that you will join us! After the procession returns to the Chapel of Christ the Teacher, we will then spend time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available until 9 p.m. The evening will conclude with Benediction, which is a blessing given by the priest over the people with the Blessed Sacrament. This is the first event that Campus Ministry has planned as part of the National Eucharistic Revival, and we hope that you will join us in this prayerful event.
Please contact Fr. Tim Weed, C.S.C. (weed@up.edu) or x8919 for further information or with questions.
* In the event of rain, the procession around campus will be canceled, and we will have extended Eucharistic Adoration in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher.
The Committee on Mission, Campus Ministry, the Office of the Provost, and Human Resources invite you to attend a day-long spiritual retreat for Faculty and Staff on Friday, October 6, 2023. The retreat will be held on campus. The goal of the retreat is to provide a time for spiritual reflection and renewal, to deepen faculty and staff connections to one another and to the University’s Catholic, Holy Cross mission and identity, and to invite staff and faculty to reflect on and embrace their vital contributions to our shared mission.
Sign-up information can be found here: https://pilotsprevent.qualtrics.com
Please note that participation in the day-retreat will be considered a regular workday for staff, per supervisory approval.
Please contact Mission Committee chair Shannon Mayer at mayers@up.edu with any questions about schedule, participation, accommodations, etc.
Kayla Garchar will be joining our Campus Ministry staff as the Campus Minister for Faith Formation. Kayla graduated from the University of Portland in 2019 and spent two and a half years in religious formation with the Daughters of St. Paul. Kayla loves encountering God in nature through hiking, experimenting with new recipes, and walking with others on their journey growing in relationship with God.
How the Catholic Church and the LGBTQ Community Can Live Out Gospel Inclusion
Join us for a livestream webinar with national figure Fr. James Martin, SJ, as he explores these and other crucial questions of our time:
Monday, January 30 at 4:30 p.m.
Livestream Zoom at uportland.zoom.us/j/91753287064
Free and open to all. If you would like to submit a question to Fr. Martin, please submit by 1/27.
Co-sponsored by Garaventa Center, Student Affairs, Campus Ministry, and OIEDI.
Contact garaventa@up.edu or 503-943-7702 for more info.
Shortly after his untimely death in 1989, University president Rev. Thomas Oddo, C.S.C., was memorialized by faculty, staff, students, and friends with the establishment of an endowed scholarship fund named after him. Every year the University awards scholarship funds in Fr. Oddo’s name to one or more students who meet a set of criteria which includes demonstrated commitment to service and to service learning. Criteria for the Father Thomas C. Oddo, C.S.C. Memorial Scholarship are:
A nomination form is available at this link and is due to Theresa McCreary, Campus Ministry, by Friday, April 16. For more information contact McCreary at x7131 or mccreary@up.edu.
Join us for our Easter Sunday Mass happening outside on the main academic quad. We are limited in the number of people who can gather safely in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher for liturgy in person, yet larger religious gatherings outdoors are permissible and attend to the safety of all present. In an effort to allow for as many people as possible to attend the Easter Sunday Mass we will have it outside at 10:30 a.m. Mass on April 4 in the academic quad facing Franz Hall. University of Portland faculty, staff and students are welcome to join. Please bring your own blanket or lawn chair for seating on the grass. Please also fill out this form to indicate your intention to come as it will help us to track numbers as well as communicate any information if inclement weather causes us to adjust our plans. The Mass will also be streamed on the Campus Ministry YouTube Channel.
Contact Fr. Jim Gallagher, C.S.C. (gallaghe@up.edu) or Fr. Tim Weed, C.S.C. (weed@up.edu) with any questions.