Terrace: Ministry Roles

Roles | Team | Retreats | Service Ministries | Liturgies

Dean of Mission

The Dean of Mission is a key support role for staff in their daily pastoral ministry within the College Community. In the busyness of life and with the increasing demands made upon staff the Dean of Mission will aim to be another avenue of professional and personal help in the performance of staff’s pastoral duties. The Dean of Mission will oversee the College Retreat and Ministry Program. [...read more ]

College Campus Ministry Team

The Campus Ministry Team is the key organisational group for all aspects of College life that the Dean of Mission has responsibility for. It will meet on a regular basis and will report to the College community once each term. [ ...read more ]

Peer Ministry: Caring in Action

Rationale

Spirituality is a very important part of adolescent development and the Catholic School has the ability to influence belief structures, ideals and relationships. In many ways the manner in which our Catholic Schools offer a religious curriculum that is both challenging and relevant will be the yardstick for the future respectability of our Church in an ever increasingly secular world. The most important factor in the church’s ability to influence teenagers is its ability to be relevant. If the church is not relevant then adolescents will rebel against the teachings and influences of the church.

The students at Gregory Terrace need compassionate understanding as they go through their transitional teenage years. The reality of a busy school, translates to an environment that oozes stress and competition. Therefore the Religious Curriculum must play a vital role in communicating to both students and staff the importance of slowing down, to critique the hurly burly of our daily lives and ultimately to seek life giving relationships with their God, family and friends. Furthermore the Campus Ministry program at St Joseph’s understands that the retreat and service programs offered to our students must sequentially depth and ignite each retreatants desire to explore their innate spiritual thirst. Throughout Yr 8 - Yr 12 our students change the way they relate to God. God is no longer seen as a superior being floating around the cosmos rather he is viewed as “being on a journey with them” (Forsyth, 1997;). Adolescents gain the ability to form deeper relationships with others and this transfers to their relationship with God. The Peer Ministry program at Terrace has been created by a need to address the developmental stages of spiritual development in our students. Our Peer ministers provide an important link between students and staff in ensuring that the Campus Ministry be a place that is approachable, respected and real. The very existence of Peer Ministers on Campus (who are not that much older than our seniors), provides an authentic and relevant voice to the Campus Ministry Program.

Be A Dreamer

Be someone who inspires the people around you by the way you live your life and the way you treat others.

Look forward to you future and be willing to give all that you are to make your dreams come true.

Encourage others and support them with your strong beliefs.

Be a motivated person who takes chances when they present themselves.

Peer Minister Program

A vital ingredient in the delivery of many of our programs is the presence of our Peer Ministers. Our Peer Ministers are Old Boys from Gregory Terrace who are employed at the beginning of every school year for the sole purpose of enriching the pastoral care, retreat and service programs within the school. Our Peer Ministers seek to reach out to all students, to offer opportunities to grow in their Christian faith and ultimately assist our students to become good citizens, good Fathers and young men of Faith and learning. The ultimate goal is to assist students in their development as caring people. One effective avenue to this end is peer ministry.

Peer Ministers are selected on the basis of their written applications and personal interviews to be trained as peer ministers. This training includes prayer, interpersonal and leadership skill building; good retreat facilitation, small group facilitation; opportunities to clearly articulate their faith as well as helping our students articulate their own faith; and familiarization with resources available for dealing with specific problems. A minimum of one academic year commitment is requested from each peer minister.

Peer ministers are students using their own unique gifts and talents to minister to other students. By words and lifestyles, peer ministers share their own faith that powers and guides their lives. They can be particularly effective with students who may not feel comfortable in sharing their difficulties with professors, parents or pastors.

Peer ministers provide an active witness to the Christian faith. As students reevaluate their life’s direction, values and priorities the trained peer minister can be an effective witness to the Christian faith by positive example of Christian life. In their caring for others peer ministers discover caring is a way of life.

Peer Ministers provide a link and role model for our students to genuinely explore their spirituality. As adolescents begin to experience their spirituality differently it is vitally important that our Peer Ministers guide them in ways that are relevant to their developmental needs. According to Piaget, the only way people develop is if they are in a state of disequilibria because they will have to change in order to reach a state of stability. Therefore, adolescents must have their beliefs challenged in order for them to mature spiritually. The only way teenagers will internalize their beliefs is if they are made to think critically about them. If adolescents do not internalize their beliefs then they will reach identity foreclosure in their spiritual development. Our Peer Ministers by their ability to share their life story, by being present on the soup vans surrounding our school and by facilitating retreat programs can help students strive for identity achievement in their spiritual development if they are properly challenged and taught. Unfortunately, often the Church world is scared of questioning their traditional belief systems and all that does is cause adolescents to be stuck in a state of identity diffusion concerning their spiritual development.

Areas of peer ministry are determined contextually, but some common ones are:

Spirituality: planning retreats, coordinating social justice programs, attending school celebrations and important events, facilitation of retreat programs, group facilitation.
Service: inviting volunteers and coordinating volunteers to meet the needs of our service programs e.g. The Big Breakky, Radio Lollipop and Street Retreat programs.

Apart from our Peer Ministers, we also utilize many Old Boy students of Gregory Terrace, to act as mentors and role models in the service and retreat program. Their involvement is many and varied but in most cases they will be invited to share aspects of their own sacred story, facilitate small group discussions and/or work as volunteers on the Big Breakkie and Street Retreat Programs.

Don’t wait or worry about tomorrow, just keep focussed on what’s happening today.

Be someone who looks forward to challenges and fully accepts both the joys and struggles that come to someone who dreams.

Karen Geaney- ERF New Zealand

Peer Ministry Team

Two past students to work as a team with the Campus Minister and Dean of Staff and Mission. [ ... read more ]