BECOMING THE MISSION

What does it mean to engage with USD’s Catholic identity?

by Julene Snyder

This spring, a select group of 11 University of San Diego staff and administrators made up the inaugural cohort of Mission Integration’s first Leaders in Mission Formation Program. The pilot program — described as an “opportunity for critical conversations and discernment about what it means to work at an engaged and contemporary Catholic university” — included participants from across campus and from all faith backgrounds, including those who don’t identify with a particular faith tradition.

Over time, the way new employees have been onboarded, including learning what it means to work at a Catholic university, has evolved and shifted. However, this new program is meant to provide a much deeper dive.

“When I started being a part of orientation, along with

[Director for Mission] Mark Peters and [Vice President for Mission Integration] Michael Lovette-Colyer, people started coming to me afterward asking if we could get together and talk,” recalls Director of Mission Integration and Center for Christian Spirituality Erin Bishop. “They’d have questions like, ‘Do I belong here?’ and ‘Is this the place for me?’ and ‘How do I fit in?’ ”

So, in 2022, when LovetteColyer assumed his new role, he asked Bishop to establish a formation program that would provide a broader, deeper sense of what it meant for people to engage with USD’s mission and Catholic identity, while respecting what Bishop describes as “people’s sense of their own personal mission.”

She knew that she wanted to attract key campus leaders to the program when she began that work. “When tensions arise — when there’s a renaming of Serra Hall, when there are student groups that want to distribute condoms on campus, when there’s a war going on — how does our Catholic identity surface?” she inquires.

She sees the program as an aid for staff to stockpile the resources they may need during the course of doing their jobs. For example, for a social media manager to parse current events and how they intersect with the views of the Catholic Church.

“While we realize that we have non-Catholics working here, even the Catholics who work here may not be the most equipped or resourced or studied in that world or reality,” Bishop explains. “We settled on a more engaging process of people recognizing what gifts they bring in and how they’re already doing good work.”

The program started with a full-day retreat in January to bond as a community. Bishop says the most impactful part of that day was choosing different places on campus and asking people to reflect on their experiences of those places.

While they visited the spots one might expect — Founders Chapel and The Immaculata come to mind — they also were taken to more tucked away locations. “We sent them to The Garden of the Sea, the pillars of faith statues near the Jenny Craig Pavilion and the Learning

Commons,” Bishop explains. “We asked them to think about how these places on campus speak about the Catholicism at USD. This idea that the university has a history and a purpose can be missed day to day when we’re running from meeting to meeting. This is a way to deepen our sense of what this place is about.”

Each participant was given three questions and asked to present their reflections about their experience to the group. The program’s subsequent monthly gatherings were focused on topics such as community, faith, the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, the liberal arts and how best to confront humanity’s urgent challenges.

Participant Matthew Yepez — who came to USD in June 2022 to take the helm as senior director of the Career Development Center — found the program edifying. “I think it helps me to better align with the mission, and to help my team members. We all want to know how best to help students to launch their lives and be successful,” he says.

He was particularly struck by roaming campus during the retreat. “It was powerful to pause and reflect on the history and its intricacies,” Yepez recalls. “I had a new appreciation for how special a place this is and was impressed by the concept that our Catholic identity means this is a welcoming place, even for those of us who aren’t practicing.”

Bishop echoes that sentiment. “Learning about the history of USD doesn’t mean we haven’t evolved from 30 years ago,” she notes. “We want people to think about what it means to them now and how they are a part of the story that has been written and is continuing to be written.”

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