Graduate Student Outreach

Thomas and I met in 2017 when we were both placed as FOCUS Mis-sionaries at Michigan Tech. Last fall, after we both had served two years and married in the summer, Thomas began graduate school here at Tech while I continued with FOCUS, tran-sitioning from serving undergradu-ate students to graduate students. As a family, we strive to live as mission-ary disciples, living out God’s plan for the family to be an institution committed to answering the call to evangelize. Now we have a daughter, Lucille Joan, whose life has intensified this call even further.

In the graduate ministry, our goal is to “win, build, and send” graduate students to live as missionary disciples wherever they go after graduation. Because of the diverse ethnicities, age ranges, and rigor of the grad programs, our outreach has to take a different form. The main component of the “win” stage capitalizes on the very differences that makes the ministry unique. Our weekly grad dinner, for example, allows for natural mentorship between people who are in different stages of life, cultural sharing, and is a peaceful repose from the labors of graduate school by sharing a prepared meal together.

Last year, the first year of the graduate ministry, Thomas and I worked to build up a foundational group of students who frequently shared their lives with one an-other; it is through relationship that we come to know Christ's friendship and we desire to invite others into that friendship as well. To form a community, Thomas and I invited students to share in weekly dinners at our home, dove into scriptures together at weekly women’s and men’s Bible studies in order to “build” them up in the faith, met one-on-one with students, and made invitations to Mass and the Sacraments. 

We will continue with our “win” and “build” events while also deeply investing in committed students, teaching them how to grow in their daily prayer life and propelling them forward so that they can answer their own missionary call in the ways that Jesus is asking them. In this way, they, too, can be “sent” out to cast their nets out into the deep. 

Thank you for your prayers for and financial support of St. Al’s and the students here; without you, we would not be able to reach as many as we do!