Marquette University
ER-T2-7: Outdoors Program

Marquette’s Campus Ministry hosts retreats throughout the year and are open to all students. One of the most recent retreats was “Finding God in All Things,” and had an eco-justice theme. Using faith as a lens, students were tasked with considering what it meant to live sustainably and to consider their impact on the planet. Retreats are held in wilderness settings and invite students to explore their avenue of finding God present in daily life. These explorations may happen in the context of individual reflection, community conversations, and spending time outdoors. These retreats hope to bring faith, life, relationships, and values into a cohesive conversation with one another. In addition to meeting a new group of peers, the Campus Ministry Retreats program allows for students to step away from their daily schedule and reflect upon the faith, values, and ethics that effect their choices, both small and large. Whether students are facing choices about majors, careers, relationships or just looking for some peace, retreats are an opportunity to spend time thinking about what they are seeking and what God might be calling them to do. The Ignatian tradition invites all people to be ‘contemplatives in action’ which requires time away to take stock of our current challenges, gifts, talents, and callings and then move forward, putting into action the fruits of that reflection. Reflection needs action to make it concrete as action needs reflection in order to remain grounded. Campus Ministry offers this kind of time for reflection in a variety of ways and hopes to appeal to students of differing backgrounds. Student Retreat Leaders choose to take an active role in sharing their faith as they build a faith community at Marquette. Quite a few of the retreats are led by current student leaders who help retreat participants engage with one another to share our struggles, joys, and stories. Student leaders share ways in which those traditions have enhanced their lives of faith, inviting other students to consider ways in which they can become more authentic, genuine, and integrative people. In a world that is so full of stimulus, the retreats program looks for ways to infuse moments of quiet and real connection into the retreat weekend and the ongoing lives of the retreat participants.