FAIRFIELD, Conn.—Sacred Heart University plans to open a new campus center focusing on the spiritual needs of young adults. It will serve as a place for engagement, empowerment and conversation, where young adults can explore their questions, and anyone who is involved with the young can learn how to engage and accompany them on their spiritual journeys.
The youth spirituality center’s opening will coincide with a one-day conference, “Young Adults in the Twenty-First Century: A Conversation on Faith, Religion and Culture,” on March 20 at SHU’s West Campus.
“The vision for the center is to have it serve as a transdisciplinary foundation for conversation, exploration and progress related to young adults, faith, religion and culture,” said Mia James ’13, manager for employee education in the human resources office. James, who oversees leadership development, training and education efforts across campus, will serve as the center’s co-director, along with Valerie Kisselback, campus minister. “We also want to encourage practitioners at colleges, high schools and churches to enter into fruitful dialogue about supporting, shepherding and inspiring young adults in their journey,” James said.
Both James and Kisselback are serving on a committee that is planning the spring conference. Kisselback said the group, which comprises students, SHU staff and faculty and members of the wider Bridgeport diocesan community, “organically” formed to create workshops for the conference. Ultimately, they will help determine the direction for the center, which has yet to be named, pending feedback from conference participants.
“The invitation to participate in the conference quickly evolved into discussions on how best to engage and empower young people in the church today,” said Kisselback. “The assembly of this group of people, several of whom are new SHU faculty or staff members, has the Holy Spirit written all over it. As these projects gradually unfold, my hope and prayer is that they will bear good fruit not only for the students on this campus, but for the broader church community.”
The conference will be open to students, faculty and the local community (participants must be over 18). According to a request for proposals being sent to regional, church-affiliated organizations to solicit workshop ideas, the goal is to encourage young adults to take a place at the table and for the church to hear and respond to their voices. To that end, Kisselback stressed, the conference will emphasize an innovative, moderated discussion format, as well as short talks by invited workshop presenters, and participants will engage in sustained dialogue led by an inter-generational team of facilitators.
Questions related to the conference or suggestions for workshops should be directed to the Office of Mission & Catholic Identity at Sacred Heart University. Email or call Ami Neville at nevillea@sacredheart.edu or 203-371-7904.
About Sacred Heart University
As the second-largest independent Catholic university in New England, and one of the fastest-growing in the U.S., Sacred Heart University is a national leader in shaping higher education for the 21st century. SHU offers more than 80 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs on its Fairfield, Conn., campus. Sacred Heart also has satellites in Connecticut, Luxembourg and Ireland and offers online programs. More than 9,000 students attend the University’s eight colleges and schools: Arts & Sciences; Communication, Media & the Arts; Computer Science & Engineering; Health Professions; the Isabelle Farrington College of Education; the Jack Welch College of Business & Technology; the Dr. Susan L. Davis & Richard J. Henley College of Nursing; and St. Vincent’s College. Sacred Heart stands out from other Catholic institutions as it was established and led by laity. The contemporary Catholic university is rooted in the rich Catholic intellectual tradition and the liberal arts, and at the same time cultivates students to be forward thinkers who enact change—in their own lives, professions and in their communities. The Princeton Review includes SHU in its Best 385 Colleges–2020 Edition, “Best in the Northeast” and Best 252 Business Schools–2019 Edition. Sacred Heart is home to the award-winning, NPR-affiliated radio station, WSHU, a Division I athletics program and an impressive performing arts program that includes choir, band, dance and theater. www.sacredheart.edu