Welcome to Campus Ministry!
As Catholic Christians, Jesus Christ is at the center of all we do and the Campus Ministry office at Cardinal Ritter seeks to help students build a relationship with Him. Through daily prayer opportunities, monthly all- school Masses, and yearly class retreats, students are invited to encounter Christ and discover their own unique, God- given vocation and talents.
Here at Cardinal Ritter, we are deeply inspired by Franciscian spirituality. Our yearly school themes and underclassmen retreats focus on the Franciscian values:
Dignity of the Individual
Peace & Justice
Responsible Stewardship
Reconciliation
By pondering these values as a school, we hope to help form virtuous students who go forth to set the world on fire.
The Campus Ministry office offers many opportunities for students to live out the faith they learn about in the classroom. All are welcome to attend our daily prayer opportunities in the mornings before school starts and events we put on throughout the year, including evenings of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with praise and worship open to all students and families. For Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors looking to dive deeper into their faith and serve the school as student leaders, we have the Miles Christi Leadership Team (MCLT), who lead the school in faith and service. MCLT students receive ongoing formation and leadership training and serve as liturgical ministers, small group leaders, and plan school-wide service projects.
If you want to learn more about Campus Ministry, please contact our campus minister,
Claire Anderson, Campus Minister
Miles Christi Leadership Team
As Catholics, we believe that faith and service are two sides of the same coin. As St. James writes in his letter, “Indeed some might say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.” (Jas. 2:18) Jesus commissioned His disciples to teach and to serve. If we are to teach our students how to love God, we can do that best by raising up authentic witnesses for them to look to. To do that, we must more fully integrate a life of faith with the study of the faith. This life of faith includes not only a devotional life, but also a life of service. The Sercive Learning and Campus Ministry programs have merged to form one group called the Miles Christi Leadership Team (MCLT), giving a nod to our namesake, Cardinal Joseph Ritter’s, motto, miles Christi sum, “I am a soldier of Christ”. Soldiers of Christ serve, protect, and are not afraid to be witnesses of their faith which is the ethos we hope to instill in our students. Our goals are: -to form our students to love God, both in and through a devotional life of prayer, but also to love Him in our neighbor who is near us. In bringing these two aspects of a life of faith together, we hope to model for our students what an integrated life of faith looks like. -to form our students more intentionally in a life of prayer and evangelical witness. We will do this by guiding the students through a formation plan that leads with beauty and empowers students to live lives of faith and virtue. -to inspire other students to participate more actively in the faith life of the school by forming their peers to be authentic, joyful, and compelling witnesses of faith.
Juniors and Seniors are welcome to apply for membership on the Miles Christi Leadership Team (MCLT). Responsibilities include:
Class Retreats
Underclassmen have the opportunity to take part in an annual Days of Recollection Retreats. Attendance is mandatory. 7th Graders, Freshmen, and Sophomores go on retreat in the fall, and Juniors and 8th graders go in the spring. These retreats are led by the Miles Christi Leadership Team.
Christian Awakening Senior Retreat
Senior Retreat is a signature Cardinal Ritter experience. This retreat has been shaping and bonding graduating classes for decades. Senior Retreat is the culmination of all the previous retreats. This four-day retreat gives students an opportunity to reflect upon who they are, their relationship with others, their relationship with God, their response to Him, and the experience of a Christian community. The senior class is split up into four groups.
Senior Retreat Dates
September 13-16
November 29-December 2
February 21-24
March 14-17
Morning Prayer, Mass, Divine Mercy Chaplet, Praying the Rosary
Let’s move all these individual headings under one heading: Weekly Prayer Opportunities and then under that: Monday: Morning Prayer in the chapel at 7:30am Tuesday: Rosary in the chapel at 7:30am Wednesday: Adoration in the chapel at 7:30am Thursday: Mass in the chapel at 7:15am and Confessions during all lunches, Friday: Divine Mercy Chaplet in the chapel at 7:30am Doughnuts will be served after Mass on Thursdays. Students who attend 3 or more prayer events a week will be entered to win a prize. Winners announced every Monday over morning announcements.
Follow Campus Ministry on Instagram: @CRHS_campusministry
Prayer Request
Our Campus Ministry team wants to pray for you! When someone in the school community is in need of prayers or knows of someone who is, he or she can submit a prayer request, and every other week the Campus Ministry team will be in the chapel praying for the needs of our community. Click here to submit a request.
Student Testimonies
“Campus Ministry has affected my life a lot more than I thought it would have. I thought it was just setting up for School Mass, but it is so much more than that. You get to go and help the younger Raiders grow closer to God, themselves, and each other and that has been a wonderful experience.”
Maddy Easley, Senior Class of 2016
“The Campus Ministry Leadership team has been one of the greatest decisions I’ve ever made in High school. Being apart of Campus Ministry gives me a chance to be apart of setting up and putting away all materials needed for mass. Being a retreat leader gives me the chance to be with a group of underclassmen and help them get along with one another. I have been given the chance to learn so much more about myself and the Catholic faith. It has been an amazing experience to be with a group that shares the same passion for praying and talking with God. I feel really thankful for being accepted into this group and I’m so glad I have the chance to not only help myself but help others grow in their faith.”
Joel Riley, Senior Class of 2016
“Being apart of Campus Ministry means so much more than just being in a club at Cardinal Ritter. One of the best parts about being on the Campus Ministry team is being able to lead retreats. It means a lot to me and the other campus ministers when we are able to lead a retreat of younger kids and be apart of their journey in their faith and with their peers. Along with leading retreats, we have the responsibility to lead and participate in our all school and class masses. Being able to participate in masses not only keeps us all more involved in the mass but encourages other people to participate and is all-around enjoyable. Overall, being apart of campus ministry has been helped me in my relationships with friends and teachers at Cardinal Ritter but also grow closer to God.”
Delaney McKee, Senior Class of 2016
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
O Lord Jesus Christ, who in thy mercy hears the prayers of all people, we beseech thee all grace and blessing on our Cardinal Ritter school community and family.
O Lord Jesus, grant that we may share your word, be of service to others, and love as you loved.
We thank You O Lord, for the many blessings bestowed upon the Cardinal Ritter family and implore that we may continue to fulfill the mission of justice begun by our namesake, your servant, Cardinal Joseph Ritter.
And may we always embody his motto…..
“Miles Christi Sum,” “I am a soldier of Christ.”
In Jesus name, Amen
