Vital Worship Grant Awarded to Campus Ministry

May 31, 2018 (Notre Dame, Ind.) —  The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (CICW) has awarded Regina Wilson, director of campus ministry at Saint Mary’s College, one of 44 Vital Worship Grants projects. The grant will fund a year-long project beginning in June 2018 that promotes worship and faith formation. 

Wilson explained, “Campus Ministry pursued this grant because we wanted to present an opportunity for the campus to explore some aspect of campus life in relationship to Eucharist.  In this case, with issues of inclusion and diversity so much a part of conversation now, we want to present the idea of hospitality as the way into a more lively, inclusive environment.” 

The grant will support moderated discussions with a theologian/liturgist, underrepresented groups on campus, and a sister of the Holy Cross, where individuals will be invited to speak about personal experiences of liturgy and examine the Christian practice of hospitality. The project also includes the creation of a hymn, which not only expresses the themes of the project, but will live beyond the grant year. “The hymn will be introduced to the opening liturgy of the school year and added to our liturgical repertoire as a sort of signature song for our worshipping community,” Wilson shared.

Wilson acknowledged, “The focused attention on the theme of hospitality and faith will be formational for our students and campus community. The impact of welcoming the stranger and doing what we can to make a place for all is a central core of the Holy Cross charism.”

The Vital Worship Grants projects have a variety of emphases—visual arts, music, intergenerational relationships, contemplation, movement, and more—but have as a common purpose a desire to both deepen people’s understanding of worship and strengthen practices of public worship and faith formation.

About Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (CICW):Since it began in the year 2000, the Vital Worship Grants Program has now awarded 827 grants to churches, schools and organizations across North America for projects that generate thoughtfulness and energy for public worship and faith formation at the local, grass-roots level. An advisory board of pastors and teachers from a variety of backgrounds assists in the grant selections, and the program is generously supported by Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. Founded in 1937, the Endowment’s major areas of programming are religion, education, and community development.