Dear Campus Ministry Community,
In this coming Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus prays outside of his friend Lazarus’s tomb. He says, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me”. During this time of change and transition it might be easy to forget that we have a Father who always hears our prayers. That no matter what the prayer is he hears it and that he cares for us. As we are stressed and fearful let us remember always to return to our Father in prayer, to trust in him in hope, and to know that we are loved by him deeply and personally.
Over the course of the last two weeks we have seen numerous changes and updates to the way that campus ministry functions in the Diocese of Richmond. With campuses closing, classes and ministry being moved online, and access to Mass restricted the way that we live as Catholics on campus has changed radically. Today marks another change in the way we do ministry.
Due to the financial situation the Diocese of Richmond finds itself in as a result of the COVID-19 virus the difficult decision was made to reduce staffing. This decision will affect many ministries of the Diocese but in a real way it hits our campus ministries. Seven Campus Ministry employees were temporarily laid off, a status that will last until June 30, 2020. It is effective immediately meaning that Thursday, March 26 was their last day serving our campuses. The good ministry that each of these employees was doing will be transitioned to another Campus Ministry staff member and participants of those affected programs will be notified in the coming days of the new arrangements.
The employees affected by this are:
- Grace Craddock (Radford University)
- Rich Girardin (Virginia Commonwealth University and Randolph-Macon College)
- Ricardo Givens (Norfolk State University and Hampton University)
- Millie Griesemer (Virginia Tech and Roanoke College)
- Marianne Guarnieri (College of William and Mary)
- Krysti Patient (Virginia Tech)
- Katie Zigadlo (College of William and Mary)
Please join me in praying for these individuals and for the ministries they leave behind. Join me too in thanking them for their ministry and service to the students of the Diocese. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out to your Campus Ministry staff or to me at a Diocesan level. My email is awaring@richmonddiocese.org.
God bless,Andrew Waring
Associate Director for Campus Ministry
Office for Evangelization