Peer Ministry Hits the Road

Catholic Memorial’s Peer Ministry class has grown over the past few years to become a model for other schools in the area, and Mrs. Ramsdell’s class took its best practices on the road on January 29th to the 2nd annual GIFT retreat, hosted by Notre Dame Academy in Hingham.

Last year, Mrs. Ramsdell started GIFT—“Growing in Faith and Teamwork”—to get Catholic schools from the Boston area together once a year to talk about what they do well and what they could improve.

Above: James Schmidlein '09 speaks about CM's peer ministry
at Notre Dame Academy in Hingham on January 29th.

“I thought it was important for our kids to realize that we have a shared Catholic identity with these schools,” said Mrs. Ramsdell, “and that despite our rivalries, at our core we're all Catholic schools. It’s important for the kids from these schools to come together and recognize that.”

With the peer ministers from several Catholic high schools in the area giving talks on community, teamwork, faith and service, the leaders from all schools share one day of reflection with one another.

“The kids had a great time. They got a lot out of it,” said Mrs. Ramsdell.

From CM came David Falco ’10, Brendan McNabb ’10, and seniors James Schmidlein, Joe Cauteruccio, Steve Sullivan, Trevor Boyce, Kurtis Bucszynski, and Sean Mahoney.

“It's wonderful to see our kids grow as leaders and recognize the strength of our programs,” said Mrs. Ramsdell. “What they contribute to our lives…can spread to other schools and students too.”

The Peer Ministry course is a Theology elective which department chair Brian Scott and former campus minster Shivonne St. George began offering in 2006.

Steve Sullivan ’09, who enrolled in the class last year and re-enrolled this year, was impressed by how much the GIFT retreat has grown in just one year. “It’s so important, once in a while, to not go out of the textbook for a change, to get to know other people and learn from them,” Sullivan said.

Asked what best practices of peer ministry he learned from other schools, Sullivan cited creative ideas with the missions collections as one example of something that could improve.

Other schools, reported Sullivan, were impressed with CM’s leadership in citywide events like the Walk for Breast Cancer and benefit concerts.

“Thinking about what you do well and hearing about these great ideas from other schools,” Sullivan said, “there was definitely a lot to take in.”