Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Godfrey to Step Down as Ministry Director

Four years ago, he came to Georgetown wanting to make a difference. Since then, he’s spent his time finding ways to bring the Jesuit ideals of inclusion and service to campus. And now, Fr. Timothy Godfrey, S.J., is graduating, along with the Class of 2008, from his position as director of campus ministry.

Godfrey, who stepped into the position in July four years ago, is leaving on June 30 to pursue his masters in nursing at Catholic University. Before coming to Georgetown, he had served as a public health nurse for four years; when he became a pastor in Oakland, Calif., he set up a clinic in his parish and also worked at a nursing-staffed clinic at a soup kitchen there.

“There’s a whole attitude toward the poor in terms of respecting these men and women,” Godfrey said. “Public health nursing has been my field. I want to go back into it.”

Godfrey also helped set up the Nurses for America program and volunteered at a clinic in Washington, D.C., during his first two years as director of campus ministry. He said, though, that he had to stop volunteering because of his duties as director. After serving in the position since 2004, Godfrey decided to step down this year and enroll in Catholic University’s advance practice nursing program in immigrant refugee and global health.

A search committee that represented a cross-section of the different faith groups on campus, and included about 14 administrators, faculty and students, met yesterday to make their final recommendations to Fr. Philip Boroughs, S.J., vice president for mission and ministry. The search committee has narrowed down “a great number of applicants” to five people, according to Fr. Pat Rogers, S.J., director of main campus ministry, and Boroughs is expected to make a decision by early next week.

In the past four years, Godfrey has made a visible effort, many say, in improving interfaith dialogue on campus, which Rogers said has historically been part of Georgetown’s mission.

“As Catholics, one of our commandments is: how do we care for our neighbors?” Godfrey said. “How do we do that, especially in terms of our brothers and sisters who may not be of our faith? How do we help our students gather those skills to deal with diversity, especially in an increasingly diverse environment?”

any of the seniors who are graduating tomorrow have been involved with campus ministry since Godfrey was named director and have taken note of an expansion of interfaith interaction. Hafsa Kanjwal (COL ’08), chair of the Interfaith Council, said that Godfrey’s assistance two years ago was crucial to resurrecting the council, which was initially formed as a support group after 9/11. Godfrey, who now serves as the council’s moderator, advises the group and helps it plan events.

“He’s been really helpful, a big support for us in campus ministry,” said Kanjwal, who meets with Godfrey at least once a month for the council. “I think he has a very close relationship with each of the major religious groups on campus.”

Godfrey has made a point not just to include other religious groups, but also to embrace other less-mainstream communities. In the past few years, campus ministry has worked with Latino students to start an annual graduation celebration for them that takes place the day before commencement. In addition, at the end of last year, Godfrey was one of eight people to sit on a working group that discussed possible educational programs that would help include the LGBTQ community on campus.

Godfrey said that one of his other major goals during his past four years here has been to expand campus ministry’s service and immersion trips. Global Escape, a service trip program, began two years ago, and the Magis program took off this year with a spring break trip to El Salvador.

“We really wanted to have an international immersion experience through campus ministry where people were encountering the cultures and realities of people who live in poor countries and reflect on those things in the light of faith,” said Catherine Heinhold, Roman Catholic chaplaincy director, who helped start the Magis program.

“It’s about putting our faith into action. Especially because of the global dimension of our Jesuit Catholic heritage, we want to make sure our students are engaged,” Godfrey said. “We’ve had a lot of support from the students and our staff in terms of getting these [trips] together.”

eghan Kerrisk (COL ’08), one of eight students to attend the inaugural Magis trip, said that the program is valuable because it helps make magis, the Ignatian ideal of “more,” prominent at Georgetown.

“My sister two years younger learned about it at her Jesuit university and came home and told us, and I felt silly not knowing about it,” Kerrisk said. “Having that aspect that is so Jesuit available is really important, just striving for more in your everyday life.”

Several of Godfrey’s colleagues also noted increased efficiency and better communication in the campus ministry department after he restructured it during his second year as director. Whereas previously, all chaplains and ministries reported to him, Godfrey instituted directors of each campus of the university.

Some seniors who have been involved in campus ministry for all four years of Godfrey’s tenure would like to see the next director increase campus ministry’s presence on campus.

Specifically, Eryn Schultz (SFS ’08), Jewish representative to the Interfaith Council, said that although students have shown more of an interest in interfaith dialogue in recent years, campus ministry could do more in reaching out to students who are not involved in the discussion.

“In terms of creating kind of a broader culture of inspiring interfaith life, Georgetown could do a lot better,” she said. “We can still work to create more dialogue on this issue.”

Those involved in campus ministry, especially those students who arrived on campus at the same time Godfrey did, remember his term as one that promoted inclusion and hope that the next director will place just as high an emphasis on this religious conversation.

Faraz Mohammadi (SFS ’08), a Muslim work-study student at campus ministry, said that when he began working there as a freshman, he thought that religious groups besides Catholics would be marginalized. Now, though, as he leaves Georgetown, he said that notion is completely dispelled.

“They make sure that every view is represented,” he said, “which, at a Catholic institution with a priest leading campus ministry, you wouldn’t think is the case, but it really is under Fr. Godfrey.”

More to Discover