{"id":60047,"date":"2025-11-28T20:40:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T20:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/?p=60047"},"modified":"2025-11-28T20:40:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T20:40:21","slug":"father-mike-schmitz-campus-ministry-is-best-of-both-worlds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/nl\/learn\/father-mike-schmitz-campus-ministry-is-best-of-both-worlds\/","title":{"rendered":"Pater Mike Schmitz: Campuspastoraat is \u2018het beste van twee werelden\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n Father Mike Schmitz before his show in Vail, Colorado, as part of his Parables Tour. \/ Credit: Daniel Milchev<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

CNA Staff, Aug 10, 2025 \/ 06:00 am (CNA).<\/p>\n

While many know him best for his popular \u201cBible in a Year\u201d podcast, Ascension videos, and inspiring talks he gives across the country, Father Mike Schmitz is first and foremost the chaplain at the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota, Duluth (UMD). <\/p>\n

This fall Schmitz will mark his 21st year working in campus ministry, which he called \u201cthe best of both worlds\u201d in a recent sit-down interview with CNA in Vail, Colorado, during his Parables Tour<\/a>. The tour is part of Schmitz\u2019s Seeds of Faith Campaign<\/a>, which is raising funds for a new Newman Center to be built on the UMD campus.<\/p>\n

The 50-year-old priest explained that while he has loved working in both parish and campus settings, each is unique. While college kids can tend to be \u201cfickle\u201d in their faith,\u00a0he said, they also have a beautiful openness to change that he didn\u2019t experience at a parish.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollege ministry is unique because you have this openness \u2026 It is that place where so many people are asking the big questions in life and we just see so many conversions happening when we\u2019re there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Father
Father Mike Schmitz during his show in Vail, Colorado, as part of the Parables Tour. Credit: Daniel Milchev<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Newman Center at UMD has seen a flourishing of vocations. According to Bulldog Catholic, the name of the university\u2019s campus ministry, 400 couples have gone through marriage preparation classes, eight women have entered religious life, and over 16 men have entered seminary, with seven ordained as priests.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my favorite things to do is marriage prep; it just really brings me so much life,\u201d Schmitz said. \u201cI just love even being able to present to couples who are discerning marriage like, no you\u2019re actually discerning how God is asking you, calling you, to be his disciple in your life. That\u2019s the big question. That\u2019s one of the reasons why we get married in churches is because this is a sacrament of discipleship.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for those who have discerned religious life, Schmitz called it \u201ca great grace\u201d to walk with these individuals in their vocations.<\/p>\n

He highlighted the alarming statistic of nearly 85% of Catholic young adults falling away from the Church while in college and emphasized that at UMD \u201cwe want to put a stop to that. So I love being able to even do our little part in Duluth to help that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also pointed out the hope he believes Pope Leo XIV\u2019s papacy could bring to young Catholics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think something about Pope Leo coming from America \u2026 I think what it does is, or can do, is it can once again make it real in the sense of bringing it closer to my own home and closer to my life of saying, \u2018The pope isn\u2019t just some person from far far off, but Chicago, and here\u2019s the picture of him at the White Sox game.\u2019 And you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, OK. So, God is closer than we think.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201c[T]here\u2019s been this resurgence in people asking the question, \u2018How do we become Catholic?\u2019 Why? Because, I don\u2019t know, maybe something as simple as that \u2014 that having a pope who came from this country reminds us that God is closer than we think.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Father
Father Mike Schmitz\u2019s Parables Tour show at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, Colorado. Credit: Daniel Milchev<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Advice for others in campus ministry <\/h2>\n

For others working in campus ministry, Schmitz gave three suggestions to grow involvement: Offer daily Mass and confession, start engaging Bible studies, and host retreats often.<\/p>\n

He emphasized that these events in which people are brought together, such as Bible studies and retreats, help grow involvement because \u201cas Catholics we worship in rows, but we grow in circles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adding to this idea of growing in circles, Schmitz said individuals \u201cneed to actually walk with people \u2014 not just kind of anonymously go to Mass, anonymously pray at Mass, anonymously leave, but to be able to also say, \u2018There\u2019s someone here who knows me.\u2019 And so we need to do small groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lastly, he urged the need for retreats because \u201cthe world is so loud that we need the opportunity for students to be able to just leave, even for a weekend, encounter the Lord in a way that again he\u2019s real, he\u2019s good, he does have a plan for their lives, so that then they can come back to the world [and] go back to campus with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what he hopes the students at UMD take away from their time at the Newman Center, he explained that it\u2019s not just about accompanying the students through college so that they become \u201cslightly more devout or pious \u2026 no, we\u2019re here to prepare you to be martyrs. And what I mean by that is to be witnesses to your faith in every situation, in every season, wherever you\u2019re called, no matter what it costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/265859\/father-mike-schmitz-says-college-campus-ministry-is-best-of-both-worlds<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Father Mike Schmitz before his show in Vail, Colorado, as part of his Parables Tour. \/ Credit: Daniel Milchev CNA Staff, Aug 10, 2025 \/ 06:00 am (CNA). While many know him best for his popular \u201cBible in a Year\u201d podcast, Ascension videos, and inspiring talks he gives across the country, Father Mike Schmitz is [\u2026]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":70642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-60047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-news"],"mb":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Father-Mike-Schmitz-Campus-ministry-is-%E2%80%98best-of-both-worlds.webp?fit=800%2C534&quality=75&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":79417,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/nl\/learn\/jeff-cavins-father-mike-schmitz-awarded-pillar-award-by-museum-of-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":60047,"position":0},"title":"Jeff Cavins, Father Mike Schmitz awarded Pillar Award by Museum of the Bible","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"maart 14, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., awarded Father Mike Schmitz, known for hosting \u201cThe Bible in a Year\u201d podcast, and Bible scholar Jeff Cavins with its prestigious Pillar Award for Narrative on Feb. 20.This was the fourth Pillar Awards, which, according to its website, celebrates \u201cindividuals who embody\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian News"","block_context":{"text":"Christian News","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/nl\/learn\/category\/christian-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Jeff Cavins, Father Mike Schmitz awarded Pillar Award by Museum of the Bible","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Jeff-Cavins-Father-Mike-Schmitz-awarded-Pillar-Award-by-Museum-of-the-Bible.png?fit=1200%2C797&quality=69&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Jeff-Cavins-Father-Mike-Schmitz-awarded-Pillar-Award-by-Museum-of-the-Bible.png?fit=1200%2C797&quality=69&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Jeff-Cavins-Father-Mike-Schmitz-awarded-Pillar-Award-by-Museum-of-the-Bible.png?fit=1200%2C797&quality=69&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Jeff-Cavins-Father-Mike-Schmitz-awarded-Pillar-Award-by-Museum-of-the-Bible.png?fit=1200%2C797&quality=69&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Jeff-Cavins-Father-Mike-Schmitz-awarded-Pillar-Award-by-Museum-of-the-Bible.png?fit=1200%2C797&quality=69&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":70117,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/nl\/learn\/5-catholic-resources-to-help-you-grow-closer-to-christ-this-advent\/","url_meta":{"origin":60047,"position":1},"title":"5 Catholic resources to help you grow closer to Christ this Advent","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"februari 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"null \/ Credit: Kara Monroe via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) CNA Staff, Nov 23, 2025 \/ 06:00 am (CNA). 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