​UIW chaplain receives USCCB/CCMA certification

UIW chaplain receives USCCB/CCMA certification

University of the Incarnate Word Chaplain Father Thomas H. Dymowski, OSST, has recently been certified as a Catholic campus minister by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) by way of the Catholic Campus Ministry Association (CCMA), a national professional association for campus ministers.

Father Dymowski, a member of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives since 1979 was ordained in Baltimore in 1985. He has ministered all but six years of his 30 years as a priest in Texas and has been the chaplain at UIW since 2009. He earned a doctor of ministry degree from Oblate School of Theology in 2012 for his research on theological reflection in the formation of university peer ministers.

Certification measures a person’s compliance with CCMA’s competency-based Standards for Campus Ministers. Through a process of self-evaluation, reflection, prayer and peer assessment, the campus minister demonstrates his or her competency in personal, theological and professional areas. Moreover, the campus minister is expected to demonstrate his or her acceptance of CCMA’s Code of Ethics.

In the 1985 pastoral letter on campus ministry, “Empowered by the Spirit: Campus Ministry Faces the Future,” the National Conference of Catholic Bishops emphasized the importance of having competent, trained leaders for ministry on college campuses. The USCCB/CCMA certification process is an important step in the realization of that goal.

CCMA’s standards and procedures for certifying Catholic campus ministers are approved by the USCCB subcommittee on Certification for Ecclesial Ministry and Service. In October 1992, CCMA was authorized to certify campus ministers in the name of the USCCB. CCMA also provides publications and educational programs for campus ministers and promotes the mission of the church in higher education.

Approximately one out of every three college students are Catholic according to recent studies of incoming freshmen. Catholic Campus Ministry — formerly known as the Newman Apostolate — serves Catholic college students at over 1,200 public, private and Catholic colleges and universities in the United States.