Junior Maddie McCartney said she chose Saint Mary’s for multiple reasons. “I was looking for a school with a tight knit community that felt like home,” she said. “I really loved the campus and the beauty of Winona, and I also really loved the people that I met and how they were living their Catholic identity as well. That was really important to me.”
McCartney knew she wanted to grow both academically and in her faith. And by serving as a Peer Minister at Saint Mary’s, she helps other students find their spiritual paths as well.
Peer Ministers are a group of students within Campus Ministry committed to the Gospel call. They offer welcoming, guidance, compassion, and faith-filled support for their peers. They also offer a place for other students to question, explore, grow, and develop in faith.
McCartney adds that currently a third of those involved in Campus Ministry activities are other faiths. “We are a welcoming and hospitable community and one that is rooted in authentic witness and love for the other person,” she said.
She lists a wide range of activities students can get involved in, some of which she helps plan, including weekly community nights, speakers for Theology on Tap, weekly Bible studies, service opportunities in the community, liturgical choir, daily Mass, Adoration, and much more.
As a psychology major with a theology minor, McCartney hopes to go into the clinical and counseling side of psychology, incorporating her faith so she can work with people in the fullness of their humanity.
