Father Steven Janoski, chaplain, was also in charge of the organization for a while, but had to step back because of time constraints; he is also pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Springfield and director of campus ministry for Benedictine University at Springfield, Deacon Ghiglione says.

According to the organization’s web site www.catholicsatuis.weebly.com, the student organization at the public college “builds Christian community by encountering Christ through faith, service, sacrament and friendship and provides an environment where all are welcome to know and experience the fullness of the Gospel.”

The CSO, as members call it, meets for Mass on Sundays at 4 p.m. and then usually has a meal and discussion time, Deacon Ghiglione says. “We have Mass in a classroom that is converted to a little chapel and about a dozen students attend consistently, with as many as 25 or more coming some weeks. If for some reason we don’t have Mass there on Sunday, we make sure the students with cars provide transportation to a church.”  

Deacon Ghiglione thinks of himself as a spiritual guide. “I’m trying to empower the students to do some things on their own. We go to morning Mass at Blessed Sacrament Church every Tuesday morning (during the school year) and spend some time in the adoration chapel,” he says, adding that after church the group also goes out for doughnuts. “Sometimes I have things going on and can’t get to Mass … but they go anyway.”

Guest clergy and/or speakers for the CSO have included Bishop Thomas John Paprocki; Father Brian Alford, director of the Office for Vocations; Father Mariadas Chatla, parochial vicar of parishes in Taylorville, Stonington and Kincaid; UIS Chancellor Susan J. Koch; representatives from the Springfield Dominican Sisters, and Springfield Mayor Mike Houston and his wife Carolyn Houston.

Of all the activities promoted by CSO, Deacon Ghiglione said one is paramount. “We have done a few service projects and we have one retreat a year. This year we will be going on a tour of the Cathedral,” he says. “We do those things but without Mass we are just another student organization.”

Above all, CSO members should be looking ahead, for their own good and for the good of others. “The goal of campus ministry is planning for the future,” he says. “I tell them we have to look out for other students who are coming down the road. We just keep trying to do what the Lord is asking us to do.”