Welcome to our New Campus Minister!
Zach Ludwig begins his time at St. Catherine University
By Meredith Toussaint
In the last week of November, the Center for Spirituality and Social Justice (CSSJ) welcomed their new campus minister, Zach Ludwig. For the previous months of the fall semester, the office had been operating without a campus minister, so the staff was very excited for his arrival. “A campus minister’s goal is to reach out to students, whether that be with intentional events like a service trip or bible study, or just with informal events like hanging out in our living room,” said CSSJ liturgist Katie Jonza. “A big CSSJ goal has been to form community, and having Zach around means that we have one more person who can be really intentional about that.”
The CSSJ staff, left to right: Claire Frederick, office coordinator; Sr. Sharon Howell, director; Aisheh Wazwaz, Muslim chaplain; Zach Ludwig, campus minister; Katie Jonza, liturgist.
Ludwig was raised outside of Chicago and described his immediate family as being “culturally Catholic,” but said that he was not overly involved with religion until his last year of college. He attended Loyola University Chicago, majoring in religious studies and history, and through the support of the Jesuit priests who worked there he was taught for the first time that Christianity and religion in general could be “so vibrant, so life-giving.” He especially discovered an interest in spirituality after a silent retreat he attended the semester before his graduation. Ludwig then went on to earn his Master of Divinity from Yale University. Though he has not worked as a campus minister before, he was involved in campus ministry at Loyola toward the end of his undergraduate years and is excited for the opportunity to work with students here.
One of the main reasons Ludwig is looking forward to working at St. Kate’s is because of the school’s commitment to social justice. “I could tell that this university and the people in it were really committed to action and social justice. It was obviously baked right into the curriculum and encouraged in every space,” he said. “A lot of universities will say they are committed to action, but this one felt different in some capacity.”
Additionally, he pointed out that the university was interesting to him because the student body is made up of so many commuter students. Because most of his graduate program took place online due to the pandemic, he said he felt “very acclimated to figuring out how to do things when there isn’t necessarily a group of people that will always be on campus. … I felt like the challenge of that was a little more accessible to me in my experience.” Because of his time in a similar space, he is committed to creating opportunities for all students regardless of how often they are present on the physical campus.
When asked about his own ideas for what he would like to do here, Ludwig said, “I definitely am a person who thinks that my place in being here is to do what the students want me to do.” He said he is always open to discussions about what students want or need from the CSSJ, and wants to do all he can to bring those ideas into reality. However, he did mention a few specific topics he would like to talk more about here. One of these was LGBTQ+ ministry, which was the subject of his graduate thesis at Yale, and one he is very passionate about. “I would love to start a group or start a series of talks,” he said. “I love it, I love talking about it, and it’s important to have out there.”
In his role as campus minister, Ludwig is available to talk with students about whatever questions they may have about spirituality, and he emphasized that he is always happy to do so. As Jonza said, “Zach is a great person and very easy to talk to. He’ll talk about spiritual and theological questions if you would like to, but he’ll also chat about the St. Kate’s experience or whatever you want to talk about! He’s a welcome addition to our team.” Throughout our conversation it was evident that Ludwig cares deeply about the students at this university and what they need.
In Ludwig’s own words, “To me it’s just about the students. … I would love for people to know that I’m always available for talking. … If they are thinking about something related to religion or exploring who they are and what religion means to them, I love those conversations.” His office is located at the end of the upstairs hallway in the CSSJ, right behind Our Lady of Victory Chapel. In the coming weeks, join me and the rest of the CSSJ staff in welcoming him in his new role; we are so happy to have him join this community.
