Hawaii campus minister co-edits award-winning book on ‘student church’
By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
“God’s Quad: Small Faith Communities on Campus and Beyond,” Kevin Ahern and Christopher Derige Malano, Orbis Books, 228 pages, $20
“God’s Quad: Small Faith Communities on Campus and Beyond,” is a 2018 book filled with tangible essays focusing on “the student church” during and after college.
The book recently received an honorable mention in the 2019 Catholic Press Association Book Awards for books on “Pastoral Ministry – Parish Life.”
It’s co-edited by Christopher Malano, the former pastoral administrator of the Newman Center/Holy Spirit Parish at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. Malano, who recently left his position at the Newman Center to begin priestly formation with the Paulist Fathers, previously worked as the secretary general of the International Movement of Catholic Students-Pax Romana.
“God’s Quad” is structured into three sections: “Revitalizing the Student Church,” “Global Perspective on Catholic Student Communities” and “Catholic Student Communities in the United States.” The book uses American and international case studies of Catholic campus groups, their struggles, their best practices and the work they did on and off campus.
The editors did a good job of incorporating a wide variety of college and university programs. Particularly interesting were the international case studies for those that don’t know much about Catholic campus communities abroad. There’s also frank discussion and feedback throughout the essays on the struggles and issues young adults have with the church.
In Malano’s own chapter, he talks about how limited staffing resources at UH-Manoa’s Newman Center led it to develop a student leadership training program and also take student feedback on ways to make the Newman Center more environmentally conscious.
Those who work in campus ministry, with young adults and young adult Catholics themselves will take something away from this compact and concrete book.
The book concludes with a resource section for college student leaders and chaplains.
“God’s Quad” is available in paperback ($20) and Kindle ($16.50) editions.
