Michael Infantine, Staff Writer
Editor’s note: This article is part of a series of interviews with men and women in the Notre Dame community who have responded to God’s call to holiness in different ways. Here, campus minister Brett Perkins speaks on vocation and tells the story of what brought him to the faith, as well as to Notre Dame.
Rover: How would you describe vocation in a general sense?
Perkins: That end for which one’s whole person has been created and called by God, a point where your deepest passion (and God’s gifts placed in you) and the world’s deepest need intersect. Our ultimate, universal vocation in this life is a call to holiness, leading us to become saints in heaven where we will see God face to face.
Describe your ministry. What are you involved in at Notre Dame?
My particular vocation, as I have discerned it so far, is one of ministry primarily to young adults as a lay ecclesial minister in the Catholic Church. Within this context, I serve as the Assistant Director of Sacramental Preparation and Catechesis in Campus Ministry at Notre Dame. I direct the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), the process by which individuals become Catholic Christians or enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. I also oversee the Confirmation program for folks who need to complete their initiation into the Catholic Church. Finally, I work with students and colleagues in Campus Ministry to develop opportunities for committed Christian students to learn more about their faith, as well as provide ways for “seekers” of good will to find answers to their deepest questions as they contemplate the relationship to which God invites them.
What is your personal vocation story? What led you to work at Notre Dame specifically?
My vocation story is inextricably tied to the story of how I became a Catholic Christian. My family’s faith background was rooted in the Methodist Christian tradition, but during my junior year of high school, my friend Katie’s invitation to join her at her Catholic Church for a random Sunday Mass totally revolutionized the path my life was on. While mostly lost through the Mass, I knew one thing: there was something going on there at that church that was altogether different from what I had heretofore discovered in my previous religious experience.
I applied and was admitted to Notre Dame, ultimately deciding to study finance and theology. During my sophomore year, I entered into Full Communion with the Catholic Church through the RCIA process. Upon graduating in 2001, I did what lots of Notre Dame business majors do: I took a job in Chicago in financial consulting (all the while maintaining my commitment to being engaged in the life of the Church as much as I could, depending on my work/travel schedule at the time).
My time in Chicago was filled with many blessings. I enjoyed the work I did and was well paid. Yet there was something inside of me that remained unfulfilled. I grew increasingly dissatisfied with keeping my faith life compartmentalized, separated from my daily work. I pressed on, ultimately continuing my consulting work for a total of three years before receiving “the call.” It was literally a call from a coworker, inviting me to consider applying for a position in Campus Ministry at Notre Dame, even while I was still working in the secular consulting world, and even without having completed my Master’s degree in theology!
I had been an undergrad team member for what is now Four:7 Catholic Fellowship, also having been involved in the Iron Sharpens Iron Interdenominational Ministry, as well as many of our retreat offerings, which were indeed an area with which I was very familiar. The catch was that I would need to decide within the next 48 hours whether or not I was interested in applying. Those couple days quickly became a time of intense prayer and discernment.
I knew that I had a passion for sharing my faith with others, and that I had grown to know and love our holy Catholic Church. But would I be good at the work of professional ministry? Would I find fulfillment, as I thought I would?
As you might guess, I decided to go for it. That was in August 2004, and the last 9 years have seemingly passed in the blink of an eye. Each day brings a new adventure, but with God’s grace, our staff in Campus Ministry, in collaboration with our Holy Cross priests and so many others on campus, continues to carry forth the mission of Blessed Father Basil Moreau, CSC, to make God known, loved and served in our world and among our students.
What is the role of prayer in your vocation and ministry?
I take inspiration in my prayer life from the words of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, who described prayer as “a surge of the heart; it is a simple glance turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” Thus, when I’m walking in to CoMo [the Coleman Morse Center] from my car in the morning or find myself outside throughout the rest of the day, I always try to remember to just…look…up. It can indeed change your whole outlook to remind yourself that you are never alone, that God is always with you!
What is the most fulfilling part of your vocation?
The most fulfilling part of my vocation is working with college students on a personal level. College is a time when young women and men are maturing rapidly and making many choices for themselves. In matters of faith, heading out of the parental nest means answering lots of other questions: Will I continue going to Mass? How will I make prayer a part of my day? If I profess this faith, how then will I choose to live? Walking alongside our “emerging adults” as they struggle to make sense of the chaos…and then to help them bring that chaos into dialogue with 2,000 years of lived Christian experience within our Catholic Church…is perhaps my favorite aspect of my role in Campus Ministry.
What is the most challenging part of your vocation?
Two things come to mind as part of the challenges of living my vocation to young adult ministry at Notre Dame:
1. We don’t really have anything like a “normal work day,” as we frequently begin around 8:00-9:00 a.m. but then are often on campus until later in the evenings, since that is prime time for the majority of Notre Dame students. Thus, it can be a challenge to try to strike the right balance between “work” and “life outside of work,” especially when what I do at work is what I would want to be doing even in my free time (and I think this is another sign that I’ve found my vocation!)
2. Refilling the well—it is a commonly stated axiom in ministry that “we cannot give what we do not have,” often used to remind those of us in ministry to take the necessary time to build up our own relationships with God, such that we can then seek to lead others to Him. This is something that I must constantly come back to.
Michael Infantine is a sophomore studying PLS who is currently looking for a way to fit more than 24 hours into each day. If you have any helpful suggestions, email him at minfanti@nd.edu.
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