Parish Groups
Catholic Academic network
of Gainesville
Mission
Statement
"The Catholic Academic Network
(CAN) of Gainesville is composed of active and retired Catholic faculty,
administrators, and staff of the University of Florida, Santa Fe Community
College, City College, and other institutions of higher learning.
We recently opened our membership to Elementary and
Secondary School Educators as well. The mission of CAN
of Gainesville is three-fold: witness to our academic communities by our
presence and activities, provide fellowship opportunities for our members, and
provide service to the students of our faith communities."
Examples of fellowship activities
include opportunities for spiritual growth, support in career challenges of
being Catholic in the academic community, and mentoring of junior members by
senior members. Examples of
activities involving service to students include mentoring and
assisting in academic and administrative matters, spiritual support, and social
events. Members are encouraged to participate in
these varied activities as fits their interests and schedules. Although CAN of
Gainesville is being organized through St. Augustine Catholic Student Center and
Parish as a means of fulfilling one of its
missions of service to the academic community, the organization is open
to members of any parish.
Members
- See who we are and
join online.
"We're here for
students"
Welcome students! As you can see from our
mission statement, YOU are one of the major reasons that we formed the Catholic
Academic Network of Gainesville. We feel a strong calling to witness to you in
our Catholic faith. The academic environment is not necessarily supportive of
faith and can often be hostile. We are here to help you and support you in the
struggle to not only maintain your faith through your undergraduate or graduate
studies, but also to help you grow and mature in your faith. You are family to us -
part of our faith family and community. As such, we feel that we should make
ourselves available to you in a variety of ways.
How can we do this? First, by just letting
you know that there are numerous faith-filled Catholic Christian faculty,
administrators, and staff in the academic community. Look at the
member page. You will see the growing number of CAN members who have agreed
to have their contact information posted. At the end the line for each member
is a check box indicating the roles they have agreed to take on. The fellowship
box means that they are interested in meeting with other CAN members for
peer-level fellowship and sharing of faith. All of the other boxes indicate how
they are willing to help students. Academics means they will help with academic
issues - maybe help with a problem with a class or larger issues.
Administrative is helping with issues between you and your department, college,
or university outside of classes. Spiritual is just that - interacting with you
to provide spiritual growth and support (the
Catholic Student Fellowship and
Nueva Alianza at St. Augustine's are excellent venues for this). Social is
just getting together for fellowship and fun (for example,
Newman Club).
The online member list is only a portion of
the total membership list of CAN. If you would like to contact a faculty member
in your area but don't see one listed, please contact Paul Gulig (gulig@ufl.edu)
and he'll attempt to connect you with the best person.
If you would like to contact a CAN member
with a specific need or goal in mind, please respect their stated intentions
(Fellowship, Academic advisement, Spiritual advisement, etc.).
There are no doubt numerous other ways that
we can work with and help students. Let us know your ideas by emailing one of
the CAN leaders: Paul Gulig,
Angela Linder,
Maria Ripol, or
Sr. Margaret Harig.
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