Campus Ministry & Service

Campus Ministry is a vibrant component of Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart that promotes our students’ spiritual development in the true sense of the Franciscan tradition. Campus Ministry provides opportunities for prayer and self-reflection throughout the year, and helps students understand and appreciate the value of giving back to their community through service to others.

Annual Day of SHAring
The Day of SHAring is a school-wide day of community service. All students, faculty, and staff, as well as many parents, alumnae and board members serve in approximately 50 organizations and agencies throughout Western New York, collectively donating thousands of hours of volunteer service to positively impact our community.

Footprints Service Program
Jesus Christ and the examples of St. Francis and St. Clare call us to serve the needs of the community. Through our Footprints Service Program, students provide community service, reflect upon their experiences, and understand the ministry of service in their own lives.

All students are required to complete 20 service hours annually and prepare reflections on their service experiences. Seniors also complete a senior reflection paper about their four-year service experience.

Campus Ministry helps students find appropriate service placements and maintains a list of more than 150 Western New York organizations and agencies that benefit from volunteers.

Religious Services
Mass is celebrated approximately once a month. Students, faculty and staff take primary roles in the liturgies, serving as altar servers, lectors, sacristans, Eucharistic Ministers, liturgical planners, and in the music ministry. Priests from area parishes and Christ the King Seminary are invited to celebrate the liturgy and the Sacrament of the Eucharist with our community. Mass is open to parents and alumnae of SHA.

The SHA community also holds prayer services throughout the year, including Advent, Lenten Reconciliation and Stations of the Cross. Additional prayer services seek God’s blessing and guidance for special events in the SHA community.

Retreats
Each year students attend an off-campus class retreat that is planned and led by a team of upper classwomen with the guidance of the campus ministers. Retreats are designed to promote self-reflection, personal and spiritual growth, and relationship building. In addition to class retreats, optional retreats are offered annually.

Service/Immersion Trips
In an effort to foster a global mindset and perspective and to live out our call to service, SHA offers international immersion and service trips. On these summer trips, girls learn about local cultures and customs and assist with ongoing local initiatives in ministry, education, ecology and community development. Recently, SHA has taken girls to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Zambia.

In addition, students can participate in a weeklong summer service camp with a focus on serving the local WNY community.