Prayer @ BC.EDU
In its initial use in 2004 and again in ‘06 and ’08, Boston College Questionnaires about the Undergraduate Experience (BCQ) has found that two-thirds of undergraduates at Boston College pray more than once a week on campus and that five out of ten were regularly praying “outdoors on campus.” A team of researchers and practitioners in the Office of University Mission and Ministry led by James Fleming, SJ decided to look more deeply into what they began to call the “hidden life of Boston College undergraduates” and what they found has become The Boston College Prayer Map. 
The research team found that undergraduates at BC prayed for the same reasons most people pray: to express gratitude, for emotional strength or for moral/ethical guidance. The most often cited experience that drew them to prayer was for “comfort when someone dies”. The undergraduates who responded to the questionnaire listed the following as the most common places on campus to pray:
- 67% pray in residence halls
- 45% pray on-campus chapels/prayer spaces
- 45% pray outdoors on-campus
Back in 2004, Fleming mentioned these habits of prayer to Joseph Corcoran (BC ’59), and they began talking about how our students’ relationship with God was supported by their surrounding environment. Corcoran suggested creating a map of the BC campus that showed new students the places that alumni had found peaceful and reflective. According to Fleming, the Prayer Map “grew organically out of our Ignatian tradition of contemplatives-in-action, supports the goals found in the University’s document on Student Formation, and will encourages a reflective & prayerful environment on campus”.
Given these habits of prayer, the research team began to consider the influence of the campus environment on students’ ability to reflect on their learning and their lives. The inquiry and final product were based on three guiding principles. The process and product would:
- take a broad view of the Chestnut Hill & Newton campuses
- mirror the experiences of members of the community who contributed to its creation
- be simple, familiar, and easy-to-use
The research team benefited from the wisdom of several members of the campus community. They studied existing statistical data about BC students and looked at stories that Dawn Overstreet, PhD candidate was then collecting about students’ religious lives for her dissertation research. They asked Capstone students and students involved in the Campus Ministry program, CURA, to solicit ideas from their peers for prayers & sacred places on campus that inspired contemplation. Prof. James O’Toole, Clough Chair of History, wrote a two-paragraph introduction to the Prayer Map, suggesting how it might be used to “cultivate habits of reflection and prayer.”
Formal feedback was solicited from several campus religious groups, including:
- Asian Christian Fellowship
- Black Campus Ministry (now Multi-cultural Christian Fellowship)
- CURA (Campus Ministry)
- Hillel
- Intervarsity
- Muslim Student Association
- Office AHANA Student Programs
- St. Thomas More Society
The design professionals at Media Technology Services contributed to the earliest forms as the Prayer Map. In the summer of 2006, Warren Chang from the Office of AHANA Student Programs presented the project to the staff from the Office of Marketing Communication (OMC) and the design responsibilities for the on-line version were moved from Media Services to OMC.
The research team made a presentation to the BC Board of Trustees’ Committee on Mission and Character in May 2007. In October of 2007, at an “Agape Latte”gathering, Fleming presented the BCQ findings related to the faith lives of our undergraduates—including the idea of “prayer spaces” on campus to a group of about 175 undergraduates. He says that he received some very helpful feedback as a result of that presentation.
The resulting Prayer Map highlights 34 locations on the Chestnut Hill and Newton campuses that undergraduates at BC have identified as quiet places where they pray and reflect including: 8 Chapels, 3 indoor sites, 5 religious monuments, and 18 outdoor sites. Locations on the Chestnut Hill campus include such sites as the benches on Linden Lane, St. Mary’s Chapel, the Dustbowl, the O’Connell House grass patio, the St. Ignatius statue, Multi-Faith Center, and the path around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir. Locations on the Newton campus include such quiet spots as Trinity Chapel, the Barat House Back Patio, and the Field on Colby Road.
The prayers, poems and passages included in this Prayer Map are taken from Boston College’s “Red Book” (What are we?: An Introduction to Boston College and its Jesuit and Catholic Tradition) first published in 1991 by the Center for Ignatian Spirituality and come from various faith traditions:
- Catholic including several Jesuits,
- Anglican,
- Baptist,
- Buddhist,
- Hindu,
- Jewish, and
- Muslim.
Passages are included from the major religious texts such as the Bible – both the Christian Scriptures and the Hebrew Scriptures along withthe Talmud andthe Qur’an. The prayers, prose, and poems come from such authors as Simone Weil, Pedro Arrupe, Oscar Romero, Maimonides, Dorothy Day, Julian of Norwich, Gotama the Buddha, Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu, Ignatius Loyola, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Etty Hillesum, Muhammad, and Thea Bowman.
The research team has searched the internet and visited many university web sites but nothing has been found that has anything like this. The Prayer Map is unique to Boston College.
January 2009
In This Issue
A Fire that Kindles Other Fires
Student Affairs at a Jesuit Institution
Office of the Vice President of Mission and Ministry
Mission and Ministry Website Home
Boston College Office of the Vice President for University Mission and Ministry, 90 College Road, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
www.bc.edu/offices/mission/ | 617.552.1603