Georgetown OKs return of outside ministries

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Georgetown University will allow outside Protestant ministries back on campus after barring them last summer.

The Rev. Philip Boroughs, vice president of the Office of Mission and Ministry, says the private Jesuit school has expanded worship and ministry opportunities for its Protestant community.

The university plans to establish a self-governing Council of Affiliated Protestant Ministries, which will include representatives from each of the six religious groups that were dropped from official university recognition last summer.

Officials at the 218-year-old school decided in August not to renew covenant agreements -- guidelines for outside ministries -- with the groups, collectively known as affiliated ministries. Georgetown officials said they did so as part of a restructuring of the university's Protestant chaplaincy, which provides pastoral care and organizes several worship services for students.

The school also employs chaplains who minister to and hold worship services for Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and Orthodox Christian students.

"We decided not to affiliate this year so we could have a chance to say, 'What are the issues, and how can we better enhance the communication ... to make this work better for us and for our students?' " said the Rev. Tim Godfrey, director of the university's Office of Campus Ministry.

The decision had nothing to do with theological issues, said Father Godfrey, who served on an advisory committee appointed by Father Boroughs last fall to re-evaluate the university's Protestant-ministry structure.

"So much of it was a structural issue and how to better the communication, so that's really where we began," Father Godfrey said.

Father Boroughs announced the changes Sunday in a campuswide letter.

The committee, which met from October through March, was led by Terrence Reynolds, head of Georgetown's theology department, and included faculty, student and staff members -- including representatives from disaffiliated ministries.