LV Life

Cardeña invests efforts in ministry

"My mission is Los Angeles," said Catholic Campus Minister Elena Cardeña, "and I look at La Verne and can't believe that I am here." She began working at the University of La Verne after she could no longer be funded as Catholic campus minister at UCLA. Cardeña has been at ULV for four years. / photo by Summer Herndon
“My mission is Los Angeles,” said Catholic Campus Minister Elena Cardeña, “and I look at La Verne and can’t believe that I am here.” She began working at the University of La Verne after she could no longer be funded as Catholic campus minister at UCLA. Cardeña has been at ULV for four years. / photo by Summer Herndon

by Simon W. Bouie
Arts & Entertainment Editor

College is a rite of passage, a chance to shine, grow, expand one’s horizons and learn. The learning process is not limited to lecture and research; the learning process is intended to deal with each individual in their own unique way.

The University of La Verne tries to promote self-growth in several areas, including spirituality. Elena Cardeña came to ULV four years ago seeking to be used as an instrument of God.

Cardeña is the Catholic Campus Minister, and her work in the ministry began when she was 17 years old while she worked as a Sunday school and youth ministries volunteer at her church.

“God leads you to religion. I was not called to be a nun. That is a very particular calling,” said Cardeña.

Although it was not intended for Cardeña to become a nun, there is no doubt that she is fulfilling her life’s mission. “I have always been passionate about helping people,” she said.

Despite the passion for her ministry, Cardeña does not attempt to berate or bombard students with her message. With regard to her philosophy or approach about spreading the Gospel, Cardeña takes a “non-anxious presence. God is alive and well in all of our lives. We live life from day-to-day and sometimes we have moments of clarity where we better understand the presence of God in our lives.”

Instead of preaching from the rooftops, Cardeña said she prefers a one-on-one approach with regard to her outreach. She also shows up at various events on and around campus, attends club meetings, acts as the Latino Students Forum (LSF) adviser and conducts her own Campus Ministry programs. Although the purpose of conducting programs is a concept that is not foreign to Cardeña, she tries not to overuse the concept.

“Being with students is what is most important. Jesus never held programs, he walked with people while experiencing and becoming part of their lives,” said Cardeña.

“The hordes of Heaven,” is what drives this self-described passionate woman. Despite a passion for several things in life, none of them evoke the emotion that her personal experience with God and Jesus does. Life for Cardeña is a constant process of expansion.

“I’m growing and I’m changing. I’m in the midst of my own revolution, I’m insatiably curious about life, a jack of all trades and a master of none. I dare say, a Renaissance woman.”

Over the last four years, Cardeña has grown to appreciate the small community of La Verne. “I like the opportunity that we all have here to invest ourselves in people’s lives, you can’t do that at a large school.”

She does however, warn that this sense of campus intimacy could be dwindling. “I am concerned about the recent growth of the school. It seems that people don’t associate with one another. When we grow, we lose some of our human touch,” she said.

To those who are concerned with the concept of a “woman minister,” Cardeña humbly submits for their consideration, “There is a reason why God gave me the gifts that He did. The deepest desire of your heart is a gift from God. She said rules and regulations were mainly built by man and rules change. What a sad thing to have a gift under the Christmas tree that is not opened.”

If a person had to say one thing about Elena Cardeña, she would want it to be that, “She tried to love, she tried to love. That is what is going to be on my gravestone.”

Simon W. Bouie
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Summer Herndon
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