Meet Ms. Coffey, St. John's New Campus Minister

Ms. Coffey is one of the new staff members at St. John’s this year, and she is specifically a new face in the Campus Ministry Department. She will be one of the leaders of peer ministry and will also be directing the yearly retreats for every grade.

Ms. Coffey received her master’s degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame after going to Boston College for her bachelor’s degree. She says that before coming to St. John’s, she had never taught at a Christian Brothers school. “I’m still learning, but I really like what I’ve seen at St. John’s with the Christian Brothers and their approach to teaching.” Before moving to DC, Ms. Coffey lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she taught at Judge Memorial High School and worked for a Catholic parish doing youth and young adult ministry work.

Ms. Coffey said that she wanted to come back to the East Coast, and St. John’s felt like the right choice. “I’m from the East Coast, and my family still lives here. When I met Mr. Mancabelli and Mr. Themistos, and talked to Mr. Sipowicz, St. John’s felt like the right place for me.” 

When asked what ideas she had for the future, Ms. Coffey said that she is really looking forward to possibly changing elements of the freshman and sophomore years. “People always talk about how fun the junior and senior retreats are. It might take a few years, but I really want the freshman and sophomore retreats to be spoken of as highly as the upperclassman ones have been.”