Roberta Bussan, known in the Catholic Church on campus as Sister Bobbi, is leaving Augustana after two years of service. Sister Bobbi has worked on the Campus Ministries professional staff and as coordinator of Catholic Ministries. Father Anthony Co will take her stead.
For the past two years, Sister Bobbi led Catholic Masses and ministry on campus, and recruited retired priests to celebrate mass.
However, the Catholic Diocese, led by Bishop Jenky, took over the ministry at Augustana last year and eliminated Sister Bobbi’s position, instead offering her a position as assistant to Father Anthony, which she declined.
“The expectation of the diocese was that I would assist Fr. Co and that Augustana would pay for this,” said Sister Bobbi via email. “After considering my years of leadership experience and in discernment with my Prioress, I made the decision not to continue at Augustana in this new role. This decision was made with a deep sense of regret both for me and for my Benedictine community.”
Father Anthony is now in charge of all Catholic Ministry at Augustana.
“I think they could’ve done a better job in handing down whatever decision that was coming from the bishop,” said sophomore Samuel Dunklau, a Catholic member of Campus Ministries. “I think if a person has served in a leadership position that long they should leave with a little bit more ceremony. She was an excellent leader of our Catholic student ministry.”
Senior Melissa Chiodo, a Catholic member of Campus Ministries, said the Peoria Diocese intimidated Augustana into accepting a proposal to take over the Catholic Ministries.
“It was basically that either Augustana accepted this proposal, or we would no longer be allowed to have Catholic Mass on campus,” said Chiodo. “We would have to disperse to various local Catholic churches if we lost that privilege.”
Pastor Richard Priggie said one-third of Augustana students identify as Catholics, but all students are welcome to come to Mass and be a part of Campus Ministries. Priggie, along with Pastor Kristen Glass-Perez, is in charge of all other religious services and Campus Ministries activities. Priggie said he understands why students are upset with the change leadership.
“I think, first of all, it happened very quickly and right at the beginning of the year,” said Priggie. “So I think there are some students who justifiably wondered, ‘What’s going on? We love Sister Bobbi.’ So it’s taken a while for students to wrap their heads around this and try to accept it.”
While Dunklau thought the change in leadership was unorganized, he said the decision will create a larger budget for the church, a new team and a larger ministry and amount of services.
“If we can really use this year to build up this ministry, in light of this change, to have all Catholic students come, that would be really a very powerful thing,” said Dunklau. “So Sister Bobbi leaving us really kind-of helped the ministry to realize, ‘Hey, I need to get involved. There are things happening in the ministry that need my attention.’”
Chiodo agreed that the change was more beneficial.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing,” she said. “I think there can be a lot of positives that come out of this change.”
In fact, Priggie said this new shift in leadership has offered more opportunities for students on campus.
“Catholic students now essentially have the best of both worlds,” said Priggie. “They have two different options: they have Campus Ministries, which remains open for all students including Catholic students, and they have special programing through Father Co for the weekly Mass and some other special events.”
Sister Bobbi said she is sad to be leaving the Augustana community, but is grateful to have contributed to students spirituality.
“My community is grateful for the opportunity we have had to provide a strong, Catholic Ministry at Augie, integrated with their overall campus ministry vision,” said Sister Bobbi. “Augie has modeled an ecumenical ministry that I believe has been an asset for all the students preparing for leadership in our contemporary culture. My community and I are proud to have been a part of it.”
Students were able to say goodbye and show their appreciation for Sister Bobbi at a farewell party Sunday.