Meet Our 2023 Shark Tank Ministries
Ut Fidem
Founded in 2017, Ut Fidem ("Keep the Faith"), strives to form high school students into lifelong, intentional disciples. Through weekly small groups and active discipling by an adult faith mentor, students learn how to defend their Catholic faith and develop deep, personal relationships with Jesus Christ that stand the test of time. When compared with non-member alumni from the same high school, Ut-Fidem alumni were 59% more likely to attend weekly Mass in their senior year of college, and 77% self-identified as active Catholics, while only 50% of non-Ut Fidem alumni did so. This year, Ut Fidem is seeking to replicate these great results, launching at Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, Jackson Lumen Christi, or Flint Powers - or all three!
Catholic Worldview Fellowship
The Catholic Worldview Fellowship (CWF) firmly believes that viewing the world from the standpoint of faith is the much needed antidote to postmodernism and the starting point for bringing the gospel back into the culture. To this end, CWF forms and empowers Catholic college students to evangelize, and even more so to help the Church ‘evangelize culture’. During this four-week long fellowship in both Germany and Rome, students undergo rigorous intellectual and leadership formation through lectures, small group discussion, personal study, training seminars and coaching, and fieldwork at local historical sites. More importantly, students are exposed to the beauty of a life shaped by a Catholic worldview through opportunities for adoration, prayer, Mass, spiritual direction, and communal life. In 2023, the Catholic Worldview Fellowship hosted 38 students with a waitlist. This year, in light of burgeoning interest from applicants, CWF is seeking to double its capacity by launching a second cohort to serve Michigan colleges.
Kateri Institute for
Catholic Studies
Founded in 2022 and named for St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the Kateri Institute for Catholic Studies (KI) offers a home for students, faculty, and staff at the University of Michigan to integrate their studies with the Catholic intellectual tradition. In the face of increasing secularization within higher education, the Kateri Institute seeks to demonstrate the vitality and beauty of Catholic thought, the forbearer of the modern university, in all academic disciplines and endeavors. Through lecture, seminar, and film series, as well as faculty-student mentorship and its very own literary publication, Transcendence, KI reached hundreds of students in its first year and added ten faculty members to its affiliate program. This year, the Kateri Institute is looking to reach more students and faculty by continuing to provide consistent programming, while also developing its donor base.