In his book “The Idea of a University,” St. John Henry Newman insisted on the interrelationship between the different areas of knowledge, and that a university should help students develop this “connected view.”
Inspired by this idea, clubs formed at Catholic universities — first in England and then the United States — to provide catechetical formation to integrate into a college education, many taking the saint’s name as Newman centers or Newman clubs.
Recognizing this significance, Brownsville Bishop Daniel E. Flores last year dedicated the St. John Henry Newman University Chapel at the Newman Center in Edinburg, Texas, serving the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. With his upcoming Oct. 9 feast day this year, for the first time, people who “piously visit the chapel” can receive a partial indulgence.
The famous Oxford-educated convert was a well-respected Anglican theologian who is even recognized on the Church of England’s and the Episcopal Church’s Calendar of Saints. He led the Oxford Movement in the 1830s, which led to an embracing of Anglicanism’s historical Christian roots, and many — including Newman — to embrace the Catholic Church.
“The chapel is a very big deal for us, because we’ve transformed that space significantly in the last two years,” said Raul Cabrera, director of campus ministry at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. “It’s a nice, reverent place for students to come and pray.”
Cabrera said students are encouraged to learn more about St. John Henry Newman through events like the daily “Coffee with St. Newman,” which brings them together to read and reflect on a few paragraphs, a prayer or something else he wrote. The ministry also celebrates his feast day by offering the Liturgy of the Hours, including a vespers service the night before, and reading from Newman’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua for the Office of Readings.
Read more from our Catholic Colleges Fall 2021 special section here.
Considering the university’s Hispanic population was 90.5% in the Fall of 2020, it may seem strange for there to be such a devotion to an English saint. One example of tying Latino spirituality to Newman is through his motto, Cor ad cor loquitur (“Heart speaks to heart”), said Cabrera, noting a strong devotion among many Hispanics to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
“The Newman name is not common in our culture. What we try to bring together is: How can we put together that with our Latino culture?” Cabrera said. “How do we let the Sacred Heart of Jesus speak to us? That’s how we tie into the culture the Faith and the particular way of teaching from St. John Henry Newman.”
A personal connection
Newman’s motto also serves as a model for evangelization, said Audrey Aylmer, campus minister for the Our Lady of Wisdom Newman Center at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine.
“When we vulnerably open up our hearts to people, we can really evangelize that much better, because we’re caring about somebody’s heart,” she said.
The Newman Center is one of four churches that comprise the Parish of the Resurrection based out of Old Town, Maine. Members of the parish and campus communities have made the Newman Center their spiritual home and found ways to also carry out the New Evangelization, Aylmer said.
Aylmer, who also leads the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults program at the parish, said she typically has at least one student candidate or catechumen, which she credits as a result of that “heart to heart” invitation.
Erin McConnell, an incoming senior at U-Maine and current president of the Black Bear Catholic student club, has seen this firsthand.
“I had three friends become Catholic this past Easter. Having watched their journey through RCIA and being there receiving their first Eucharist and being confirmed, it’s amazing to know that it started as a tiny conversation or someone inviting them to Mass or a game night at the Newman Center,” she said. “On a religious campus you may have the influence from your campus to help you continue in your faith, but on a secular campus, you really don’t have that unless you have something like a Newman center and the people to help you continue that.”
During her college career, McConnell has grown more confident in her faith. She led a Bible study specifically for fellow members of the U-Maine marching band her sophomore year, and she’ll join others in praying the Rosary on campus.
“People see me there and see me in class two days later and recognize me as one of the people saying the Rosary on campus. I’ve had it spark up conversations before,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot through being able to do my evangelization within a specific group of people and people I’m friends with outside the Newman Center. That has really helped me to realize how much I enjoy being able to share with others, and that was something St. John Henry Newman enjoyed — sharing his faith with others.”
An example of reaching out
Even after his conversion to Catholicism, Newman maintained many of his friendships with his former Anglican colleagues at Oxford University, yet never wavering in his faith. While many Newman clubs confront a secular campus, one club is closer to following the saint’s footsteps in being a Catholic witness at a university run by another religious tradition.
“I can definitely say that we sought to continue his work of interfaith outreach and love for all people,” said William King, an alumnus and past president of the Newman Club at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
When King’s older brother, David, was a student 10 years ago, the club received official recognition as a student organization at the institution run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
For William, the club was about “giving people in a minority a place to be with like-minded people.” He recalled the annual “Involvapalooza,” where various clubs on campus would set up booths. “We primarily got comments by people like ‘there are Catholics here?'”
At first, David didn’t know who the Newman center was named after, but he eventually learned more about the saint.
“Learning about his conversion, his researching of Church history, his emphasis on Catholic education and choosing to convert even though coming into the Church was difficult for him, and choosing to do that because it was the truth — those are some of the things I look up to him for,” David King said.
‘Pursuing God together’
Emma Fisher, the director of campus ministry at the Western Washington University’s Newman Center in Bellingham, Washington, regularly prays for Newman’s intercession as the patron saint of the ministry.
“With Cardinal Newman … one of his biggest things is there would be a space for young adults — and students specifically — to come,” she said. “The house that we own just a few houses off campus provides that, and it’s been a place that’s assisted the Lord and the Holy Spirit in the conversion of hearts.”
The priests from nearby Sacred Heart Parish serve the university and celebrate Mass on Wednesdays and Sundays. One example of providing that opportunity for continued formation is the center’s “Diving Deeper” program, where students listen to a talk on Friday nights followed by a Q&A session.
“Our mission is to encounter, equip and evangelize,” Fisher said. When we do that with the students, we want to do that in a place where they can encounter the Lord and go out and evangelize,” she said. “That type of program is very similar to John Henry Newman, and it does very well here, and it’s cool to watch how that plays out. We’re consistently encouraging students to ask the question so that they can seek out the answer in the truths of the Faith and the teachings of the Church.”
Newman centers are a combination of community life and friendship in an environment “imbued by scholasticism and academic work,” said Father Daniel Andrews, director and pastor of the St. John Paul II Newman Center serving the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
“It’s a place to ask big questions and find answers, both spiritual and academic, being a presence near a secular university to stand out as a beacon and proposing to all students and faculty that there’s a source of all truth and that faith and reason live in absolute harmony with each other if we pursue both of them with earnestness,” he said.
When Newman was canonized, the center took the opportunity to teach about his life and work.
“That was a very special day for us,” Father Andrews said. “Sometimes as Catholics, we can have things like Newman centers and, after a while, people don’t know who Newman was. We have to be intentional about that from time to time so that they really understand the origin of these centers and why they’re so important.”
Following Newman’s example of interconnectedness of study, Father Andrews emphasized the importance of developing the “whole person academically, spiritually, physically, emotionally and relationally.” This is done with activities such as Bible studies, a speaker series and a “Leadership Summit” for students looking to develop the qualities of being a good leader. The students also engage in service opportunities.
“This touches at the heart of what really ignites the fires at Newman centers, is the peer-to-peer dynamic of pursuing God together, and there’s a real palpable sense of our students’ awareness of the depths of each other’s hearts, and a real reverence for the hunger that’s inside each of them. It perfectly encapsulates ‘heart speaks to heart,'” said Father Andrews. “I think our students are aware that Jesus is the satisfaction of every heart.
“Overall, all the evidence confirms that Newman centers throughout the country and other parts of the world are really bright lights in the midst of a difficult time in the world and, in many ways, the Church,” he added. “If anybody’s ever wondering if the Gospel is relevant to college students, they need only to look at what’s happening in Newman centers. They are accomplishing the visions of John Henry Newman, and no doubt through his intercession.”
Tony Gutiérrez writes from Arizona.
