So why are we called the 'Newman' Catholic Student Ministry?

What Newman Centers Owe Their Namesake (Part 1)


Interview With Oratorian Priest, Director of Newman Institute

By Kathleen Naab

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, AUG. 30, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The dossier for Cardinal John Henry Newman's beatification does not list Catholic university centers that bear his name among the miracles the soon-to-be-blessed gained through his intercession.
And yet, Newman Centers could be considered one of the cardinal's first works from heaven.
This is the lighthearted suggestion made by Oratorian Father Drew Morgan, provost of the Pittsburgh Oratory of St. Philip Neri. As an Oratorian priest, Father Morgan is a member of Cardinal Newman's own congregation. Leading up to the cardinal's September beatification, ZENIT spoke with Father Morgan about the mark the English convert has left on the world of the Church in universities.
In addition to sharing Cardinal Newman's spirituality, the Pennsylvania-native priest served for 15 years at one of the Newman Centers with the best reputations in the United States. Father Morgan was ordained for the Oratory in 1985 and has a 1997 doctorate from Duquesne University where he wrote his dissertation on Cardinal Newman’s understanding of conscience. He is presently the director of the National Institute for Newman Studies.


Father Morgan: According to John Evans, author of a history of the Newman Clubs titled "The Newman Movement": "Reaction to supposed anti-Catholicism certainly accounted for the origin of the first Catholic student organization in secular higher education."
The very first meeting of such a “club” was on Thanksgiving Day, 1883, in Madison, Wisconsin, where Catholic students were enjoying the holiday at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John C. Melvin, who lived across the street from the University of Wisconsin. In the course of the evening, one of the students mentioned that a professor had slandered the Catholic Church in his treatment of “medieval institutions.” His fellow Catholic students began a discussion as to whether such discourse was, indeed, slanderous, or appropriate, given the state of the Church in that period of history.
The students continued to meet at this home for further discussion and fellowship, constituting the beginning of the “Melvin Club.” It was the first organized manifestation of Catholic students coming together on a secular college campus.

One of the students who participated in the meetings of the Melvin Club was Timothy Harrington. He eventually found his way to graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). During a semester break, Harrington reread Newman’s autobiography, "Apologia pro Vita Sua." Inspired by Newman’s ability to defend the faith and his ideas about university education for Catholic students, Harrington drew on his experience in Wisconsin and initiated the first “Newman Club.” It followed a similar format, incorporating social activities, discussions on the faith, and mutual support for Catholic students in a frequently hostile academic environment. The meetings often became occasions for dating and debating, essentially providing a Catholic culture in a secular environment.
Surprisingly, Newman Centers emerged in the United States only three years after Newman’s death in Birmingham, England. The group at Penn held their first meeting in 1893. It is often thought that this could well be one of Newman’s first great miracles! It certainly is an affirmation of the power of his charismatic influence upon the life of the Church in the English-speaking world and his ongoing efforts from above to assist Catholic students in their most formative academic years.
Today, Newman Clubs or “Centers” can be found on almost every secular college campus in the United States, although one of the earliest clubs was at the University of Toronto in Canada. Frequently, and unfortunately, the Newman name is no longer tied to this ministry and the work is identified as “campus ministry.” Nevertheless, the mission can be traced to the Newman Club movement.
Eventually, the Newman movement became essential for the pastoral care of a growing population of Catholics attending secular colleges and universities. The return of the servicemen after World War II and the emergence of the “baby boom” generation swelled the ranks of Catholics seeking higher education at these institutions. The response of the institutional Church was to provide not only encouragement for Catholic faculty and students to associate with one another, but also the assignment of a Newman chaplain for their spiritual and sacramental needs.
The Newman movement eventually became know as the “Newman Apostolate,” and after Vatican II was placed under the aegis of the Catholic Campus Ministry Association by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.



ZENIT: Can a Newman Center replace what a student stands to gain from attending a university that is itself Catholic?

Father Morgan: This is an interesting question that provides insight into an entirely different role that Newman played in the development of the modern American university. Throughout the 1850s, Newman served as rector of the Catholic University of Ireland, which he was asked to found by the Irish bishops. At the beginning of each academic year and as each college of the university was established, Newman would deliver an opening lecture or an address that powerfully illustrated insights into the role of the various disciplines of higher education. Newman took great strides in establishing the role that the Church should play in promoting the study of that particular field.
The collection of his lectures and these opening addresses constitute his great work, "The Idea of a University." This work was used as the essential “blueprint” by the religious orders that were rapidly founding Catholic colleges and universities throughout the United States. Their work was seen as a necessary completion of the work that the Church had initiated for her students in the parochial school system. In one generation, American Catholics went from being uneducated new immigrants to educated citizens capable of engaging the broader culture. The contribution made by Newman to this great work is yet another manifestation of the power of his charismatic leadership in the area of university education.
To address your question about Catholic vs. secular education, originally, the Newman Clubs hoped to be the appropriate response to this issue. However, many pastors and even a few bishops felt that Catholic students attending non-Catholic institutions were placing themselves in near-occasions of sin and therefore should no longer receive Communion! The safeguarding of the faith today paradoxically may in fact be more secure in a vibrant Newman Center on a secular college campus, where students are regularly challenged to defend their faith and give an account of their beliefs.
Of course Catholic universities can provide quality education in all areas, introducing the Catholic perspective in each discipline, as well as the teaching of the faith through their faculties of theology. This was really Newman’s great contribution to the very meaning of a “university” education, where universal Truth would be pursued, including the Truth found in theology and the teachings of the Church.





[Part 2 of this interview will appear in a later post]



On the Net:



The National Institute for Newman Studies: www.newmanstudiesinstitute.org





Prayer for Cardinal Newman’s canonization: www.newmancause.co.uk/prayer.html

For those of you who enjoyed Fr. Tad's presentation.... "The Truth about the new emergency contraceptive on the market"

Ella: Untangling the Ball of Lies (Part 1)

by Gerard M. Nadal, Ph.D.

The FDA’s recent approval of Ella (Ulipristal acetate) as an emergency contraceptive is an action so fraught with lies and incomplete research, that it beggars the imagination. It is a tissue of lies built upon a foundation of lies. Let’s begin with the foundational lies and work our way up.

Ella is marketed as an emergency contraceptive because it can inhibit ovulation for up to five days. It also acts to prevent the implantation of the embryo and destroys the maternal component of the placenta (more on that later). So how is this not considered an abortifacient by the FDA?
The answer lies in the redefinition of both pregnancy and conception.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has for over 25 years accepted a redefinition of both pregnancy and conception as starting at implantation of the embryo, rather than at the fertilization of the egg by sperm. That’s earth-shattering in its effect. The activist attorneys who lobby ACOG saw these drugs coming and worked to get the new definitions put in place well in advance.

The definitions are also tied to the in vitro fertilization industry. Fertilization used to take place solely within the woman’s fallopian tubes, so that conception and pregnancy were respectively both an event and a condition that were simultaneous. When fertilization occurs in a Petri dish, the mother has neither conceived, nor is she pregnant. It was absurd to discard these traditional definitions for those whose pregnancies begin in the natural manner, but then logic is neither the aim, nor the concern of the pro-abortion lobby. Apparently neither is ethics or truthfulness.

Ella, as will now be seen, works as an abortifacient – even under the revised and tortured definitions of conception and pregnancy. In order to understand how it works, we must consider for a moment the processes with which it interferes.

During a normal menstrual cycle, estrogen stimulates the lining of the uterus to grow and prepare for the implantation of the embryo. At mid-cycle the follicle of cells surrounding the egg in the ovary will rupture and release the egg into the fallopian tube. That follicle of cells becomes a structure called the corpus luteum, which produces the hormone progesterone. Progesterone travels to the uterine lining, binds to it and maintains the structural integrity of the uterine lining throughout the pregnancy, if one happens to occur.

If no baby is conceived, the corpus luteum dies at about 28 days. No corpus luteum, no progesterone. With no progesterone, the uterine lining (endometrium) breaks down and a new cycle begins. If, however, the woman does conceive, the corpus luteum will live for approximately 10 weeks (the first trimester), after which time it will die and the baby will take over its own housekeeping.
Ella acts in three ways to kill an embryonic human being.
First, Ella blocks the progesterone receptors on the surface of endometrial cells in the uterine lining. This is analogous to jamming a piece of metal into the lock on one’s front door. It prevents the key from being inserted and unlocking the door. By blocking the “keyhole” for progesterone (the key), progesterone cannot initiate the complex of events necessary for sustained development and maintenance of the uterine lining. This mimics the onset of a menstrual period with the breakdown of the endometrial lining of the uterus, leaving nowhere for the embryo to implant.

That’s considered “contraceptive” by ACOG and FDA because conception is now defined as implantation. However, the next two steps are abortifacient mechanisms under anybody’s definition.

The second way that Ella works to kill an embryonic human is that it inhibits the ability of the cells of the corpus luteum to produce progesterone, thus mimicking the death of the corpus luteum. Without the progesterone made by the corpus luteum in the first ten weeks of pregnancy, the placenta dies and the baby is starved of oxygen and nutrients. Hence, Ella is effective far beyond the five-day window being touted by FDA.

The third mechanism of action for Ella is that it blocks the progesterone receptors in the endometrial stromal tissue, directly killing the mother’s portion of the placenta. These last two mechanisms are the exact manner in which RU-486 works.

Thus we see that Ella simultaneously blocks the production of progesterone and blocks it from binding to its receptors in the uterine lining, producing a miscarriage. This can happen at any time in the pregnancy. It also acts to destroy the endometrium before the embryo reaches it for implantation.

If this level of outright lying and obfuscation is profoundly disturbing, the safety standards that were deliberately ignored and the clinical trials never performed on the road to approval are nothing less than scandalous. In Part II, the story of how Ella was shepherded past the safety standards in product development, clinical trials and FDA approval.

Dr. Nadal holds a Ph.D. in molecular microbiology. In addition to teaching for 16 years, he's spent seven years working with homeless teens at Covenant House in Times Square, New York. He is currently pursuing an M.A. in theology through Franciscan University of Steubenville and blogs at http://gerardnadal.com/.

Thanks to Headline Bistro for this article.

Catholic Student Center & Kurzweg Cafe; Great Coffee & Great Friends; a Home away from Home!

Welcome Back UL!!

Join us for our Back to School Activities !

August 21st @ 5pm - UCM Welcome Back BBQ @ Zeus on the Geaux
August 22nd @ 6pm - Welcome Back Mass and Reception - Our Lady of Wisdom & Church Hall
August 23rd @ 11am-2pm - Free Burgers on the Deck! @ Wisdom
Wednesday, August 25th - Welcome Back Party @ Wisdom- Prizes, Games, Get involved, Free Food! 6pm
Thursday, August 26th- 1pm - Status of the Human Embryo talk- Our Lady of  Wisdom Church
8pm - Candlelight Adoration & Confession
Friday, August 27th - Lunch with the Lord (Free Lunch after Noon Mass!)

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Why Evangelicals have been becoming Catholic.

Evangelicals ‘Crossing the Tiber’ to Catholicism

Under the radar of most observers a trend is emerging of evangelicals converting to Catholicism.
By Jonathan D. Fitzgerald

In the fall of 1999, I was a freshman at Gordon College, an evangelical liberal arts school in Massachusetts. There, fifteen years earlier, a professor named Thomas Howard resigned from the English department when he felt his beliefs were no longer in line with the college’s statement of faith. Despite all those intervening years, during my time at Gordon the specter of Thomas Howard loomed large on campus. The story of his resignation captured my imagination; it came about, ultimately, because he converted to Roman Catholicism.

Though his reasons for converting were unclear and perhaps unimaginable to me at the time (they are actually well-documented in his book Evangelical is Not Enough which, back then, I had not yet read), his reasons seemed less important than the knowledge that it could happen. I had never heard of such a thing.

I grew up outside of Boston in what could be described as an Irish-Catholic family, except for one minor detail: my parents had left the Church six years before I was born when they were swept up in the so-called “Jesus Movement” of the 1970s. So Catholicism was all around me, but it was not mine. I went to mass with my grandparents, grew up around the symbolism of rosary beads and Virgin Mary statues, attended a Catholic high school, and was present at baptisms, first communions, and confirmations for each of my Catholic family members and friends.

All throughout this time my parents never spoke ill of the Catholic Church; though the pastors and congregants of our non-denominational, charismatic church-that-met-in-a-warehouse, often did. Despite my firsthand experience with the Church, between the legend of my parents’ conversion (anything that happens in a child’s life before he is born is the stuff of legends) and the portrait of the Catholic Church as an oppressive institution that took all the fun out of being “saved,” I understood Catholicism as a religion that a person leaves when she becomes serious about her faith.

And yet, Thomas Howard is only the tip of the iceberg of a hastening trend of evangelicals converting to Catholicism. North Park University professor of religious studies Scot McKnight documented some of the reasons behind this trend in his important 2002 essay entitled “From Wheaton to Rome: Why Evangelicals become Roman Catholic.” The essay was originally published in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, and was later included in a collection of conversion stories he co-edited with Hauna Ondrey entitled Finding Faith, Losing Faith: Stories of Conversion and Apostasy.

Thomas Howard comes in at number five on McKnight’s list of significant conversions, behind former Presbyterian pastor and author of Rome Sweet Home, Scott Hahn, and Marcus Grodi founder of The Coming Home Network International, an organization that provides “fellowship, encouragement and support for Protestant pastors and laymen who are somewhere along the journey or have already been received into the Catholic Church,” according to their Web site. Other featured converts include singer-songwriter John Michael Talbot and Patrick Madrid, editor of the Surprised by Truth books, which showcase conversion stories.

Would Saint Augustine Go to a Southern Baptist Church in Houston?

McKnight first identified these converts eight years ago, and the trend has continued to grow in the intervening years. It shows up in a variety of places, in the musings of the late Michael Spencer (the “Internet Monk”) about his wife’s conversion and his decision not to follow, as well as at the Evangelical Theological Society where the former President and Baylor University professor Francis J. Beckwith made a well-documented “return to Rome.” Additionally, the conversion trend is once again picking up steam as the Millennial generation, the first to be born and raised in the contemporary brand of evangelicalism, comes of age. Though perhaps an unlikely setting, The King’s College, an evangelical Christian college in New York City, provides an excellent case study for the way this phenomenon is manifesting itself among young evangelicals.

The King’s College campus is comprised of two floors in the Empire State Building and some office space in a neighboring building on Fifth Avenue. The approximately 300 students who attend King’s are thoughtful, considerate and serious. They are also intellectually curious. This combination of traits, it turns out, makes the college a ripe breeding ground for interest in Roman Catholicism. Among the traits of the Catholic Church that attract TKC students—and indeed many young evangelicals at large—are its history, emphasis on liturgy, and tradition of intellectualism.

Lucas Croslow was one such student to whom these and other attributes of Catholicism appealed. This past spring, graduating from The King’s College was not the only major change in Croslow’s life, he was also confirmed into the Catholic Church.

Croslow’s interest in Catholicism began over six years ago when he was a sophomore in high school. At the time, Croslow’s Midwestern evangelical church experienced a crisis that is all too common among evangelical churches: what he describes as “a crisis of spiritual authority.” As a result of experiencing disappointment in his pastor, Croslow began to question everything he had learned from him. This questioning led him to study the historical origins of scripture and then of the Christian church itself. Eventually he concluded that Catholicism in its current form is the closest iteration of the early church fathers’ intentions. He asks, “If Saint Augustine showed up today, could we seriously think that he’d attend a Southern Baptist church in Houston?” The answer, to Croslow, is a resounding “No.”

Croslow’s belief that the Catholic Church most accurately reflects the intentions of the early church fathers is echoed throughout the movement as other evangelicals seek a church whose roots run deeper than the Reformation. Further, due to the number of non-denominational churches that have proliferated since the Jesus Movement, many evangelicals’ knowledge of their history runs only as far back as the 1970s. These are the young believers who are attracted to a Church that sees itself as the direct descendent of the religion founded by Saint Peter and the apostles.

Another recent convert and current King’s sophomore, Nick Dunn, agrees with Croslow about the need for a historically grounded Christianity, however he emphasizes the liturgical aspects of Roman Catholicism as a motivation for converting. When he moved to New York City to attend The King’s College he had a difficult time finding a church that was similar to his home church in San Diego. The churches that he attended in New York, even the evangelical ones, often were a bit more structured and incorporated some liturgical elements into their services. In time, Dunn realized that these liturgical practices, which had been all but absent from his church life to that point, were quite rich.

When he asked his parents why their church didn’t have a benediction or a call to worship, they answered as many evangelicals would, saying that they don’t like “these ritualistic or religious kinds of things.” Eventually, after attending mass at St. Francis of Assisi in midtown Manhattan, Dunn became interested in learning more about Catholicism. It was living like a Catholic, Dunn says, that finally made him to decide to convert

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Hat Tip to our Aggie friends at St. Mary's for this one.