What colleges have good Newman centers

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ack said:
I also hear good things about NC State.
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Really? I went there and actually worked for the Catholic Campus Ministry in 2004/2005. While there has been a good core group of students, they’re still recovering from frequent staff turnover and have finally ousted liberal diocesan leadership who did not have the students in mind. I tried to bring FOCUS in, but was told they were “divisive and cult-like.” I found no such thing when I went to their annual conference, and that is what led me to work at the campus ministry for a year. I left after under a year because I was tired of being told I needed to add BGLA and minority Bible studies, and especially having my job description changed from ministry to data entry. Those yahoos are finally gone, praise the Lord!

The group is called the Doggett Center, not the Newman Center. The adult portion of the community is best described as people who don’t fit in at any of the other local parishes. Most of them have very little interest in having a relationship with the campus community. They are there because the former long-time priest was very liberal and lenient. They do have good hearts and are very socially-minded, but are into garbage like inclusive language and rejecting inconvenient teachings on contraception, divorce, etc… IMO the influence of that group could hold back the entire program.

The new priest as well as the new bishop have some good ideas, and hopefully the changes will stick. My sister seems very pleased with the direction it is headed. She is a junior there. I still wouldn’t call it a strong program, YET.

Not a private school, but Duke has a great Catholic Campus Ministry despite the fact that it is a Methodist college. I often went to their priest for guidance when I couldn’t take the leadership. He is now in charge for the entire diocese.
 
1ke said:
St. Mary’s in College Station, TX, which serves Texas A&M University turns out solid, orthodox Catholics and a large number of vocations to the priesthood and religious life. They have an awesome program for the students who attend TAMU.
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I don’t know if there are just a lot of Aggies here but St. Mary’s at Texas A&M has gotten lots of attention. I have to agree. St. Mary’s has a great Student Catholic Population. The only time I heard a homily about contraception was at St. Mary’s.
 
I go to University of Missouri - Rolla and we’ve got a pretty good Newman Center (I am currently living there actually so I guess I have to say that, lol). We just got a new director and she’s doing some good things to an already nice program. The church is right across the street, we’re involved with the church, and the nice church ladies bring us cookies and other goodies. There is mass here once a week, and a lot of the members are active in the parish as well as in Newman activities.
 
Another Whoop to St. Mary’s!! This church has been my spiritual home and sanctuary during my years at College Station, and one of the main reasons I stayed on at Texas A&M for graduate school. I dare say you would be hard pressed to get a better orthodox Catholic education at many “Catholic” universities. Before I became involved there, I thought I was being a pretty good Catholic for willingly going to Mass every Sunday - little did I know the rich world of Catholicism lying in wait for me! This community has changed my life and made me a much more vibrant and dedicated Catholic, and I’ve seen the same change in a lot of other students.
 
I would like to put in a good word for the Catholic Students Union at Florida State University.

Though the CSU falls somewhat on the Kumbaya side of expressing the faith, they are very good and solid on Catholic teaching, with nothing weird or bizarre in its practices. They have many excellent activities for the students to openly and proudly proclaim their faith, including a table at the university’s union courtyard every Wednesday, as well as open Stations of the Cross on campus during Good Friday.

Assisting the students are the Brotherhood of Hope, a new religious order that works with college students. I have also seen rosaries being prayed by the students, as well as an excellent retreat that solidifies the faith of many who need it once they get to university. A group of students also travel overnight to Washington DC each January to take part in the annual demonstration marking the Roe v. Wade decision. The group emphasizes strongly a pro-life stand.

Overall, FSU’s Catholic Student Union is a solid operation that I would definitely recommend.
 
jman507 said:
I’ll second University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Orthodox as well as an orthodox Bishop in the Lincoln Diocese. Great pastor and assistant, especially for the college students. Great homilies for the students and really will engage with students outside of Mass. Their FOCUS program is really effective, and are good at getting formal and informal social events. Two Masses every weekday. Confessions 30 minutes before Mass, and people go. Rosary before the M-TH 10pm Mass. When I was there, there were quite a few vocations coming from it. UNL is relatively inexpensive.
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Now they even have Latin Mass once a month on a Sunday afternoon.
 
1ke said:
St. Mary’s in College Station, TX, which serves Texas A&M University turns out solid, orthodox Catholics and a large number of vocations to the priesthood and religious life. They have an awesome program for the students who attend TAMU.
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I will second this one! Even the “semester away” people are given the opportunity for pilgrimages! My Aggie is living proof, wonderful goddaughter and good Catholic after 4 years at TAMU.

U of I Cham-bana has a good one.

Around here, the junior colleges have some really nice ones. Joliet Junior College has an excellent Newman Club, and it’s actually better than the ministry offered at Lewis. Waubsonsee has a good Catholic outreach. College of DuPage is lukewarm. Triton and Wright have nice Newmans. Junior colleges offer many of the same courses as a 4-year university at less than half the cost to local residents; in fact, you might find that professors at any nearby 4-year might also teach at the 2-year. I know people from some of the bigger schools make it a point to take my husband’s courses at the community colleges if possible.

My preference at NIU would be St. Mary DeKalb instead of Christ the Teacher University Parish & Newman Center, but it would not be because Christ the Teacher lacks an orthodox priest. It’s because the rest of the “parish” TO ME seems to be a bit “good feelings”, which seems to be the way to do campus ministry for a lot of people.
 
St. John’s Catholic Newman Center at the U of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign!

It even has it’s own residence hall attached right to the absolutely GORGEOUS chapel with daily confessions, and at least 2 daily Masses!

sjcnc.org/

Have to say I’m a bit prejudiced… got married there. the Staff is great, and there is a very vibrant orthodox student community attached to it.
 
University of minnesota Duluth, hard pressed to find a better priest than the one at this Nueman center.
 
Karin said:
Sorry about that…but as a thought they may be able to afford a good Catholic College and then you need not worry about the Newman Center;)
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This is definitely worth considering. The private school that my daughter is most interested, Benedictine in Atchison, KS, seems to give a pretty substantial amount of financial aid, on average. Also, the cost of private schools does vary and some of them aren’t as high as others. I say that it’s best to have a few choices, a state school, a private that is realistic and perhaps one that is a ‘wouldn’t it be nice if all the stars lined up and she could go there?’ You never know.

That said, my friend’s daughter is going to Southern Missouri State in Springfield, MO and they are supposed to have a good one. I have another friend w/a daughter at UM, KC and she’s been very happy there.

Good luck!
Nicole
 
When I came through RCIA, we were in Northwest Arkansas and our RCIA group met at the Newman Center at University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. It has been a few years since we lived there, but, it was a vibrant group back then! Not to mention that NW Arkansas is simply a heavenly place to live…
 
KU has a St. Lawrence Center, which I’ve heard is very good too.
 
Here is a list of campus ministries—whether or not they are good…uh…

ccmanet.org/ccma.nsf/campussites

Consider:

St. Peter’s Catholic Student Center at Baylor University

www.baylorcatholic.org

It has plentiful programming in comparison to some others.

Note the university it serves is Baptist. I think the calling to attend such a university is such that a Catholic will give witness to his/her faith and therefore be strengthened, NOT so that a person can accept the errors thereof and depart from the Holy Catholic Faith. Therefore, for those who are not already strong in the articles of the Catholic Church, they should not be encouraged to attend.
 
Consecrated said:
St. John’s Catholic Newman Center at the U of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign!

It even has it’s own residence hall attached right to the absolutely GORGEOUS chapel with daily confessions, and at least 2 daily Masses!

sjcnc.org/

Have to say I’m a bit prejudiced… got married there. the Staff is great, and there is a very vibrant orthodox student community attached to it.
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St. John’s at U of I is great. Their choir is wonderful. When my husband was a grad student he converted & went through RCIA there. We made so many friends and learned so much. The last year our circle of friends was there there was alot of talk about “leaving the mountain” it was such a rich experience.
 
Another vote for U of Illinois - Champaign, but look OUT on costs for outta staters. The Holy Spirit made a very nice wife for me there!

As for me, the U of Wisc - Madison was an absolute horror show when I was there in 1993. Not recognizable as catholic - really. But the diocese has a new bishop since then, so maybe there has been a toxic waste cleanup by now???
 
Nice to see some midwest colleges. I was getting ready to move to Texas for a while. 😃
 
Leonie,

I just wanted to say that even though having a bunch of loans isn’t ideal, it’s still possible to not hold off those dreams having them. I went to FUS, with very little financial aid, and a ton of loans. My husand had the same situation. Neither of our parents could help us financially, which we fully understood (I am the first of 6). We got married right after graduation, and even though we planned to practice NFP for a while, due to our excessive loans, we didn’t start right away and are now expecting a little one :). I am working full-time right now, but we’re saving this money and I will be a SAHM from birth onward. We’ll be tight, but I think it’s good for us and as we’ve been told, loans are forever anyway and (as an accountant) are not seen as necessarily a bad thing.

While it’s not for everyone, it’s what I chose. My dad wanted me to go to a cheaper school b/c of this, but when my mom and I visited FUS, we both knew this is where I was called to be. I don’t regret it because it was the best four years I could have asked for a college experience. Once my dad came for orientation, he told me he now knew why I chose this school and knew I was supposed to be there.

I’m sad that unfortunately private schools are so expensive. I’m giving back as much as I can to this school, because it has lower financial aid because a great many who graduate from FUS go onto the religious life or jobs that don’t pay well such as youth ministers, so they can’t give back.

Also, encourage your children to apply for scholarships. www.fastweb.com (I think that’s right) has a TON!

Also, as far as Newmann centers - I visited the Illinois State U and it was pretty nice and the U of Illinois is superb!
 
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