By Chris Hoehn
Special to The Message
‘Tis the season of graduations; and as our college students go out into the new areas of work and continued study, we look forward to those who will be entering our colleges in the fall.
Always, life gives us endings, with new beginnings coming after. Sometimes, those new beginnings take us from high school to jobs; sometimes, those new beginnings take us to college. For those who are graduating from high school and looking toward college in the fall, I would like to offer an assist in continuing growth in your Catholic faith.
I am excited to let students and their families know about a connection that will assist in making college a time of growth in faith and learning about yourself. Newman Connection is such an assist. Together with Newman Centers across the United States, Newman Connection is the place for students, alumni, pastors and educators to connect!
Newman Centers are residence and Catholic ministry centers at non-Catholic universities around the world. These centers provide pastoral services and ministries to their Catholic communities – the Roman Catholic student populations within universities throughout the world.
Newman Centers are named in honor of St. John Henry Newman and were inspired by Newman's writings. The first Newman Center was established in 1893 at the University of Pennsylvania.
Newman Connection is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing a national support structure and unified brand to Catholic campus ministry. We assist these campus ministries in their growth by:
- Providing a national outreach program, connecting students from all over the country to campus ministry.
- Establishing a national prayer hour specifically for the benefit of campus ministry.
- Creating educational programing that is available online, in the classroom or in the field on a retreat.
Newman Connection is focused on strengthening today’s Catholic young adults in the faith during their college years. Newman Connection serves as an umbrella of support to Catholic campus ministries. Currently, Newman Connection works with over 400 college campuses in the United States. With your help, the Newman Connection can continue to have an impact and help even more students stay committed Catholics in the years to come.
Most public universities do not disclose the religious affiliation of their students, leaving them in the dark about who is Catholic on campus. Generally, we have just a few weeks at the beginning of the school year to promote our Newman ministry to freshmen; after that, freshmen have usually decided what activities they will be involved in. Being able to obtain the names of students and get their emails from the university directory means we can make personal contacts with students and invite them to be part of our ministry here on campus.
So, I end this feature with an ask: If you are, or you know of, a student attending college in the fall, please use the Newman Connection and continue to connect to our Catholic faith.
If you are making plans to attend college, belong to something great! Connect to Catholic campus ministry, make friends and have some fun. Getting connected to your college campus ministry is simple; you can use this link to sign up: signup.newmanconnection.com Or, you can download the Newman Connect App, available for Apple and Android devices, to connect to your campus ministry instantly! https://landing.newmanministry.com/app
Congratulations on your graduation and plans to attend college! Have a wonderful and safe summer!
Chris Hoehn serves as Diocesan Coordinator of Catholic Campus Ministry for the Office of Youth and Young Adults. She also serves as Catholic campus minister at the University of Southern Indiana.