John Henry Cardinal Newman

Why are we called a "Newman Center"?

In the mid―to late―nineteenth century, Catholics began attending secular, rather than Catholic universities in larger numbers. In many of these institutions they encountered environments hostile to Catholicism. In an attempt to balance their intellectual lives with their faith lives, students began informally gathering with local clergy and religious and Catholic professors. In 1892 at the University of Pennsylvania, one such group formed a club named after John Henry Newman, a recently deceased Cardinal of the church who had written essays on the idea of a University and on the Christian conscience.

The Dominican friars in the Western United States began their long involvement in the Newman movement when they began ministering at the University of Washington in 1908. The University of Oregon was their second commitment to campus ministry, begun in 1967. The Western Dominicans now serve in ten campus ministries throughout the west, including five of the Pac-10 schools.