Stay up to date on everything happening in Campus Ministry at St. Ambrose University.
Thursday, October 17, 2019
10.13.19
Body and Soul
This Sunday Pope Francis will canonize the great 19th century theologian, writer, academic, poet and Catholic convert John Henry Cardinal Newman. Cardinal Newman was quickly taken up as a model for Catholic university students and the first American “Newman Club” was started at the University of Pennsylvania in 1893. As we are a diocesan Catholic university, we do not have a “Newman Center” (as we have our very own chapel and a campus ministry department “built in”), but most public universities and many non-Catholic private universities do. In the United States the term “Newman Center” has become almost synonymous with Catholic campus ministry. In no small way, I can credit my very existence to such centers, as my own parents met at the “Newman Club” at the University of Minnesota. Cardinal Newman promoted the idea of the university as a place of truly universal learning, in which there existed no irreconcilable conflict between faith and reason and in which academic freedom and open discourse in the pursuit of truth were highly prized. Beyond the obvious academic aim of the university, Newman also saw it as a place of human growth and, while not a convent or seminary, a place of preparation not only for the world, but for the world to come. Every morning I walk to campus from my house just north of Lombard Street and from that vantage point I see the two towers: the clock tower of Ambrose Hall and the bell tower of Christ the King Chapel. It serves as a beautiful reminder to me of these ideas of Cardinal Newman and what we are to be about as a university. Yes, this place is the classroom, the library, and the lab, but it is also the residence hall, the cafeteria, the chapel, the stage, and the field. Put another way, we are both “body” and “soul.” That is what makes us alive. Join me in asking soon-to-be Saint John Henry Newman to pray for us and our beloved university, and have a blessed fall break! --Fr. Thom
The Project Andrew dinner is an evening that provides an opportunity for discerners high school aged and older to meet with Fr. Joseph Sia in a casual setting and get to know some of the local clergy and other men discerning a possible calling to the priesthood or religious life. In addition to a wonderful meal, there will be a short presentation and sharing of vocation stories with plenty of time for questions and conversation.
Thursday, October 17, 2019 Mass: 5:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport Dinner and Conversation: 6:00- 8:00 p.m.
Have a question about a program or event going on in Campus Ministry? Got an idea for something you'd like to see happen? EMAIL US at ministry@sau.edu.
Follow us online for news, events, prayer and spiritual resources, plus much more:
This Sunday Pope Francis will canonize the great 19th century theologian, writer, academic, poet and Catholic convert John Henry Cardinal Newman. Cardinal Newman was quickly taken up as a model for Catholic university students and the first American “Newman Club” was started at the University of Pennsylvania in 1893. As we are a diocesan Catholic university, we do not have a “Newman Center” (as we have our very own chapel and a campus ministry department “built in”), but most public universities and many non-Catholic private universities do. In the United States the term “Newman Center” has become almost synonymous with Catholic campus ministry. In no small way, I can credit my very existence to such centers, as my own parents met at the “Newman Club” at the University of Minnesota. Cardinal Newman promoted the idea of the university as a place of truly universal learning, in which there existed no irreconcilable conflict between faith and reason and in which academic freedom and open discourse in the pursuit of truth were highly prized. Beyond the obvious academic aim of the university, Newman also saw it as a place of human growth and, while not a convent or seminary, a place of preparation not only for the world, but for the world to come. Every morning I walk to campus from my house just north of Lombard Street and from that vantage point I see the two towers: the clock tower of Ambrose Hall and the bell tower of Christ the King Chapel. It serves as a beautiful reminder to me of these ideas of Cardinal Newman and what we are to be about as a university. Yes, this place is the classroom, the library, and the lab, but it is also the residence hall, the cafeteria, the chapel, the stage, and the field. Put another way, we are both “body” and “soul.” That is what makes us alive. Join me in asking soon-to-be Saint John Henry Newman to pray for us and our beloved university, and have a blessed fall break! --Fr. Thom
