News

100 years of campus ministry

By Courtney Watson

History wanted The Newman Center Catholic Campus Ministry at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh is asking readers to help them reclaim their history, said Courtney Watson, director and campus minister. As part of the centennial of Catholic campus ministry on the Oshkosh campus, the center is looking for stories, information and photos of its history. For example, it learned through "Black Thursday Remembered," an oral history project at UW-Oshkosh, of the Newman Center's role on the day in 1968 when members of the Black Student Union occupied the university president's office demanding that the campus be made more hospitable to black students. The Newman Center served as an important contact between the white community and black students that day. People with information on campus ministry history or Black Thursday are asked to phone Watson at (920)233-5555; to write her at 750 Elmwood Ave., Oshkosh, WI 54901; or to e-mail info@newmanctr.org.

OSHKOSH -- Catholic ministry at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year with special activities in the fall.

Catholic campus ministry began in 1907, at what was then the Oshkosh State Normal School, as The Marquette Club. The club first appeared in the 1912 yearbook.

The 1916 yearbook reports that the Marquette Club "was organized to bring the students of the Catholic faith into a closer intellectual and social relation with one another and at the same time to give them the opportunity to inform themselves on important religious questions." Debate, oratory, "parliamentary drill," music and socials were important aspects of club meetings.

The Marquette Club met at St. Peter Church and High School until 1921, when the meetings moved to the Normal School campus, while maintaining close ties with St. Peter, including continuing to hold events there.

Priests from St. Peter served as chaplains, providing spiritual guidance and theological instruction.

In 1949, the Marquette Club became the Newman Club, joining the rapidly growing Newman movement on secular campuses.

Catholic campus ministry in the United States began in 1883 in Madison when University of Wisconsin students started meeting at the Melvin home to discuss religion and form community. They called themselves the Melvin Club.

Dr. T.L. Harrington, a former Melvin Club member and one-time Oshkosh resident, started a similar organization at the University of Pennsylvania. He named it after Card. John Henry Newman, the 19th century English church leader and writer. Soon, Catholic students at other universities began forming Newman Clubs.

In the early 1960s, the Oshkosh Newman Club moved into a house on Algoma Boulevard. Newman Hall included a lounge, meeting areas, library and chapel. Students had both a place to hold activities and their first chapel for Masses together on campus.

In 1965, the Newman Club became the Newman Catholic Student Association. The next year, construction began on a new center, which opened in 1967. Besides a 750-seat chapel, there was a library, offices, meeting areas, kitchen and serving area, auditorium and chaplains' residence.

That building on Irving Avenue was sold in 2003 to the university because of rising utility costs and declining student attendance. With that, the Newman Center moved to Elmwood Commons, an old university dining hall, where it rents part of the first and second floor. Elmwood has provided the Newman Center with a large and versatile space for its offices, meetings and Mass.

While programs and activities differ in some ways from those of the original club, Catholic ministry on the Oshkosh campus continues to bring together students to learn about their faith, to worship together, and to grow in faith through retreats, faith-sharing and service.

A new center is scheduled to be built in 2008. It will mark the beginning of a new century of Catholic presence on the Oshkosh campus.

(Watson is the director and campus minister at the Newman Center Catholic Campus Ministry at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.)