Campus ministries

The three Newman Catholic communities of the Sacramento Diocese in Davis, Chico and Sacramento aim to welcome, support and challenge Catholic students in their spiritual growth and development.

Newman Catholic communities

For more information about the Newman Catholic communities in the Sacramento Diocese, visit their Web sites:

Sacramento: www.sacnewman.org

Davis: www.davisnewman.org

Chico: www.chiconewman.org

While the Newman Catholic community serving UC Davis honors the founding goal of providing a Catholic presence for those engaged in university life, Deacon Clark Goecker, director, says the demographics of the community are unique.

“Unlike other Newman Centers in the diocese, there are 4,000 freshmen on campus who have to live in dorms,” he said. “We have three big Masses a year — 350 people attend, and 175 to 200 of those are students.”

Established in 1965, the Davis Newman Center is located on C Street downtown and housed in the former St. James Church location.

“We’re growing. It’s always a chore because we’re in the St. James Parish building from 1971, so we don’t really have the facilities we need,” Deacon Goecker said.

Established to honor the memory of a man who believed in providing college students and all those on university campuses a place to practice, develop and live their faith, the Newman Center movement has strong roots in Northern California, linking students through the internal relationships of the University of California and California State University system campuses.

The history of the Newman movement in the United States can be traced to the 1880s and 1890s. The first Newman Clubs were named to honor Cardinal John Henry Newman, the English leader in the 10th century intellectual renewal in the church and later the great patron of campus ministers in the United States. Cardinal Newman believed in providing for the spiritual, educational and social needs of those in higher education. He believed in the role of conscience in an individual’s life and that value is reflected in many of the activities at the diocese’s Newman Centers.

The Davis Newman Center, for example, declares three goals: build a sense of community and hospitality where Christian faith can be shared, developed and challenged; develop and enhance ministry with students, administration, faculty and staff at UC Davis; and provide educational opportunities relative to Scripture, social justice, liturgy and personal growth.

Each year a group of students heads to Tijuana over the Christmas break to volunteer with Esperanza International Inc. to work on construction projects: an orphanage, a home, a shrine near the border to honor the memory of those migrants who didn’t make the journey safely. Nearly 30 students each year also travel to attend the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress.

“The community does a lot of social justice,” Deacon Goecker noted. For these activities, the students are continually fund raising, as he listed yard work, gutter clearing and cleaning windows as chores the students engage in locally to bring in dollars. The Tijuana trip alone can require as much as $10,000.

Students also plan, organize and run three major retreats a year and hold weekly faith study sessions.

“They carpool to a student leader’s house, prepare dinner, discuss faith and upcoming Scriptures for the week,” he explained.

For the non-students, the activities include discussion of current events in relation to Catholicism, such as a speaker from the Muslim community on interfaith dialogue, Deacon Goecker said.

At the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center at California State University, Chico, student Tony Cortese says the community takes the “social conscience” mandate to heart as well. He’s coordinator of the Newman Center’s seven-student leadership team.

The center’s students, numbering about 100, feed the homeless, visit with senior citizens living in retirement communities and host a table or place sandwich signs inviting their classmates to planned activities around campus each week.

“Our main night is Tuesday — we have our college group. There’s a Mass, faith sharing — either a Bible study or discussion — and dinner for $1,” Cortese said, indicating that this service occurs every Tuesday of the academic year.

For those students who need a quiet place or a break from the books, they can enjoy the swimming pool or the game room whenever the center is open. The library is available as a study spot and the chapel is open to all who want some time for devotion, Cortese said. During football season, the center hosts Monday night football gatherings so no one has to miss the big game.

Friday nights, of course, it’s time for everyone to celebrate making it through the week. “It’s our pizza and movie night. We begin with eucharistic adoration,” Cortese said.

Student leaders are responsible for planning and running two retreats each year.

“We call it the ‘busy person’s retreat,’” Cortese said, adding that students often need to physically get away from the demands of academia to balance their spiritual lives.

After a Mardi Gras celebration Feb. 2, the Chico Newman Center will host Stations of the Cross each Friday evening during Lent.

At the Newman Catholic community serving California State University, Sacramento, staff and students had to get up and running quickly for the spring semester.

Classes resumed Jan. 28, with barely a week to get rolling before Ash Wednesday services on Feb. 6.

“We have a Mass welcoming students back on Sunday evening and we expect more students on Wednesday evening, when we have a Mass, dinner and social,” said Jesuit Father George Wanser, director of the Newman Center, who also serves as director of campus ministry for the diocese.

During Lent, the Newman Catholic community will hold Stations of the Cross on Friday evenings and students are planning, organizing and preparing for a retreat in March, where they will head out of town for a weekend away from the “craziness of the city,” according to the group’s Web site.

“On these retreats, we strive to educate retreatants about certain areas of the Catholic faith as well as to have a lot of fun away from Sacramento,” the Web site reads.

Historically, the Newman Catholic community aimed to serve four-year and community college students in Sacramento, reaching students at Sacramento City College and American River College campuses as well. After opening its doors in 1956, three separate campus Newman clubs existed until 1969 when they all merged into one.

The Newman Catholic community celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2006, welcoming alumni back to share how much the Newman Club contributed to their college experience and to see all that they contributed to today’s students.