University of Nebraska at Kearney Newman Center: Nurturing the Faith Through Community

College can be a difficult time for some young people to practice and live out their faith. Of course, the college years are also an important time that sets the groundwork for the future. Addressing this essential spiritual need, the University of Nebraska at Kearney has an organization called the Newman Center, a Catholic youth ministry program that is popular across the United States. The Newman Center’s activities are rooted in four pillars — prayer, hospitality, formation, and service.

Miranda Ketteler serves as Program Director and Kendall Grossnicklaus is the Director of Community Formation. Both are thankful for the opportunity to lead others to Jesus.

“Our main goal of everything we do is to help students form a personal relationship with Jesus Christ — all else is secondary,” says Miranda.

“The Newman Center serves as the Catholic parish for college students in Kearney,” Kendall says. “Our mission is to share Christ with all who enter.”

The Newman Center provides events, community formation, friendship, and access to the sacraments. The Center includes a chapel, men’s house, women’s house, and office area. Up to ten women and ten men live in their respective houses. The doors are open for students to come to visit, play a game, or study.

The mission of the Newman Center is “to follow the mission of Jesus Christ to draw all into union with God. We do this through our community gathered in celebration of the sacraments, study, prayer, social events, and service. The Gospel informs our daily actions and moves us to reach out to all those in need. We are missionary disciples, joyfully spreading the love of God in truth and charity to all we encounter.”

“In today’s society, it can be really hard to connect with people,” Kendall says. “Social media and all the other technology makes it easy to hide behind a screen and only show the good things that are happening in your life. We weren’t created to live like that. We need other people. We need connection. We need community.”

Part of the Newman Center mission is to have space for students to just spend time together. They also have activities like a weekly community meal, speakers on formation topics, community service opportunities, mission trips, retreats, sacraments, adoration, and Bible studies, to name a few. The Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) Missionaries work with students in discipleship groups and lead multiple Bible studies. A student council and a resident program with student leaders also help plan events and are present in the houses. In short, there are many opportunities to experience and grow in the Catholic faith at the Newman Center.

“Students who live and volunteer here are so servant-hearted and want nothing more than to lead their friends to Christ,” Miranda says. “They are striving to always live as disciples of the Lord and to be good stewards of the blessing this place is to them.”

Miranda and Kendall both invite our support through prayer and financial gifts, if you are able. There is also a need for volunteers to cook the weekly community meal.

“God is doing incredible things here, and prayers for continued openness to His plan are so beneficial,” Kendall says. “For our students, having a community to lean on when life gets hard, to celebrate the joys with, and to run toward heaven with makes all the difference.”

If you would like to donate to the UNK Newman Center, please visit www.lopercatholic.org and click on the “donate” tab in the upper right corner. You can also visit the UNK Newman Center website to learn more or contact the Newman Center.

Students share a meal during a retreat.

Students gather at the community retreat called Koinonia.