“I just want you to know we are here, and you are always welcome.”
These were the words of Fr. Matt Lowry, episcopal vicar of the North and 16-year pastor of Northern Arizona University’s Holy Trinity Newman Center in Flagstaff, Ariz. He was speaking to a freshman who was walking by the Catholic Newman Center table at a college fair for new students.
Fr. Lowry didn’t say these words because the young woman seemed interested in the ministry and couldn’t wait to get involved – quite the opposite.
When she saw the Catholic booth the student said to her mother, intentionally loud enough for everyone to hear, “Mom, I don’t think I want to be Catholic anymore.”
This caught Fr. Lowry’s attention more than her piercings, her full tattoo sleeve or her gender studies major, and without hesitation he responded, “That’s okay. I just want you to know we are here, and you are always welcome.”
This pivotal moment of connection and invitation, which caught the young woman off guard in the best way possible, would change her life forever.
The young woman soon attended a barbecue at Holy Trinity Newman Center, connected with a FOCUS Catholic missionary who continued to invite her to events, and attended a conference which led to a renewed and deeply personal encounter with Jesus. Now fostering a vibrant faith life, she has gone on to encourage a deeper faith in her own father’s life and to endure hardships with courage and a deep trust in God.
She currently works in a Catholic Church, where she helps others encounter the love of God that she has personally experienced.
This is the impact of Holy Trinity Newman Center in the lives of real students and is only one of hundreds of stories of transformation experienced by students since Holy Trinity Newman Center’s construction in 1967.
Newman Centers, named after St. John Henry Newman and inspired by his writings, are centers of Catholic pastoral care and ministry at non-Catholic universities around the world. At Northern Arizona University, the impact of Holy Trinity Newman Center is felt daily as young adults are navigating a new and often difficult season of life. Wherever they are on their faith journey, they are welcomed to Holy Trinity Newman Center for free meals, community nights, pick-up basketball games, retreats, Bible studies and access to the Sacraments – in sum, students are invited to experience a true sense of welcome and belonging.
“All of the opportunities mean anyone can find a home here,” shared one upperclassman, Aidan Trujillo. “That is the best part about Newman.”
When Trujillo attended his first Mass at Holy Trinity Newman Center stepping into his freshman year, he was sad and nervous that after his parents left, he would be on his own. But he quickly found a joyful and welcoming community. Several years later, he knows he is not alone. Trujillo has the support of his fellow students, many FOCUS Catholic missionaries, and he stepped up to take a leadership role in the annual Lumberjack Awakening Retreat XXXIV.
“On retreat last year during adoration, I had a profound experience growing closer with the Lord. I found a peace I had never felt before,” continued Trujillo. “It feels good to be putting on something for others that changed so much for me. I hope the retreatants can feel God’s awesome presence like I did and build community with people they can trust.”
Holy Trinity Newman Center fosters a space where lasting friendships are made through joyful community life and hearts are set ablaze through a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. As students’ lives are transformed, they become leaders and missionary disciples who are ready to go forth and spread the Gospel wherever the Lord calls them.
This incredible ministry takes place in a structure built in 1967. With almost 60 years of wear and tear, and an ever-growing student body, Holy Trinity Newman Center is in immediate need of an updated facility. The current Newman Center building is difficult to find on campus and it does not have a chapel or sufficient space to support the needs of the community for meals, regular gatherings and Masses.
Blueprints have been drawn up for a new space that will be more contingent to the ministry by providing meeting spaces for students to welcome peers, a commercial kitchen, and a chapel with 24-hour access to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. This project will allow Holy Trinity Newman Center to continue growing and fostering the hearts of college students to the fullest extent. The community is 60 percent to goal on this building campaign, with tentative plans to roll out final construction plans in early 2025.
This great need for a new facility inspired the “Hope for the Future” gathering on this past Thursday of more than 100 folks at the Forest Highlands Golf Club in Flagstaff, who came together to hear about the mission and impact of Holy Trinity Newman Center, and rally together to build momentum in helping the community come closer to reaching their $24.9 million goal to build a new Newman Center for the students of NAU.
“What is going on here is truly amazing,” said Bishop John P. Dolan, the fifth Bishop of Phoenix. “Young people are the future of the Church. But really, I always insist that youth and young adults, they are the Church.”
Bishop Dolan attended the event and presented Fr. Lowry and Holy Trinity Newman Center with a $3.25 million check, funds gathered as a case component of the historic diocesan wide Together Let Us Go Forth ~ Juntos Sigamos Adelante Campaign, spearheaded by Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, the fourth Bishop of Phoenix, in 2017.
The Newman Center community has faith and hope that the momentum will continue, and the Diocese of Phoenix will rally around this life-changing ministry. There is a $500,000 matching gift opportunity, which means every new gift or pledge to the Newman Center Future Building Project will be matched, dollar-for-dollar through September.
“Here at the Newman Center, we form missionary disciples – that’s we, you and me together,” said Fr. Lowry, who extends the invitation to every person to get involved. “Tonight, I feel hope that there are a lot of people, new people who I have never met before, who care about our future and our Church and our young people.”
Every day, students are coming to know Jesus in a personal way through Holy Trinity Newman Center, and you can help continue to make that possible.
The blueprints for the new facilities are state of the art, but they will be built on the age-old foundation of what Holy Trinity Newman Center has always been about: a place of welcome and belonging.
Get involved and hear more about the students whose lives you are impacting at catholicjacks.org. To make a financial gift toward the Newman Center Future Building Project, visit catholicjacks.org/giving.
