The St. John Paul II Catholic Newman Center serves the students of Illinois State, Illinois Wesleyan, and Heartland Community College. We strive to be a home for students and a place to grow in their faith and form authentic friendships. 

You can follow our weekly events on our Facebook profile (John Henry Newman) and our Instagram @NewmanCenterNormal.

If you are a prospective student to the Bloomington-Normal area you are welcome to visit us at 501 S. Main St., in Normal, Monday through Friday; the Newman Center opens at 10am. Sunday we celebrate mass at 10:30am & 5pm. See our full mass schedule for the daily mass times.

If you would like to further connect with the St. John Paul II Catholic Newman Center, please fill out the short survey below! 

Check out our latest Newsletter

<![CDATA[St. John Paul II Catholic Newman Center Archive Feed]]> https://us17.campaign-archive.com/feed?u=9c40c83a5955fe508e9a546b4&id=945b97e6f2 Tue, 12 Nov 2024 17:02:54 +0000 Zend_Feed http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[October Recap Newsletter]]> https://mailchi.mp/107938e81595/october-recap-newsletter https://mailchi.mp/107938e81595/october-recap-newsletter October Recap Newsletter

October Recap Newsletter


What’s New at Newman?

From the Director’s Desk




“The treasure buried in the field.”


Matthew 13:44


I have never been one to pay much attention to the stock market or deal too much in the field of financial portfolios and investments. Despite not being overly knowledgeable in the matter, I think I can grasp the basic idea of investments, risks, company/product value, and returns on investments. In our human nature, we do well at evaluating things and deciding if they are worth our investment and if they will produce a return greater than our initial “buy-in”. And given the nature of the markets, we know that values change, risks can increase, and we could even “lose it all”. Still, we desire the end goal of greater security and wealth and so we are moved to search for the best thing which will offer the greatest reward. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is often speaking of the Kingdom of God and how the Kingdom is what we are made for. In several parables, Jesus shows us that the Kingdom of God is like a pearl of great price, or a treasure buried in a field. Once we discover it, we are called to set aside everything we love to be free to invest in the riches of the Kingdom. The Lord desires us to see the Kingdom as the greatest thing we can ever possess and that it is the one thing that produces the greatest return to our initial investment of our whole life.


These last several weeks have been filled with opportunities for our students and community to invest in the mission of the Newman Center and to begin to receive some returns on that investment. With Bishop Tylka present, we hosted our first annual Benefit Dinner which brought more than 100 people together from the community to raise money to help support our operations and events. The atmosphere was filled with a spirit of investment and generosity. I am incredibly grateful for the continued support we receive from so many of God’s faithful people. Also, we had a successful Koinonia retreat in which about 50 students participated as retreatants or team members. Our students and staff invested in this program with their time, talents, and prayers to ensure that our retreatants could receive an authentic opportunity to encounter the heart of Jesus. I ask that you please continue to pray for us and our mission. If the Lord may be calling you to invest in a particular way in our life here at the Newman Center, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. Know of my prayers for you and your families.

-

Fr. Lucas

Director


“I came into the situation, unaware of who was going to say yes to learning what it means to be Jesus’ disciple. But after sharing my testimony and the desire that Jesus has for us to grow in a relationship with Him, most girls were excited to say yes to this invitation. They seemed willing to pursue a deeper friendship with God regardless of how busy their schedules may seem. And from there, the seed started to blossom.” – Ericka B., sophomore


“For sure, I’d say my presentation to Dan was a pretty big glory story because when I invited him to discipleship, he told me he had been looking for ways to start being more involved with his faith and with the Newman center. Then he said he’d been wanting to start reading his Bible more but didn’t know where to start literally as I was pulling out the prayer dare card for him. Then he was open to sharing his faith background and some of the challenges he has faced on the way. Altogether it was just awesome to see how well-timed the gospel presentation was, and I can already see how Bible study and hanging out with him is helping him grow.” – Matt H. sophomore

On behalf of the JPII Newman Center Staff

We here at the St. John Paul II Newman Center cannot express how grateful we are for all of the support that has been given to us throughout the years. As we continue to prepare to students to live their faith outside of this building, we continue to ask for your support. Because of your support of our mission, we have students that are going forth to do incredible things for the kingdom of God. From becoming catholic schoolteachers and missionaries, to living out their vocations as priests, seminarians, religious, and loving spouses. Our students, past and present, continue to flourish and make us proud every day. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

If you haven’t been to the Newman Center in a long time, come on by! We love meeting alumni and hearing stories!
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St. John Paul II Catholic Newman Center
501 S. Main St. Normal, Il
​(309) 452-5046
[email protected]
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