History of the Newman Center
A Brief History of the USD Newman Center
During the mid-to-late 1800′s a group of distinguished authors and thinkers gathered at Oxford University in England. Among this company were C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, G.K. Chesterton and John Henry Cardinal Newman. All were Catholics trying to understand their faith in an Anglican setting that was decidedly hostile to any expression of the Roman Catholic faith. Each one wrote and reflected upon that experience in a variety of ways.
Newman’s work, “The Idea of University” still stands as the measure of any institution claiming to be a liberal arts university. He also advocated that lay persons in the Catholic Church needed to become better educated about their faith so as to better understand, practice and defend it. For this reason, when the first Catholic Club for university students formed in the United States, they chose to call themselves a “Newman Club.” To this day, almost every Catholic center or organization associated with a public university bears the name of Newman.
During the 1950′s, Fr. Hugh Wolf, along with his associate pastors, Fr. James Joyce, and later Fr. Richard Mahowald, helped to form the first Newman Club at the University of South Dakota. The group met in the basement of the old St. Agnes Church in Vermillion for many years. When Bishop Lambert Hoch became the bishop of Sioux Falls, he led a visionary group of priests and lay people to expand the influence of the Catholic Church in South Dakota. This began with the building of O’Gorman High School in Sioux Falls to replace the old Cathedral School. Soon Bishop Hoch set his sights on higher education. In 1960, land was purchased in Brookings, SD, near the campus of South Dakota State University. In 1962, the first Newman Center was opened in our state with Fr. Richard Mahowald as the first director. Soon after, in 1964, the current Newman Center at USD was opened under the direction of Fr. Robert Flannery. He was joined in 1967 by Fr. James Michael Doyle. Because of the strong presence of the South Dakota Law School at USD, they chose the name “St. Thomas More Newman Center” to invoke the patronage of St. Thomas More, patron of lawyers and all in the legal profession.
The St. Thomas More Newman Center has been the focus of many outstanding events at USD. Noted holocaust author Victor Frankl stayed here with his wife while presenting his story to faculty and students. American Indian Movement activist Russell Means presented many of his arguments in the main hall of the Newman Center. Dorothy Day also spoke here in the early 1970′s. Sr. Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking author) spoke here in 1995. In 2004, noted actor Graham Thatcher performed his one-man stage show of the last hours of Sir Thomas More.
It is important that our faith would be expressed in actions as Catholics. Since 1988, the St. Thomas More Newman Center has been sending groups of students and staff to mission sites around the United States during the annual spring break. We continue to send groups on mission to learn from those they serve and to be a sign of hope for others. We work with many other campus organizations to increase the impact of these actions and to further influence others for Christ. Students have been and continue to be involved through regular worship, faith formation groups, outreach teams, parish council, committees, service projects and many social activities.
In 2003-2004, we celebrated our 40th anniversary with a special homecoming alumni gathering, the Sir Thomas More performance, and the dedication of several rooms in honor of the founders of the USD Newman Center by Bishop Robert Carlson of Sioux Falls, SD.
| Staff of the St. Thomas More Newman Center | |
| Fr. Robert Flannery | 1964-1970 |
| Fr. James Michael Doyle | 1967-1979 |
| Sr. Kevin Irwin, OSB | 1968-1972 |
| Fr. Timothy Willert | 1971-1974 |
| Fr. Donald Imming | 1978-1982 |
| Sr. Stephanie Weber, OSB | 1979-1983 |
| Br. Placid Hellma, OSB | 1982-1985 |
| Fr. Michael Wensing | 1983-1989 |
| Sr. Rose Palm, OSB | 1983-1992 |
| Kevin & Shannon Miles | 1988-1993 |
| Fr. James Englert | 1985, 1989-1997 |
| Brain Begley | 1993-2001 |
| Fr. Mark Lichter | 1998-2000 |
| Sr. Rosemarie Maly | 1992-2006 |
| Fr. Joseph Forcelle | 2000-2008 |
| Anne O’Mara |
2006-present |
| Fr. Scott Traynor |
2008-present |