Aquinas Newman Center

University of New Mexico

A message from Aquinas Newman Center

Campus Ministry at the Aquinas Newman Center is a ministry for students, faculty, and staff at both the University of New Mexico and Central New Mexico Community College.  It is a crucial ministry for the vitality of the future of the Church and of society.     

“Campus ministry (as defined by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops) is one of the important ways the Church exercises her mission in higher education.  Its goals include promoting theological study and reflection on the religious nature of human beings so that intellectual, moral, and spiritual growth can proceed together; sustaining a Christian community on campus, with the pastoral care and liturgical worship it requires; integration of its apostolic ministry with other ministries of the local community and the diocese; and helping the Christian community on campus to serve its members and others, including the many nonstudents who gravitate toward the university.  Campus ministry gathers the Catholics on campus for prayer, worship, and learning in order that they might bring the light of the Gospel to illumine the concerns and hopes of the academic community…Campus ministry can be defined as the public presence and service through which properly prepared baptized persons are empowered by the Spirit to use their talents and gifts on behalf of the Church in order to be sign and instrument of the kingdom in the academic world. The eye of faith discerns campus ministry where commitment to Christ and care for the academic world meet in purposeful activity to serve and realize the kingdom of God (Empowered by the Spirit, 21).”