Faith alive at UNK!

     An exciting project is under way in our diocese on the campus of the University of Nebraska in Kearney. The St. Teresa of Calcutta Newman Center Parish has just launched the “Build it for Them” capital campaign to construct a chapel and Newman Center facilities for students at UNK. The St. Gianna Banquet on April 24, 2026 was the setting for the launch of this exciting campaign. 

    Young people at the Newman Center in Kearney have been waiting for the construction of a church for 74 years. While the current facilities are falling apart, the space itself is inadequate for the growing number of students who participate in activities sponsored by the Newman Center. With the presence of FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) missionaries on campus for the past several years, there is a new vitality of faith on campus. St. Teresa of Calcutta Newman Center has 36 Bible study groups, involving more than 400 students over the course of a semester. This accounts for nearly 10 percent of the UNK undergraduate population. We also have University of Nebraska Medical Center and Central Community College students in these programs. 

      Newman Centers across the nation and FOCUS are having a profound impact on the Church. Currently, 75 percent of all seminarians in North America report discerning their vocation connected to a Newman Center or FOCUS. St. Teresa of Calcutta Newman Center students have signed up for a total of 100 hours of Eucharistic adoration per week. There are nine Masses per week at the Newman Center, with an hour of confessions and Eucharistic adoration before each Mass. Catholic Campus ministry is where the renewal of faith and evangelization is happening in the Church across this country. These programs will sustain ongoing engagement in the life of the Church long after students go forth with their degree. 

     Last year, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents voted unanimously to enter into a “land swap” with St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish, providing an ideal location on campus to realize the construction of the planned chapel, offices and social space for Catholic campus ministry at UNK.  That agreement allows St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish to lease back the current facilities while the capital campaign and construction take place over the course of the next four years. 

     When it comes to projects in this diocese, let me just say that I am passionate about this one. Catholic campus ministries at Newman Centers across this country are inspiring young people who are not baptized and those who are of other Christian backgrounds to explore the Catholic Faith. Many end up coming into the Church. Likewise, Catholic campus ministries are growing the Faith of Catholic students and keeping them connected to the sacramental life of the Church in the midst of a culture that is sometimes opposed to religion and even hostile to those who live their Faith. There is no more urgent need in our time than to bear the light of the Gospel into the public square than on college and university campuses. 

  Having a beautiful church for the Parish of St. Teresa of Calcutta on the campus of the University of Nebraska in Kearney will be a visible witness that our Faith is not dead. On the contrary, this new church and campus ministry center will be a hub of faith on campus and a center of renewed vitality for young people to be rooted in Christ. It will be a place of encounter — with Jesus directly in the chapel, and with others through campus ministry programs and FOCUS discipleship groups who are leaning into their Faith and becoming faithful disciples of Jesus. 

     This is why I am asking you to participate in this “Build it for Them” campaign with the support of your prayers and your financial gifts.  I want you to invest in the Faith of young people for generations to come! Please give generously to this campaign, and remember the St. Teresa of Calcutta Newman Center in your estate plans as well.  

     People all across our state and well beyond Nebraska are being invited to support this campaign with their prayers and financial gifts. It is my hope that you, the people of the Diocese of Grand Island, will be especially generous in supporting this worthy project, as well.    

     For a helpful overview of this exciting project, please go to www.unk-new-church.org. There you will find a video presentation along with other helpful information about the “Build it for Them” campaign. Some have already donated or pledged their support before the St. Gianna Banquet in recent days. August 15 will be the close of the Anchor Donors search. Round One of the campaign will close on October 1. In November, the Diocesan Building Committee will make final decisions on the project so that design and engineering work can proceed. The goal is for construction to begin in February 2028 and a move-in date in July 2029. 

     Please join me in investing in the future of our Faith. As Mother St. Teresa of Calcutta used to say, “Together, let us do something beautiful for God.”