Back Where it All Began

On September 22 after the 7:00 p.m. Rosary (with Confessions concurrently) and the 7:30 p.m. Mass at St. Paul's Parish/Newman Center on the campus of Wichita State University, I will make a presentation on Blessed John Henry Newman to the students during their "Catholicism Exposed" program.

One of the reasons I'm so excited about this opportunity is that my interest in John Henry Newman and in the history of Catholics in England and the Church of England began at the Newman Center when I was an undergraduate--a sophomore, in fact. The pastor at that time, Father Joseph Gorentz organized a week long conference called the Newman School of Catholic Thought focusing on Newman with speakers (H. Lyman Stebbins, founder of Catholics United for the Faith, Dr. John Crosby, who was then I think at the University of Dallas, Father Stephen Almagno and Father Charles Taylor). Bishop James Conley, now in Denver, Colorado, attended that conference and so did Father John Lanzrath of the Diocese of Wichita!

My husband and I met at the Newman Center--and we wouldn't have any other way that I can see now: he was a Business/Accounting major and I was an English major; his home parish was in a different part of town than mine--except for the Newman Center our paths would have probably never crossed!

I'll also contribute an article for the Shocker Catholic newsletter, and after the presentation, sell and sign copies of Supremacy and Survival!