Cardinal Newman Society Celebrates 15 Years of The Newman Guide

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MANASSAS, VA – On today’s Solemnity of All Saints, The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) celebrates 15 years of The Newman Guide, which recognizes Catholic colleges for their strong fidelity and formation. Every year, more than 75,000 families use The Newman Guide to find a faithful Catholic college, and now CNS will reach more families than ever with a NEW video helping Catholic families navigate their college search.

“Every young adult is called to be a saint,” said Kelly Salomon, director of family and parish programs for The Cardinal Newman Society, who produced the new video and manages the Newman Guide. “We want Catholic families to know and choose great Catholic colleges that not only educate for careers but form students for sainthood.”

“And for me, it’s personal,” she adds. “The Newman Guide helped me find my own Catholic college, and I want others to have the same extraordinary experience.”

The Cardinal Newman Society launched the first edition of The Newman Guide in 2007, after years of decrying infidelity and scandal across much of Catholic higher education. The Guide has become families’ most trusted source of information on Catholic colleges that have stayed true to the Catholic faith while integrating it across the curriculum and campus life.

The late Father Benedict Groeschel, CFR, wrote the preface to the first edition of The Newman Guide and said it was the Newman Society’s “most important contribution to Catholic higher education ever.” Newman Guide college leaders today confirm that the guide has been instrumental in their success.

Today, Newman Guide colleges are thriving. While total college enrollment in the U.S. has declined 14 percent since 2012, Newman Guide college enrollment increased more than 10 percent in the same period.

In addition to the Guide, The Cardinal Newman Society sponsors Recruit Me, an opportunity for high school students to get recruited by Newman Guide colleges. Recruit Me subscribers are eligible to participate in an annual essay contest, for which the winner receives a $5,000 scholarship. Also, this year CNS will distribute 60,000 copies of My Future, My Faith, a publication explaining the benefits of a faithful Catholic college.

The Cardinal Newman Society’s new video, based on the content in My Future, My Faith, explains the advantages of faithful Catholic education. It helps families consider academics, residential life, spiritual life, and campus activities from a Catholic perspective.

The Newman Guide’s impact is immeasurable, because one can never truly account for winning souls for Christ. May God continue to bless The Newman Guide and lead many more families to experience the blessing of faithful Catholic education.

 

For Media Requests: Please contact Kevin Murphy, vice president of marketing and communications, at KMurphy@CardinalNewmanSociety.org or 703-367-0333 ext. 108.

 

CNS Joins Amicus Brief Upholding Title VII Religious Exemption – Billard v Charlotte Catholic High School, 4th Circuit

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The Cardinal Newman Society joined an amicus brief at the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, urging the court to protect Charlotte Catholic High School’s religious exemption from Title VII employment law.

Bellarmine Fund: Sharing the Treasure of Faithful Catholic Education

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Three college students who first met while attending a Catholic high school in Florida have launched a scholarship fund to help others experience faithful Catholic education at a Newman Guide college.

“As we went off to different colleges, we kept in touch and found time to catch up whenever we returned home for school breaks. During one of those breaks, we began to discuss ways the three of us could work together to build up the Kingdom of God,” explained Matthew Uzdavinis. “We all wanted to serve the Church in some specific way.”

The fruit of the discussions between Uzdavinis, Justin Bailey and Andres Donovan is the Saint Robert Bellarmine Fund, which annually awards scholarships to 10 high school seniors who display both merit and need and wish to attend one of the Catholic colleges recognized by The Cardinal Newman Society for fidelity and strong Catholic formation. The $8,000 scholarships are renewable for four years. The fund is guided by the Bailey Family Foundation, a philanthropy devoted to improving the availability and quality of post-secondary education.

“When we started the Saint Robert Bellarmine Fund, the three of us were convinced we wanted to focus solely on promoting and making Catholic higher education possible,” said Uzdavinis. “However, we didn’t want to lead students to secularized Catholic colleges that do not teach the fullness of the Catholic faith and perhaps even purposely sway young people from what the Church has taught for centuries.”

“In such places, divine truth is set aside for radical ideologies and socially progressive propaganda, as if truth were somehow outdated and left behind for something better,” Uzdavinis lamented. “It’s a tragedy when this occurs, because when truth is abandoned, delusion sets in. We see this everywhere in our world today.”

“The Cardinal Newman Society’s list of recommended colleges is, in our opinion, the best catalogue of authentically Catholic colleges in the country,” Uzdavinis explained. “We decided to limit our scholarship opportunity to students who want that truly faithful Catholic education for themselves.”

The Saint Robert Bellarmine Fund will be an answer to prayer for many Catholic families eager to experience faithful Catholic higher education.

“We hope to help Catholic families throughout the country who could use the financial assistance,” Uzdavinis explained. “We know from personal experience higher education can be expensive, but we’ve discovered a treasure in faithful Catholic education and this fund is designed to share that treasure with others.”

Building from experience

The Bellarmine Fund’s founders recall their wonderful experience of Catholic education at Jesuit High School in Tampa, Fla.

“The bell rang and down the aisle came about 10 altar boys all neatly arranged with cassock and surplice, incense, golden torches—all the smells and bells of Catholic liturgy. At that time, I had just graduated eighth grade and wasn’t versed or interested in the faith, but this procession on my very first day at my new high school caught my attention,” remembers Uzdavinis.

“The beauty and reverence of the liturgy was unlike anything I had ever seen before, and it transferred into the way theology was taught in the classroom by our teachers,” Uzdavinis continued. “From that point on, the relationships I cultivated with priests, seminarians, teachers and other students grew because they were all grounded in an awe and love for the authentic Catholic faith.”

Uzdavinis became “great friends in the Lord” with Bailey and Donovan, who were impacted by similar experiences.

“I remember having teachers at Jesuit High School who would sit with me after school for long periods of time, explaining the faith. I was shocked to discover the Church always had answers to questions I thought problematic. It strengthened my faith immensely,” shared Bailey.

Donovan agreed: having teachers who were “firm in their faith” was instrumental in his life and in his decision to attend Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio, a faithful Catholic college recognized by The Newman Guide.

“All of my teachers since arriving at Franciscan have stressed the importance of allowing my faith to be integrated into every aspect of my studies. They have taught me to be proud that I am Catholic and to think for myself. I want every Catholic to be encouraged to integrate their faith into every part of their lives,” urged Donovan.

CNS Joins Amicus Brief on Constitutional Rights of Religious Colleges – YU Pride v Yeshiva University, N.Y. Supreme Court

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The Cardinal Newman Society joined an amicus brief at the New York Supreme Court, urging the court to protect Yeshiva University’s religious freedom to deny recognition to a student club.

Launching Task Force for Eucharistic Education

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In support of the U.S. bishops’ three-year Eucharistic Revival, The Cardinal Newman Society is collaborating with Catholic educators nationwide to launch the Task Force for Eucharistic Education—an initiative to help solicit, identify, and promote inspiring efforts by Catholic schools, homeschools, colleges, and individuals to help revive:

  • Eucharistic literacy – teaching young people the truth of the Real Presence in the Eucharist
  • Eucharistic liturgy – improving music, prayer, and reverence in school and college liturgies
  • Eucharistic devotion – increasing prayer and adoration among young people
  • Eucharistic living – helping students live according to the reality of Christ within them

The project was announced today at Sacra Liturgia, an international conference on the liturgy that was supported in part by The Cardinal Newman Society and featured Society President Patrick Reilly’s public interview with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco on the renewal of faithful Catholic education. Several prominent Catholics and leaders of national education associations have agreed to help promote the Task Force and serve on its steering committee (see list below).

“Catholic education is the Church’s primary means of evangelization, and it is key to the success of the Eucharistic Revival,” said Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society. “Americans’ lack of belief in the Real Presence is a crisis of education, not dissent. Young Catholics are confused and need faithful Catholic education, not just flashy events and youth programs amid a culture that disdains religious belief and morals.”

The Task Force invites educators, parents, and students to sign up at EucharisticEducation.org and identify projects including academic conferences, research, publications, formative student programs, liturgies, prayer, and more—anything that strengthens understanding and devotion to the Eucharist within Catholic schools, homeschools, or colleges.

The Cardinal Newman Society will highlight and promote Task Force members and their projects through the Society’s magazine Our Catholic Mission—which is mailed to Catholic education leaders and bishops nationwide—and in Catholic media.

Already the Task Force includes many of America’s most faithful Catholic schools and colleges among its inaugural members. “We hope for an explosion of inspiring projects that help renew faithful Catholic education and form a new generation of young people deeply in love with Jesus Christ,” said Reilly.

For more information on The Cardinal Newman Society and how you can join the Task Force, go to EucharisticEducation.org


Steering Committee of Task Force for Eucharistic Education 
  • Mary Pat Donoghue, Executive Director, Secretariat for Catholic Education, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
  • Deacon Keith Fournier, Dean, Catholic Online School
  • Charlie McKinney, President, Sophia Institute Press
  • Father David Pivonka, T.O.R., President, Franciscan University of Steubenville
  • Dr. Robert Royal, President, Faith and Reason Institute
  • Dr. Michael St. Pierre, Executive Director, Catholic Campus Ministry Association
  • Patrick Reilly, President, The Cardinal Newman Society
  • Monsignor James Shea, President, University of Mary
  • Lincoln Snyder, President, National Catholic Educational Association
  • Father Peter Stravinskas, President, Catholic Education Foundation
  • sister Cecilia Anne Wanner, O.P., President, Aquinas College (Nashville)
Inaugural Institutional Members of Task Force for Eucharistic Education 
  •  Academy of Our Lady (Marrero, La.)
  • Ave Maria University (Ave Maria, Fla.)
  • Beckman Catholic High School (Dyersville, Iowa)
  • Belmont Abbey College (Belmont, N.C.)
  • Benedictine College (Atchison, Kan.)
  • Christendom College (Front Royal, Va.)
  • Father Gabriel Richard High School (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
  • Holy Apostles College & Seminary (Cromwell, Conn.)
  • Holy Child Catholic School (Tijeras, N.M.)
  • Holy Rosary Academy (Anchorage, Alaska)
  • John Paul the Great Catholic University (Escondido, Calif.)
  • Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts (Warner, N.H.)
  • Maur Hill-Mount Academy (Atchison, Kan.)
  • Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School Coraopolis, Pa.)
  • Regina Pacis Academy (Norwalk, Conn.)
  • Rhodora Donahue Academy of Ave Maria (Ave Maria, Fla.)
  • Seton School (Manassas, Va.)
  • St. John Vianney High School (St. Louis, Mo.)
  • St. Theresa Catholic School (Sugar Land, Tex.)
  • Thomas More College of Liberal Arts (Merrimack, N.H.)
  • University of Dallas (Irving, Tex.)
  • University of St. Thomas (Houston, Tex.)
  • Walsh University (North Canton, Ohio)
  • Wyoming Catholic College (Lander, Wyo.)

CNS Joins Amicus Brief on Equal Treatment of Religious Groups – Fellowship of Christian Athletes v San Jose Unified School District, 9th Circuit

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The Cardinal Newman Society joined an amicus brief at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, opposing the exclusion of a religious organization from equal treatment under the law, simply because it has religious standards for its leaders and members.

CNS Joins Amicus Brief Upholding Ministerial Exception – Faith Bible Chapel v Tucker, 10th Circuit

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The Cardinal Newman Society joined an amicus brief at the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, urging the court to apply the ministerial exception to a ministerial employee’s lawsuit, overturning a court panel’s decision to go forward with the case. 

We Need ‘Eucharistic Education’

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As the U.S. Bishops prepare to kick-off a three-year revival on devotion and belief in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, I have been reflecting on how faithful Catholic education is key to the success of this revival. It is the Church’s primary means of evangelization.

Consider Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, where the truth that the Eucharist is the “source and summit of Christian life” is taught and lived. While many Catholic colleges spend time and resources on extravagant athletic or arts facilities, yet they neglect the formation and souls of their students, Christendom graduates smart, virtuous, and capable Christians and focused its latest capital campaign on building a magnificent new Christ the King Chapel to glorify God.

Many Christendom students attend Mass every day, and they don’t have to worry about “fitting it in,” because classes and activities are never scheduled during Mass times. There is a refreshing emphasis on beautiful, reverent liturgy in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms. Students have frequent opportunities for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Confession. The First Friday Holy Hour is popular, as well as the Eucharistic procession on the Solemnity of Christ the King.

That’s Eucharistic education. It places Christ at the center, with the Mass at the center of campus life, and students are taught to live as bearers of Christ within them.

Sarah Davis, a homeschooled student in Pennsylvania, who will be heading to Christendom College this fall, was drawn to study at a college which “keeps Our Eucharistic Lord at the center of campus life,” according to her award-winning essay submitted to The Cardinal Newman Society. She won a $5,000 scholarship in the Society’s Essay Scholarship Contest, in which high school students were asked how attending a Catholic college that is strongly devoted to the Eucharist will uniquely impact their religious, moral, intellectual and social formation.

Such a “devotion to the Eucharist, nurtured during college, will be my strong foundation as I continue to grow into the woman God has created me to be,” Davis predicted.

“In front of the Blessed Sacrament,” she wrote, “I will find the strength to conscientiously perform my duties as a student, treat others with true charity, and keep fighting for sanctity. If our Eucharistic Lord reigns over the college which I attend, I will be challenged to let Him reign over my own heart and life.”

While Sarah will find strong support for her faith at Christendom College — one of several colleges recommended in the Newman Guide and the Register Guide for truly Catholic education — the reality is that many of her peers students go off to college and lose their faith. After college graduation, nearly 75% of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

While this may seem a crisis of dissent, it is more a crisis of education and a failure of the Church. In that same study, about two-thirds (64%) of the young adults who denied the Real Presence admitted to being unsure or unaware of the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist. And 62% actually believed the Church teaches that the Eucharist is just a symbol of Christ.

We greatly need a revival of Eucharistic education. It is in faithful Catholic education that young people learn not to separate their lives and their knowledge from Christ, who enters into every study and every activity. We need this in our Catholic parish schools, lay-run independent schools, homeschools, hybrid programs, and colleges.

Christendom College is a shining example of the Eucharistic education that every Catholic child needs and deserves. It is a great feeling to help Sarah Davis get this sort of education — but the Church should be committed to ensuring it for every baptized child and young adult.

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

College-Bound Student Desires Holy Eucharist at ‘Center of Campus Life’

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Sarah Davis

Editor’s Note: The Cardinal Newman Society recently announced that Sarah Davis, a homeschooled student in Pennsylvania, is the winner of the Society’s 2022 Essay Scholarship Contest for Catholic college-bound students. Davis will receive a $5,000 scholarship toward her education at Christendom College in Front Royal, Va., this fall. Below is the full text of her winning essay. More information about the Contest can be obtained here, and students who want to be eligible for next year’s Contest can sign up for Recruit Me here.

For the past eight years, my family has been blessed to live across the street from our parish. This proximity to Jesus in the Eucharist has had a strong influence on my upbringing. Daily Mass, personal prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and monthly Adoration have been non-negotiable family practices which have laid a strong spiritual foundation. Now that I am preparing to leave home for college, I wish to attend a college which will help me to maintain and augment this foundation rather than having to struggle to keep it. I am convinced that a faithful Catholic college which is strongly devoted to the Eucharist will uniquely and positively impact my religious, moral, intellectual, and social formation.

First, attending a college which keeps our Eucharistic Lord at the center of campus life will bolster both my religious and moral formation. A college which loves the Eucharist treasures the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as the high point of the day and provides ample opportunities for Eucharistic Adoration. It will not be a struggle, therefore, to enshrine Mass and Adoration as the center of my own life while my personal relationship with Jesus is fostered through these daily encounters. Moreover, pouring forth from this cherished time with Jesus will be the grace to live a virtuous life. In front of the Blessed Sacrament, I will find the strength to conscientiously perform my duties as a student, treat others with true charity, and keep fighting for sanctity. If our Eucharistic Lord reigns over the college which I attend, I will be challenged to let Him reign over my own heart and life.

A college-wide devotion to the Eucharist will also strengthen my intellectual and social formation. While adoring Our Lord in Mass and Adoration, I will be reminded that the ultimate goal of my studies is a deeper knowledge of God, whether that is attained directly through the study of theology or indirectly through such disciplines as philosophy, literature, and science. Therefore, as I ponder before the Blessed Sacrament the truths I am grappling with in class, I will be led into a deeper relationship with Truth Himself, present in the Eucharist. Moreover, worshipping the Eucharist with my peers will help foster authentic, Christ-centered community which is rightly oriented toward the glory of God and our common pursuit of holiness. In front of our Eucharistic Lord, I will also be able to pray for my classmates and learn from Christ how to love them in a truly Christian way. A college devoted to the Eucharist, therefore, will help me to place Christ at the center of both my studies and my relationships.

Thus, just as devotion to the Eucharist has been integral in my formation growing up, it is also a non-negotiable factor when considering college options. A college which has a deep love for our Eucharistic Lord will enable me to continue placing God at the center of my life, grow in knowledge of the truth, and develop authentic relationships, ultimately leading me to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. Therefore, no matter what God asks of me after college, I can be assured that this devotion to the Eucharist, nurtured during college, will be my strong foundation as I continue to grow into the woman God has created me to be.

Graduation Honor for Cardinal Newman Society

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On Saturday, May 14, Patrick Reilly, president and founder of the Cardinal Newman Society, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Benedictine College.

The award is in recognition of the Cardinal Newman Society’s work for 29 years in promoting and defending faithful Catholic education. Benedictine College is recognized in The Newman Guide for its fidelity and Catholic formation of students including Patrick’s oldest son, who graduated during the same ceremony.

College President Steve Minnis asked the graduating students to raise their hands if they were influenced by The Newman Guide.

“It is a great blessing to see the large number of students and families impacted by our work at the Cardinal Newman Society,” said Reilly. “I dedicated the award to the Society’s amazing staff, and I thanked all those who are working toward the renewal of faithful Catholic education. This special award is also a testament to our devoted members, who have prayed and sacrificed to support the Cardinal Newman Society’s vital efforts.”