History

The John Paul II Newman Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) was dedicated on October 22, 1980. The Newman Center was built as a lasting memorial in remembrance of Pope John Paul II's visit to the Archdiocese of Chicago from October 4-6, 1979. During that visit Pope John Paul II gave consent for the center to bear his name. The dedication stone of the John Paul II Newman Center was used in the altar erected for the papal Mass offered in Grant Park on October 5, 1979. The John Paul II Newman Center was built to provide a permanent home for Catholic campus ministry at UIC. Currently, the Newman Center also houses the Archdiocesan Ministry in Higher Education Office.

Catholic campus ministry began at UIC, formerly called University of Illinois Chicago Circle, in the spring of 1967 with the help of the visionary Cardinal Cody. He inspired the building of the present John Paul II Newman Center to provide a setting where Catholics at UIC could nurture their spiritual development.

Although the UIC campus was opened in 1965, the University of Illinois had its start in Chicago at Navy Pier shortly after World War II. Catholic campus ministry was present at that early site as well until the Navy Pier campus site closed in 1965.

The importance of Catholic campus ministry at the University of Illinois at Chicago can be seen in the statistics. The enrollment at UIC has 25,000 students. Sixty percent come from Catholic families. This gives UIC the largest Catholic student population of any university in the Midwest. Our students are a beautiful cross section of American society. The ethnic/racial distribution of the University is: 47.2% White, 9.7% African American, 13.4% Hispanic, 19.4% Asian, .3% Native American, and 6.6% are Foreign students.