The St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, located at 16th & Q Streets, dedicated its new church April 12. In a separate ceremony, the attached Newman Center was blessed April 16.
Ground was broken for the 650-seat church in July 2013. The structure replaces a 300-seat chapel that was filled to “standing room only” for each of the four Sunday Masses offered each week for Catholic students on campus. Construction of Newman Center and St. Thomas Aquinas Church is the second phase of a comprehensive expansion effort by the UNL Newman Center. The first phase included the construction of a 20,000-square-foot, 68-bed Phi Kappa Theta fraternity house, which was completed for the 2013-14 academic year. A final phase of the Newman Center’s expansion efforts will include the construction of a Catholic sorority house. Pi Alpha Chi Sorority was founded at UNL in 2013.
The new 60,000-square-foot Newman Center – St. Thomas Aquinas Church provides increased ministry space, a social hall, classrooms, meeting rooms, offices and enhanced student technology services as well as the larger worship space. The new facility incorporates the most efficient geothermal mechanical systems currently available and is entirely accessible. A $25 million capital campaign was launched in July 2010 to fund the expansion efforts and will continue throughout construction.