Who is
Roncalli Newman?

a) The founder of a chain of pizza parlors.

b) The maternal great uncle, once removed,
of Alfred E. Neuman.

c) An early 40’s model automobile that
didn’t make it out of the showroom.

If you chose any of the above answers,
you were really close - but no cigar for you.

As you see in the pictures, Roncalli is the sur name of the man who would be Pope John XXIII - Angelo Giuseppe Cardinal Roncalli. He was the pope from 1958 - 1963 and is known for having convened the Second Vatican Council (a.k.a. Vatican II) that forever changed the Catholic Church in the modern world.  It was on the heels of his papacy, and near the end of the Council in 1964, that the Roncalli Newman Center was built. Fundraising for the building had started a few years earlier.

Nineteenth century Englishman John Henry Cardinal Newman was a convert to Catholicism from the Church of England who distinguished himself as an avid writer and ardent advocate of Catholic education. His great gift to the Church was his willingness to discuss the interplay between academics and theology, between faith and reason. It was for him that the Catholic presence on state university campuses was named.
Newman Clubs got there start at the UW in Madison in 1883 under the name of the Melvin Club, (named for a Mrs. Melvin who made her home available for Catholic student meetings). In 1890, one of those students, Timothy Harrington, transferred to the University of Pennsylvania where he started a similar Catholic student group. Choosing the patronage Cardinal Newman, this group became the first Newman Club in 1893.

Since then, Newman Clubs have been active Catholic student organizations on state campuses throughout the country. What is now Newman Catholic Students at the UW-L dates back to 1913 when a group of Catholic La Crosse Normal School students formed the Gibbons Club to "provide for the social and religious welfare" of its members. In 1924, it formally affiliated with the Newman Club Federation.