Catholic BYU students find friendship and faith in the newly revitalized Newman Club.
When Catholic Mass was held at BYU in January 2025—the first on campus since the ’90s—it was standing room only. “There was not even one chair available,” remembers Maria Fernanda Romero Castillo (’27). Only about 30 of the 350 attendees were actually Catholic, but everyone was there with a common purpose: to draw closer to God.
Three years before the event, Romero was a freshman feeling lonely—for her faith and for people who shared it. She usually had to rely on public transportation to get to Mass, making it difficult to attend often, and she struggled to find fellow Catholics on campus. “It just felt like something was missing,” she says.
When she reached out to university chaplain James L. Slaughter (BS ’89, MA ’92), he gave her a suggestion: Why not restart the Newman Club?
Newman Clubs (named after 19th-century cardinal John Henry Newman) are communities of Catholic students on college campuses across the country. BYU’s Newman Club, Romero learned, had been inactive since the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning she’d be assembling a team to rebuild it from the ground up.
“We support one another [and] bond over our similar experiences.”
—Gabriel Moreno
At first it was just “five or six people,” says Javier De los Reyes Jr. (BS ’25), a fellow Catholic student Romero recruited to help. But as they made more connections, says De los Reyes, “we started doing a lot more events, . . . then we managed to get a lot more traction.”
Those events included Mass, which was organized with the help of the Interfaith Student Association. The growing club also observes Catholic traditions like Stations of the Cross, offers rides to the local Catholic church, and holds Bible studies—all aimed at “help[ing] people strengthen their faith,” says Reyes.
While these events are open to those of any faith, Slaughter adds that the club’s fundamental function is to provide fellowship and community to Catholic students, who make up only about 50 of the tens of thousands of students at BYU. “It’s nice to gather with people that share your life experience and your faith,” De los Reyes says.
Gabriel Emilio Liza Moreno (’26), who served as the first treasurer of the new club, says it’s been “a very gratifying and beautiful experience. . . . We can support one another, and we can bond over our similar experiences.”
Romero has also found joy in the friendships she’s made. “Having that little circle . . . is wonderful,” she says. “I’m grateful for the chance to meet other Catholics through the club and for the support from students and staff on campus working toward interfaith connections.”
