There’s a new name for the Newman Center/Holy Spirit Parish at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. The campus ministry center will now be called the University Catholic Center/Holy Spirit Parish to make it more recognizable as a Catholic entity.

Jesuit Father Christopher Cartwright, the pastor and director of the center, said the name University Catholic Center “situates us in the university, proclaims us as Catholic, and the word center says that there’s a [physical] place” on the UH-Manoa campus.

He said that many people don’t know that the Newman Center refers to Cardinal John Henry Newman. Cardinal Newman advocated for Catholic students at secular universities in the 1800s and many Catholic centers at universities and colleges around the world are called Newman Centers.

The center had been considering a name change for about a year. Father Cartwright met with Bishop Larry Silva on Aug. 23 to ask for permission to switch the title.

The bishop granted the request in a letter to Father Cartwright on Sept. 11. However, the complete transition to the University Catholic Center is not expected to take place until around January 2008, including changes in logos, stationery and signs, Father Cartwright said.

The center, which is adjacent to Saint Francis School toward the end of East West Center Road, has 930 registered members, a third of them university students. It started out as the Newman Club in 1932 and got its first building, the Newman Hall, in 1957.

The present building was dedicated in 1982. Bishop Joseph A. Ferrario elevated the center to parish status in 1986 and called it Holy Spirit Parish.