Andrews Named Pastor of Newman Center

The Rev. Dan Andrews has been named pastor of the St. John Paul II Newman Center, a student housing facility and home for campus ministry programming run by the Archdiocese of Omaha.

Located at 71st and Pacific, the building serves many UNO students and is accessible via UNO’s shuttle system.

Andrews’ duties will begin July 1.

“I’m both humbled and honored to be selected by Archbishop [George J.] Lucas for this position,” Andrews said. “The atmosphere and support our Newman Center offers are game-changers for young adults. I look forward to working with the JPII team and getting to know the students.”

Andrews is pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Norfolk. He is replacing the Rev. Jake Anderson, who has been serving in an interim role at the Newman Center. Anderson is on loan to the Archdiocese of Omaha from the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. He will return to St. Paul-Minneapolis in June.

Andrews graduated from Mt. Michael High School (Elkhorn) in 1989 and a 1993 graduate of Benedictine College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in physics.

He started his pre-theology seminary studies in 1995 at St. Charles Seminary in Philadelphia. He later moved to Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and received Master of Arts & Master of Divinity degrees.

Andrews was ordained a priest in 2001 by Archbishop Elden Francis Curtiss. His parish assignments include Christ the King Parish-Omaha, St. Mary-Bellevue, St. Boniface-Elgin and St. Bonaventure-Raeville.

Andrews was one of 11 U.S. and Canadian pastors selected to attend the first Divine Renovation Network. The Nova Scotia-based institute trains pastors and their leadership teams how to engage in the mission of parish-based evangelization and discipleship.

He has a 21-year relationship with the Institute for Priestly Formation (IPF) in Omaha. He received his certification in spiritual direction from IPF. Andrews has served as spiritual director and IPF adjunct faculty member since 2005.

The St. John Paul II Newman Center is the evangelization hub of the Catholic community at UNO. It is the spiritual home where UNO and other college students live in community, discern their vocation, celebrate their faith, and spend their recreation and study time surrounded by a positive, encouraging environment.

The Archdiocese of Omaha is the owner-operator of the 100,000-square-foot center. Located on the southeast corner of 71st & Pacific, it includes a chapel, apartment-style housing for 162 students, indoor-outdoor fireplace and courtyard, prayer garden, study lounges, a fourth-floor outdoor rooftop deck, social space and a rectory for two priests. Housing and student life information are available at https://jpiiomaha.org/.