About Us

To help college students grow together into the saints they are called to be, to transform the Church and the world.

The Catholic Center began at Tulane University in the 1930s as a Newman Club for Catholic students on campus (Read more of our history). Over the years it has developed into a vibrant center for Catholic life on campus served by the friars of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans). The friars came to Tulane in 1966 with the arrival of Fr. Val McInnes, OP. The Dominicans are well-suited to campus life, dedicating themselves to the sacra praedicatio (the Sacred Preaching) through sharing the fruits of the discipline of study. Dominicans seek truth and value intellectual rigor, the sciences, peace and justice, the arts and communication.

As Tulane University seeks to form students not only for success in their professions but also for service to their local community, the Catholic Center provides an indispensable spiritual dimension. Spiritual formation is not just about devotion, but a solid foundation of intellectual and moral values from which one thinks, chooses and acts in the world as a human being with integrity. We provide opportunities to learn through lectures, classes and personal study, to serve through community programs and our mission to Honduras, to pray through liturgy and prayer groups, and to grow through fellowship, dialogue, Reconciliation and spiritual direction. Through their involvement at the Catholic Center, Tulane students will have a space to integrate all they learn and become saints for the Church and the world.

When a student graduates from Tulane who has been involved with Tulane Catholic, we hope they will be active in the Church and their fellow parishioners will say "Thank you, God, for this person, they're a gift to us!" Our greatest desire is that through a continually deepening relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church, our students may be formed into the leaders and saints of tomorrow—not only in the professional world, but also in the Church.

As the home for Catholics at Tulane University, the Catholic Center is a ministry of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, administered by the Order of Friars Preachers (the Dominicans), in partnership with FOCUS (the Fellowship of Catholic University Students). We offer spiritual, intellectual and moral formation for college students through the sacraments, preaching, classes, retreats, lectures, social activities, discipleship and mentoring, spiritual direction, and more.