The following comes from an Oct. 21 story on the Cardinal Newman Society website.

John Paul the Great Catholic University (JP Catholic) recently completed its first year at its new campus location in Escondido, Calif. “It’s a miracle from God,” university president Dr. Derry Connolly told the Cardinal Newman Society in an interview about the relocation. “God opened every single door and made everything happen so it was hugely miraculous.”

JP Catholic is recommended in The Newman Guide for its strong Catholic identity. The Cardinal Newman Society recently released the 2015 edition of the Guide along with an innovative new “Recruit Me” program that lets students sign up so the recommended Catholic colleges can compete for them.

The Newman Guide lauds JP Catholic’s dedication to faithful theology and philosophy, and notes that the University is “uniquely modern, preparing students for 21st-century careers in business and media technology while retaining a traditional liberal arts core.”

The Guide continues: “The university has found a special niche among Catholic colleges, one that will appeal to a particular student with a love for entrepreneurship, digital media, and evangelization.”

The university’s previous campus was located in San Diego. The Newman Society reported that San Diego Bishop Emeritus Robert Brom blessed the new campus in Escondido last May.

The move to Escondido tripled the size of the university campus, from about 13 thousand to 40 thousand square feet. “In the past we leased half of one building and now we own two buildings,” Dr. Connolly said. The university now leases two additional buildings bringing its total number of facilities to four. “Everybody loves it,” he related. “Without exception, every single person loves the new space.”

According to Dr. Connolly, the urban setting is an upgrade from the previous suburban location. “It feels great,” he said. “It’s got a sense of permanence.” The “historic” and “quaint” downtown exudes “an ambiance which is conducive to creative students.”

“The infrastructure of the city that we’re in is much better from a public facility and from a transportation perspective,” he said. Students have the ability to walk from their apartment buildings to the academic facility which now possesses more classroom space. Additionally, the neighboring conference center will be advantageous in use but also for evangelization, he added.

Another advantage the Escondido campus provided was an opportunity for future growth. According to Dr. Connolly, nearby real estate will reportedly be put on the market within the next few years. “We intend to grow the number of students,” he said, “and as you grow the number of students, you have to get more real estate.”

Changing campuses was a difficult process, Dr Connolly related. “It was a pretty complicated real-estate move,” he said. Student housing relocated three months before the academic building and as consequence, the students were shuttled daily during the ten-week summer quarter in order to attend classes about 20 miles away….

To read the original story, click here.