Congratulations to the men of the Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity on the opening of their chapter house this 2013-2014 school year. May this first year be filled with many memories!

Two significant events occurred in the recent months to mark the opening of the PKT fraternity house. First, the formal ribbon cutting took place on July 15th. The evening began with tours of the house given by fraternity members, both current university students and recent graduates. The guests were addressed by Mr. Jude Werner, Director of Development, and Father Robert Matya both of the St. Thomas Aquinas Church—Newman Center. Lastly, Bishop James Conley of Lincoln spoke of the beauty involved in noble building projects such as the fraternity and St. Thomas, which is currently under construction. An exciting highlight was the opening of the time capsule found in the 1960 Newman Center building. It contained the following: two newspapers, religious medals, and two letters, one recognizing those involved with the building project, the other from the late Bishop Casey giving thanks to God and Mary for the building.

Bishop Conley blessing bedrooms of the fraternity.

Secondly, the house was blessed by Bishop Conley on September 6th. With the date just a few weeks into the academic year it allowed for all of the PKT fraternity members to be in attendance. Matt Keller, fraternity chapter president, spoke expressing many thanks to all those involved to make this house a reality. Bishop blessed the fraternity and then entrusted the house and its members to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

In between these two events, the fraternity members moved into their new home for the academic year. The move in was met by both local and national media attention. Read some of the articles below:

New UNL fraternity caters to religious faith -- University of Nebraska - Lincoln Today

Phi Kappa Theta house opens on campus, hopes to change Greek image -- The Daily Nebraskan

UNL Catholic Fraternity Breaks Ground on Campus -- Southern Nebraska Register

Catholic fraternity house completed at UNL -- Journal Star

Residence Halls Get Religion -- Inside Higher Ed

Religious Dorms Sprout Up -- The Wall Street Journal

As construction on the physical home for the PKT fraternity members concludes, Clark Architects is inspired to see construction on the spiritual home of the University of Nebraska students commence, the St. Thomas Aquinas Church and Newman Center.