KINGSTON — Kathleen and Dennis Duffy, Class of 1980, have many favorite memories of their time together at the University of Rhode Island. The couple, now parishioners at St. Paul Church, Cranston, met at the university as undergraduate students. Among their fondest memories, though, is attending Mass together with the URI Catholic Center community. Every Sunday night, they joined students from all over campus in packing the pews to standing room only at the adjacent Christ the King Church.
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“Hundreds of people went to those Masses,” recalled Kathleen. “For four years, this was our parish.”
Kathleen and Dennis were two of more than a hundred former students, staff and clergy who gathered to reminisce about their time at the Catholic Center as they celebrated the 50th anniversary of the center’s opening on campus on Saturday evening. The event began with a Mass at Christ the King Church, where former Catholic Center chaplain Father Randy Chew offered the homily.
“The best 13 years of my priesthood were spent here at URI at the Catholic Center and Christ the King,” said Father Chew, chaplain between 1976 and 1989.
Father Chew went on to share his own favorite memories of the center, including the campus crisis that followed the Blizzard of ’78. With many churches buried under the still-falling snow and Rhode Island in a state of emergency, Bishop Louis E. Gelineau granted pastors permission to cancel Ash Wednesday services. At the university, however, where thousands of students were stranded on campus, services continued as scheduled. Attendance hardly suffered as students bundled up to make the trek over to the Catholic Center to receive their ashes.
“We had Ash Wednesday and the students came out in droves,” said Father Chew. “It proved how important the Catholic Center could be for the university community.”
Concelebrating with Father Chew were current Catholic Center Chaplain Father Joseph Upton, Christ the King Pastor Father Jared Costanza and former chaplains Father Matthew Glover, Father Bob Hawkins, Father John Soares and Father Ray Collins. Also concelebrating were URI alumnus Father Joseph Pescatello, Assistant Vocations Director Father Chris Murphy and Director of the Office of Divine Worship Father Jeremy Rodrigues.
The Mass also featured an original song composed for the occasion by Christ the King Director of Music Ministry and liturgical music composer Tom Kendzia. “Heart to Heart,” which features lyrics from a prayer of Cardinal John Henry Newman, was performed for the first time in public on Saturday.
“The Catholic Center has come to be a safe place where all and many have come to enjoy its presence as a place of worship and prayer,” said Father Chew. “The Catholic Center is, was and always will be about the people who make the center what it is.”
Many of those people shared their memories from over the years at a reception in the Catholic Center following the Mass, including Heather DiBiasio, Class of 1998, who recalled a casual atmosphere open to students in need of advice, study space or simply a place to relax any night of the week.
“You felt comfortable coming here right away,” said DiBiasio. “It was so comforting just to find other students who had the same faith and were fun.”
From the very beginning, the Catholic Center offered outreach to both practicing Catholics and those lapsed or searching in their faith. Originally opened as the Newman Center in 1966, the name was changed to the Catholic Center early in its history in order to reach a wider campus community.
“I changed the name of the Newman Center to the Catholic Center to give it an identity for the students,” said Father Ray Collins, appointed chaplain during the first full academic year after the center’s opening. “I figured that the average undergraduate would not know what Newman Center was.”
From mission trips and holiday parties to family dinners and ping-pong, the Catholic Center offered a home to students looking to engage further with the faith community. According to former Chaplain Father John Soares and former Associate Chaplain Carol Maddock, who served the Catholic Center together in the 90s and early 2000s, students formed close bonds with each other that didn’t disappear after graduation.
“If there’s one thing about the Catholic Center, they’ve made lifelong – more than friends, it’s almost like a family,” said Father Soares.
For some regular participants, the Catholic Center community would literally become family as students met future spouses at ministry events. Tim Marran, class of 2011, first got to know his fiancé during a mission trip, while Daniel Danckert, class of 2012, met his fiancé when he returned to attend a Catholic Center event during the year following graduation.
“Father Matt calls me and says, ‘You should come to Newman.’ It was kind of Father Matt who got me to come back,” said Danckert.
For some students, the Catholic Center also offered a supportive faith community as they discerned religious vocations. Father Pescatello was active at the Catholic Center as an undergraduate student, and Eric Silva, a major seminarian for the Diocese of Providence, said he often visited the center to attend daily Mass. Silva, class of 2013, entered the seminary shortly after graduating from URI.
“It was a nice way to anchor my faith during my time of discernment leading up to entering the seminary,” he said. “It was here when I realized a deeper conversion.”
Between those looking for a deeper faith connection and those simply in need of a safe space to gather with like-minded peers, the Catholic Center has served as an important home on the URI campus, shaping the faith lives of students, faculty and staff for 50 years. With new freshmen walking in the door and current chaplains Father Upton and Associate Director Judy Klopfenstein leading an active schedule of programs, the center shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.
“It really is a home away from home for them,” said Klopfenstein. “Everyone really is so welcoming here.”
