The Catholic Center at NYU

HISTORY OF THE EDWARD CARDINAL EGAN CATHOLIC CENTER AT New York university

The first Catholic Center at NYU, a former French boarding school that had been acquired by the Archdiocese of New York, was dedicated on February 6, 1952, with His Eminence Francis Cardinal Spellman, the Rev. Timothy Flynn (then NYU’s “counselor to Catholic students”), NYU Chancellor Henry Townley Heald, and former acting chancellor James L. Madden all in attendance. The philosopher Jacques Maritain gave the dedicatory address. He felt honored to do so “as a philosopher who has long loved the people and culture of this country,” and remarked that “the foundation of this Center has a great and happy significance. For it is dedicated to the life of intelligence, busy with all the problems and discoveries of modern times, and to an effort to penetrate and quicken this very life of intelligence, and the workings of the human mind, with the light of Christian verities grasped in their integrity.”

From 1961-1964, thanks to a gift of the Generoso Pope family, the Archdiocese was able to construct a new, more modern, Catholic Center. The Center, especially its Holy Trinity Chapel, was an integral part of the Catholic experience for undergraduate, graduate and law school students at NYU. The Dominican friars were invited to be the chaplains in the late 1980s. In 2009, the Archdiocese reached an agreement with NYU to surrender part of the site in exchange for the construction of an entirely new and up-to-date Catholic Center, which would belong to the Archdiocese in perpetuity.

The Present-Day Catholic Center

In 2012, the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, dedicated this new Center, which occupies the ground floor of the Global and Academic Center for Spiritual Life. The new Center contains a beautiful chapel with the Blessed Sacrament and under the patronage of John Henry Newman, a room for Confessions, two large auditoriums, offices, a kitchen, and a student common room with a fireplace.

Though the chief purpose of the Catholic Center is to help students mature in their faith and become intelligent, committed, adult Catholics, all students are welcome here. The Center provides a comfortable, well-ordered environment for students to pray, study, cook, socialize, and rest in the midst of a busy day.

Cardinal Dolan described the Edward Cardinal Egan Catholic Center at NYU as “an icon of the new evangelization.”  The Center exists to witness to and communicate the enduring truth of the Catholic faith here in New York City. This mission is accomplished first of all by through the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Confession. In addition to the sacramental life, the Center provides opportunities for students to grow in knowledge of the faith. The chaplain also guides the activities of the various Catholic student groups on campus. The Catholic Center welcomes any and all who wish to know more about God and the Catholic Church. Out of many Catholic students at NYU, a few hundred witness to their faith by going to Mass every weekend and roughly 150 students are involved outside of services through discipleship with missionaries or are members of student organizations. Despite their busy schedules and the hectic pace of New York life, students find time to serve and pray at the Center.  This is a testament to the Center’s function as a spiritual and actual home away from home where students gather in community to strengthen their faith.