TORONTO (CCN) — Students and alumni affiliated with the Newman Centre at the University of Toronto launched their yearlong celebration of the centennial of their chapel, St. John Henry Newman Church, this month.
“This 100th anniversary has a greater focus on … punching up even more of what’s happening in the parish,” said Father Michael Corpus, the pastor and director of the Newman Centre.
The centennial celebrations opened with a Mass presided by Cardinal Thomas Collins, archbishop emeritus of Toronto, Oct. 9.
A concert titled, “A Century of Faithfulness: Beauty That Endures,” featured current students and alumni of the Newman Centre. The concert was held at the music faculty’s Walter Hall Oct. 30.
“Newman Centre has had this great tradition of music,” Corpus told Canadian Catholic News. “One of the ways that the faith is encountered is through beauty. And so, in some ways, we’re highlighting that tradition and calling us back to our faith through beauty.”
Sarah Gangl, a Newman alumna, who graduated with her bachelor’s degree in music last year, accompanied several vocalists on the piano during the concert.
She said she hoped the concert would celebrate the gifts of Newman Centre students and alumni and allow audience members “to really encounter the beauty of God’s creation and the gift of music that God has given us,” as well as “enter into a deeper encounter with the divine.”
Corpus explained that “St. John Henry Newman “always thought of (the) university as not just a place where one studied, but where one’s reason was integrated with one’s faith.” “For St. John Henry Newman, “the university was one in which faith would play a central role,” he said.
The Newman Centre is older than the church. It was founded in 1913 and relocated from 97 St. Joseph Street to its current address, 89 St. George Street, in 1922. In this new location, the community started fundraising to build a bigger worship space.
Their goal was to raise $1 per person, “which doesn’t seem like a lot,” Corpus said. “When you put it into perspective, (in) 1927, they were looking to raise somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000.”
Archbishop Neil McNeil laid the cornerstone in 1926 and, on March 27, 1927, the chapel was built and dedicated.
The church was originally named for the great Dominican scholar andntheologian St. Thomas Aquinas. It was renamed for St. John Henry Newman after his canonization on Oct. 13, 2019.
Corpus said the church community is considered a quasi-parish. According to canon law, “a quasi-parish is a definite community of the Christian faithful in a particular church, entrusted to a priest as its proper pastor but not yet erected as a parish because of particular circumstances.”
For St. John Henry Newman Church, as a mission chapel, it means that the Archdiocese of Toronto and other donors support the church financially. Donors include past parishioners and alumni “who appreciate the mission” of “accompanying Catholics and even accompanying non-Catholics” in faith, said Corpus.
Corpus said the demographic of the Newman Centre community “looked quite different” in the 1920s. Today’s community is more multicultural and international.
“Our parish and the centre reflect what is happening in the church globally,” he said.
Gangl described the mission of the Newman Centre and its 100-year-old church as “a beautiful space for students to meet other people who share similar interests … who have really beautiful hearts and are really beautiful testaments to the love of God.”
The centennial calendar also includes a memorial Mass Nov. 6 for deceased members of the Newman church community, as well as “100 Hours with the Lord” events for each quarter of the centennial year. The first “100 Hours with the Lord,” scheduled Dec. 4-5, will include 25 consecutive hours of Eucharistic adoration and a liturgical service. The choir also will sing Scripture readings.
The Newman Centre, with its English-manor architecture, will host the first centennial event of 2027 — a murder mystery dinner and theatre fundraiser — Jan. 15. On Feb. 27, Cardinal Collins will return to lead a Lenten retreat. The celebrations will conclude with a Mass and gala dinner Oct. 13.
Refer to the centennial calendar for more events and updates.
