The Joseph P. Mack Catholic Center began construction earlier this year after a groundbreaking ceremony in February and is set to be completed spring 2026. It is funded entirely by private donors rather than University funds, and it will serve the University’s Catholic community, which currently operates out of the Interfaith Chapel along with other religious groups on campus.
Interim Senior Associate Vice President for University Facilities and Services Alan McNiff and his team have been managing the construction, including design, consulting with architects and engineers, and construction testing. McNiff said that they are currently working on the framing and exterior construction of the property, which sits on Goergen Field behind the Goergen Athletic Center.
“[The] exterior walls and roofing are the current priority,” he said. “We will then continue with interior building-out of walls and mechanical systems.”
The original projected completion date for the project was in Fall 2025, but was pushed to Spring 2026 before work began. McNiff expects the new timeframe to be accurate.
“We’re on track to meet that target,” he said.
The Joseph P. Mack Catholic Center is named after Mack ‘55, a trustee emeritus of UR who is the lead donor of the project. “Shout to Joseph P. Mack,” Audrey Pontiff ‘28 said. “I’m happy it was [funded by private donors], not the University, because I don’t think that would’ve been right. As Catholics, it’s our job to fund [our spaces].”
The Rev. Brian Cool, who directs UR’s chapter of the Catholic Newman Community (Newman) as well as the chapel at the Rochester Institute of Technology, said the process for planning the new building began around 10 years ago. The increasing obstacles and limitations in the Interfaith Chapel were driving motivators for the new space. Cool explained how, although the renovations to the Chapel’s main sanctuary in 2015 improved the space, it also “broadened its use,” making it more crowded.
“This expansion had a significant impact and led to growth in Chapel use and room reservations,” he said, “resulting in frequent overcrowding, especially for office and worship space.”
Particularly, Cool said that chaplains and staff must often share office space, which is “far from ideal for pastoral care and confidential conversations with students.”
He also said that scheduling worship services at the Interfaith Chapel, especially on common religious days, has become difficult, forcing groups to meet at other locations on campus that are “rarely suitable for meaningful or reverent worship.”
Students in Newman also say they have experienced this overcrowding at the Interfaith Chapel. Sophomore John Galbreth is a part of a Newman-run Bible study group that experiences difficulty securing a meeting place.
“[It] often has to meet outside because there isn’t enough open space in the Chapel when we need it,” he said.
Sophomore Alexander Glynn hopes that the new Catholic center will alleviate the obstacles that come along with sharing a small space, such as holding events in a crowded basement and not having to move the space’s furniture each time they use it. Since the new space is suited specifically for Catholic practices, Glynn hopes that the worship experience will be “enhanced.”
“We’ll have actual pews and kneelers,” he said, “so people won’t have to kneel on the floor anymore.”
In a rendering of the Mack Center, a stained glass window that represents the Tree of Life will face Wilson Blvd / Photo courtesy of University of Rochester
In a rendering of the Mack Center, a stained glass window that represents the Tree of Life will face Wilson Blvd / Photo courtesy of University of Rochester
But not all students are looking forward to the new building. In 2023, some students even protested the construction of new religious buildings. Senior Wendy Humphreys said that she doesn’t think individual religious groups should have their own spaces on campus.
“I think that as a non-[religious] school, it’s not right to take up what little space we have on campus — green space — to have a religious center, especially catering to only one religion, when we already have the Interfaith Chapel,” she said. “I know that it was funded outside of University funding, but I feel like it’s [occupying] University land, so it’s still our space that it’s taking up.”
Humphreys explained how the Chabad Jewish organization meets off-campus across the Genesee River, and that all individual groups being located off-campus would signify “less of a preference” for one group or another.
“Maybe just as a nonreligious person, I don’t really see the point in catering to every single religion on campus,” she said. “And I’m sure they’re gonna say, ‘Oh, anyone can use it,’ but at the end of the day, it’s still a Catholic student center. I’m not a Catholic, so I don’t really want to go into the Catholic student center, just as I wouldn’t want to go to anyone else’s [place of worship].”
In May, former Students’ Association President and current senior Elijah Bader-Gregory wrote a statement on the center’s construction and discussed similar concerns as Humphreys.
“We are shifting away from the model that the Interfaith Chapel has long represented: a space where students of all religions can gather and worship together, share resources, and foster community,” he wrote. “Interfaith isn’t just special because all are technically welcome, it’s special because all feel welcome.”
He recognized that the construction is “great news for some members of our community” and that he “hope[s] everyone can recognize the benefits the building will bring,” but urged students to “hold its usage accountable.”
“We must ensure that all are welcome there, that spaces labeled ‘open to all’ truly are, and that the interfaith cooperation we value remains strong. I urge you to stay engaged, ask questions, and help shape how this building serves the diverse and vibrant community we share,” Bader-Gregory wrote.
Catholic students, such as sophomore Audrey Pontiff who serves as Newman’s events chair, have also stressed the importance of the center being open to all. Pontiff described how the building will include more than just Catholic worship spaces, such as study rooms.
“We’re very excited to welcome in people of other faiths, or people of no faith at all. We’re excited for it to be a shared space and maybe even a good spot to share the faith,” she said. “This space is gonna be open to all people.”
In addition to the Catholic community’s new building, plans for the on-campus Greenbaum Center for Jewish Life are ongoing. This building, which would also be privately funded, would be located between the Sigma Phi Epsilon and Psi Upsilon fraternity houses along Wilson Blvd.
