In 1952, Father O’Brien ꞌ31 reports to his board “[Father Murray] offers Mass here at the Chapel daily and is most helpful.” Fr. John Courtney Murray, S.J., a visiting scholar at Yale, assisted Fr. O’Brien with Mass and Confession. This is the first recorded instance of a consistent, second priest presence at STM—a pattern that continued throughout the 1950s and early 1960s as priests came to the university to either teach or work on the Yale Edition of the Complete Works of St. Thomas More. During Fr. Riggs’s ꞌ10 time in the 20s and 30s, such a position was not needed because there was yet a Catholic chapel on campus and Fr. Riggs, when he would say Mass for Yale students, would do so at St. Mary’s on Hillhouse. Fr. Murray and his ilk were predecessors to STM’s Assistant Chaplains. It wasn’t until 1964 that STM gained its first official Assistant Chaplain, Father Richard Russell.

Through the years at STM, the role of Assistant Chaplain has grown to meet the changing needs—and demographics—of Yale’s Catholics. It is also a role that has extended and steadied the work of the chaplaincy through times of joy and sadness. It was a role that gave Father Richard Russell the start of his twenty-five-year tenure at Yale University. It was the role that was expanded to meet the needs of the first women undergraduates of Yale, who came to campus the fall of 1969, through Sister Ramona Pena. And as STM searched for its next Chaplain between Fathers Russell and Beloin, it was the Assistant Chaplains—Sister Kathleen Dorney, C.N.D.; Father Dennis Murphy and Sister Jo-Ann Veillette, S.A.S.V.—who gave the STM community a sense of continuation and consistency. And as Father Bob Beloin grew ill and passed away, it was Sister Jenn Schaaf, O.P., D.Min.; Father Karl Davis, O.M.I.; Allan Esteron; and Carlene Demiany ꞌ12 M.Div. ꞌ14 S.T.M.  who not only coordinated care for him but also held the community as they watched, worried and—finally—began to grieve.

Fr. Murray helped Fr. O’Brien with Mass and Confession, yet the Assistant Chaplains of the 70s, 80s and 90s—both religious and lay—sought to not only grow student’s faith through Bible study, retreats and spiritual direction, but also through informal socials and gathering at meals. Alumna Sandra Bishop Ph.D. ꞌ96 remembers how Sr. Jo-Ann Veillette “held monthly potluck dinners for women students and members of the community at her apartment in West Haven. For many of us struggling with the sex abuse scandal, her vision of the role of the laity and of women in the Church was a welcome balm.” 

With the further expansion of Catholic ministry through the Golden Center in the early decades of the aughts, Assistant Chaplains expanded STM’s ministry to include a Hispanic Ministry and an Asian Ministry. Today, they are the ones you see greeting you at Mass or drawing you into a Reading Group or running the Wednesday Soup Kitchen.

It may surprise you, but for much of the early aughts, official STM communications didn’t capitalize “assistant chaplain” or “assistant chaplains” as it did when referring to STM's “Chaplain.” But through the last decade—and with the continuing chorus of presence, energy and faith they bring the 268 Park Street and the STM community, “assistant chaplain” has become “Assistant Chaplain.”

And capitalized it will always stay.

Do you have a favorite story or memory about one of STM's Assistant Chaplains? Let us know at stmchapel@yale.edu.