Mission/History

Our Mission Statement

The mission of Calvert House is to empower students for Catholic leadership in the Church and in the world. Our community reflects the diversity and richness of the Church; we seek to make our members aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit in their differences, and of ways they can bring their gifts to others.

Goals

Our goals are consistent with the direction of the Ministry in Higher Education of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

• To hand on the tradition of the faith by fostering sacramental, liturgical, and Catholic intellectual life.
• To evangelize the University of Chicago community.
• To create multiple experiences of large and small communities that provide for personal and communal transformation that includes, but is not limited to, moral and ethical development and the integration of faith into life.
• To accompany students as they discern their vocation, and in doing so, develop leaders for Church and society.
• To live as a community of students and faculty who reverence and respect all people through fostering the pursuit of justice by putting learning into action.
• To engage Catholic faculty in the on-going integration of their faith and teaching and the evangelization of the University.

History

Calvert House is the Catholic Center at the University of Chicago. For over sixty years, it has met the needs of Catholic students, faculty and staff who are associated with the University. As the largest religious group on campus, the Catholic population finds in Calvert House a center of liturgical, spiritual and intellectual enrichment in the faith.

The first organization of Catholics at the University of Chicago was active as early as 1901 calling itself simply "The Catholic Club of the University of Chicago." Soon after, the club was reorganized in 1903. The name was changed to "The Brownson Club" after the nineteenth century American Catholic Orestes Brownson. It remained as such until 1923 when it was reorganized under an associate professor, Dr. Jerome Kerwin, who formally created the Newman Club for Catholic Students.

While this was happening on the campus, a group of subscribers to Commonweal magazine formed "The Calvert Club" named after Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, founder of the first Catholic colony in America. In 1926 Dr. Kerwin joined the Calvert Club who subsequently "adopted" the University of Chicago Newman Club later to be known as the "Calvert Club on Campus".

From this partnership, the Calvert Foundation of Chicago was chartered as a not-for-profit organization in 1941. This group consisted of Catholic lay people having a relationship with the University of Chicago. The Calvert Foundation was then given title to Childerley Farm in Wheeling by Mrs. Frances Crane Lillie. While this location became a center for retreats, the Calvert Foundation sought leadership for the campus. A successful request of Archbishop Stritch to assign a chaplain for the students at the University was made. The first chaplain, Monsignor Connerton, along with his associate, Fr. Thomas McDonough, secured a permanent location on University Avenue.

Since that time the mission of Calvert House has remained steadfast centered on the idea of Catholic formation as the key vision of campus ministry. In this regard, we form leaders, not only for the Church, but also for the world. Striving to work closely with the religious communities present in Hyde Park as well as Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish, our goal is to work toward unity of the Church through dialogue and understanding. This mission is further enhanced through our social justice outreach efforts locally and to the wider Church of Chicago.