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U of G Catholic community looking to establish religious home on Gordon Street

Providing the applications are approved by the City of Guelph, the new space will house a chapel and a lounge on the first floor and a meeting area, a media room and offices on the second floor

The Catholic community at the University of Guelph is looking to establish an intellectual and spiritual headquarters in a century-old heritage home just off campus.

Soon to be called the Guelph Newman Centre, the red brick building at the corner of Gordon Street and Dean Avenue, is undergoing external renovations. On Thursday at 4 p.m. the city's committee of adjustment will hold a public hearing to consider an application to permit the use of office space inside the residence. A future meeting will consider a zoning change for the building from residential to religious establishment.

Father Mark Morley is the chaplain at the University of Guelph and the pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Rockwood. Soon after the signs went up around the property at 325 Gordon St. announcing the bylaw variance request, he typed up a letter outlining the future plans for the building.

Opening with “Dear College Hill Neighbour,” the aim of the letter was to inform nearby residents of the plans for the property and put any concerns at ease. It was distributed to the 27 homes immediately surrounding the property.

“The Newman Centre is nothing new,” Morley said at the property on Tuesday morning. The Gordon Street building had previously been a Newman Centre in the 1960s and 70s. It was then leased to the Canadian Mental Health Association to provide short-term, transitional housing for people with mental illness. In 2014, the diocese took control of the property again and decided to re-establish the Newman Centre.

Providing the applications are approved by the City of Guelph, the new space will house a chapel and a lounge on the first floor, and a meeting area, a media room and offices on the second floor. An enclosed lift will be installed to make both floors accessible to all students.

Morley said a space like this is important to the university community. Students can meet together at the University of Guelph when they wish but these meetings often end up being in hallways or at coffee shops. The campus minister and chaplain are able to meet privately with students once a week in the Raithby House on campus, but this isn’t enough, he said. The Catholic community needs a more permanent place to call home.

“There is a real space issue at the university,” he said, adding there are many groups all sharing a limited number of rooms at the school. “We want to have a regular space and a regular meeting time.”

Rebecca McEvoy is a graduate student studying planning and rural development and is an executive with the university Catholic community on campus. She said the Newman Centre will give students the option to linger in a space they can feel comfortable in and build relationships with one another. They won’t be rushed out or forced to leave when the next university group wants to have a turn in the room.

There are around 40 to 50 students who actively participate in the Catholic community on campus, Morley said.

“We have a core group of students involved, but we want to invite more.” The new building will allow more outreach to take place, he said.

The old brick home was built in the 1890s and was purchased by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hamilton in the 1960s. The diocese owns the five lots spanning the properties of 325 and 329 Gordon Street. Both homes are listed as cultural heritage properties by the city, although they are not designated under the Heritage Act.

The Newman Centre is named after John Henry Cardinal Newman, a Catholic priest from England, who wrote The Idea of a University in 1852. This publication had a large influence on shaping the goals of higher education and contributed to the discussion around the role of religion in a university setting.

There are Newman Centres across North America in a variety of forms, Morley said. Their common link is providing Catholic chaplaincy services at secular universities. Two other Newman Centres will also soon be established at McMaster University in Hamilton and Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, he said.

Nearby neighbour Carolyn Rothstein said she intends to be at Thursday’s meeting, not to oppose the application, but to understand what’s being proposed. She said the old home and the large trees that surround it are significant to nearby residents. The heritage buildings and the old trees on the property need to be protected, she said.


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Chris Seto

About the Author: Chris Seto

Chris Seto has been working as a journalist for the past six years, writing stories, taking photos and video. He spent five years with the Guelph Mercury and before that was at the Ottawa Citizen. He’s also done work for various magazines and CBC Radio.
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