{"id":66,"date":"2026-06-05T16:02:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T16:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1780589268c64710e0c73c81d5.temporary.link\/?page_id=66"},"modified":"2026-06-05T16:02:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T16:02:27","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/1780589268c64710e0c73c81d5.temporary.link\/index.php\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Fr. Tom Phelan arrived at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute<\/a> in 1959,<\/strong> Catholic Masses were only available to RPI students monthly. As the demand for Masses, religious formation, and activities grew under Fr. Phelan\u2019s leadership, it became clear that a permanent home was needed for the Catholic community. Together with a dedicated group of faculty and staff from the Institute, a plan was formed to build a chapel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But not just a chapel! Fr. Phelan\u2019s vision for the new facility, in keeping the Church\u2019s desire to engage more deeply with the modern world in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, was to build a facility that would bring to RPI rich experiences of the art as well as opportunities for community building and faith formation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to support the construction of the new Chapel + Cultural Center<\/a>, and to provide for its on-going work, the Rensselaer Newman Foundation<\/a> was chartered as an independent non-profit educational foundation in the state of New York. The RNF continues that mission today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1971 the Diocese of Albany established the university parish of Christ Sun of Justice<\/a> as a \u201cpersonal\u201d parish, serving that people of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and its environs. Fr. Phelan was installed as the first pastor of the parish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its inception, the Rensselaer Newman Foundation has provided a chaplain to RPI, who also serves as the leader of the Christ Sun of Justice parish. For nearly 30 years, Fr. Ed Kacerguis served as chaplain and pastor until his retirement in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For much of our history, the Rensselaer Newman Foundation and the parish were essentially co-terminus, supporting the same mission and utilizing the same facilities and the same staff. In 2019 the Diocese of Albany asked that the parish and foundation be separated. Christ Sun of Justice was separately incorporated in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout our history, the Rensselaer Catholic community has been blessed with visionary leadership, and a unique collaborative relationship with the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Its singular mission and the unique architecture of its home represent what generations of RPI students, faculty, and staff have come to appreciate as a special synthesis of arts, culture, community, and faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Fr. Tom Phelan arrived at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1959, Catholic Masses were only available to RPI students monthly. As the demand for Masses, religious formation, and activities grew under Fr. Phelan\u2019s leadership, it became clear that a permanent home was needed for the Catholic community. Together with a dedicated group of faculty and staff from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-66","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1780589268c64710e0c73c81d5.temporary.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1780589268c64710e0c73c81d5.temporary.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1780589268c64710e0c73c81d5.temporary.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1780589268c64710e0c73c81d5.temporary.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1780589268c64710e0c73c81d5.temporary.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/1780589268c64710e0c73c81d5.temporary.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67,"href":"https:\/\/1780589268c64710e0c73c81d5.temporary.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/66\/revisions\/67"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1780589268c64710e0c73c81d5.temporary.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}