 | Established 250 years ago in response to students request for a place of worship to call their own, the University Church today draws on a wide range of Christian traditions in its weekly services. |
The University Church in Yale, the oldest continuously operating college
church in the nation, will mark its 250th year with a series of events this
fall that will begin with a special anniversary service on Sunday, Oct. 7, featuring
renowned preacher Barbara Brown Taylor.
— By Dorie Baker
T H I S
University Church in Yale marks
250 years of tradition and reform
The worship service will take place at 10:30 a.m. in Battell Chapel, corner of
Elm and College streets. All are welcome.
An Episcopalian priest since 1984, Taylor has been described as one of the most
effective preachers in the English-speaking world. She teaches at Piedmont College
and at Columbia Theological Seminary, both in Georgia. Before becoming a full-time
teacher, Taylor spent 15 years in parish ministry. In recent years, she has
lectured at Yale, Princeton and Duke universities, and has preached at churches
across the country. She is the author of 11 books, including “When God
is Silent,” “Home By Another Way” and “Leaving Church:
A Memoir of Faith,” which received the 2006 award for Best General Interest
Book from the Association of Theological Booksellers.
The Oct. 7 service will also feature the debut of a hymn by Thomas Troeger, the
J. Edward and Ruth Cox Lantz Professor of Christian Communication at Yale Divinity
School, as well as a choir concert. A reception will follow.
Other 250th anniversary events will include an exhibition on the history of the
church in the nave of Sterling Memorial Library and a choir concert featuring
past and former University organists performing music of the church’s history.
Details on those events will be announced.
Tradition and reform
Throughout its history, the University Church has mixed tradition with reform.
The president and fellows of Yale established the church in 1757 in response
to a petition from students and tutors demanding a place of worship to call their
own. This generated some controversy at the time, as previously only associations
of local Congregational ministers had the power to establish a church, engage
a preacher and authorize the celebration of the sacraments.
Two years later, to accommodate the needs of an ever-growing student body, ground
was broken for First Chapel, a building that was completed in 1763 and later
became known as the Atheneum. By 1820, the booming interest and involvement in
the church made necessary the construction of the Second Chapel, which was completed
four years later. The church moved to its current home in Battell Chapel in 1876.
The building, a memorial to those who fell in the Civil War, was considered the
most beautiful college chapel of its day, and is still renowned for its Victorian
Gothic architecture.
First Chapel, completed in 1763 and shown here in an historic drawing next to the original Yale College building, was the first building to serve as home of the University Church. It moved to Second Chapel in 1824 and to its current home in Battell Chapel in 1876.
Throughout the church’s history, ministers from a wide array of Christian
traditions — including Episcopalian, Congregational, Presbyterian, Lutheran
and Baptist — have served as pastors to the church. Some of the most renowned
preachers and leaders of the 20th century have preached at the church, including
the late William Sloane Coffin, who as Yale chaplain fostered a mission of social
and political justice in the church, as well as Marion Wright Edelman, Desmond
Tutu and Reinhold Niebuhr.
Yale students were required to attend daily chapel services for the first 170
years of the church’s history. That ended in 1927, when the student body
could no longer fit into the space of Battell Chapel, and the position of Yale
chaplain was created to ensure that students retained a sense of religious duty.
The Yale chaplain also served as pastor of the University Church until last spring,
when the University appointed Roman Catholic laywoman Sharon Kugler as Yale chaplain,
and the pastorate of the University Church became a separate post. This change
reflected the fact that the Yale Chaplain’s Office, in response to the
wider array of religious traditions on campus, has grown more multi-faith in
focus while the University Church continues the strong tradition of Christian
worship.
The church today
Today, worship at the University Church is ecumenical, drawing on the wealth
of many Christian traditions and denominations. Similarly, the music in the church,
led by the University Church Choir, includes a range of traditional, contemporary
and global hymns, anthems and instrumental music. Worship services are held at
10:30 a.m. on Sunday year-round, with Holy Communion celebrated on the first
and third Sundays of each month. Evening Prayer is also held at 9:15 p.m. on
Wednesdays during the academic term in Dwight Chapel, 63 High St.
The University Church also sponsors a number of programs designed to foster leadership,
fellowship, friendship and service among students.
The current pastor of the church is Martha Highsmith, who also serves as deputy
secretary of the University. Noting that the church’s founders could not
have imagined the extent of the transformation of religious life on campus, she
adds, “The church continues to serve as a faithful witness of the Christian
faith as lived out in an ever-changing world.”
The University Church serves all members of the Yale community and the surrounding
area. Highsmith says, “You will find a warm welcome, whether you are here
for a single Sunday, a semester, a college career or a lifetime.”
For further information about the University Church in Yale, visit www.yale.edu/chaplain/church; call (203) 432-2675; or send e-mail to church@yale.edu. 
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Campus Notes
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