A Thumbnail History of Campus Religious Life
Was religious life at Mount Holyoke always organized as it has been the last
few years? Definitely not. Here's a quick look at the way things used to
be:
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In the College's earliest years, Mary Lyon herself conducted daily religious
services, and students attended the South Hadley First Congregational Church
on Sundays.
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Students met daily with an instructor for prayer until 1887.
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When the chapel was built in 1897, worship moved onto campus.
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Sunday chapel attendance was compulsory for students until November 1959,
when trustees made attendance optional and named the first dean of the chapel.
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A dean of the chapel oversaw campus religious life from 1960 until a 1991
reorganization suspended that position and appointed three part-time chaplains
(Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic) instead. The campus has also had a Catholic
chaplain since 1985 and a Jewish chaplain since 1988.
-
An interim dean of the chapel has been appointed for the 1997-98 academic
year.
![[Index]](../index3.gif)