New Catholic Center chapel opens on Walnut Place
A dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony took place Wednesday night to officially open the new chapel at the Catholic Center on Walnut Place. Efforts to expand the center were driven by the need to create more space for a growing number of attendees. Christian Calabrese | Asst. Photo Editor
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Now on the corner of Walnut Place and East Adams Street sits a new Syracuse University Catholic Center chapel with high ceilings, a wooden altar and sanctuary, stained glass windows and more.
Noah Jackson, co-chair of the Catholic Student Association’s ministry board, said the new chapel’s architecture and design will bring a “different feel” to mass.
SU community members gathered for the new St. Thomas More Chapel dedication and ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening on Wednesday. SU Chancellor Kent Syverud, Professor of Practice Ruth Chen and Father Gerry Waterman, the Catholic Chaplain at Hendricks Chapel, held the evening ceremony to welcome the new chapel, which has been in progress since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over 150 attendees, including members of the Board of Trustees, other university leaders, Franciscans, staff and students came to see the new chapel for the first time.
Diocese of Syracuse Bishop Douglas Lucia blessed the chapel as a Catholic space of worship, splashing the walls with holy water during the dedication.
Financial support for the project came from the university and community donors, said Julie Labich, executive director of advancement for Hendrick’s Chapel. Some of the most notable contributors are SU alumnus Daniel D’Aniello and his wife, Gayle.
Efforts to expand and renovate the center began before COVID-19 and were driven by the need to create more space for the growing number of students attending mass, Waterman said.
Other donors supported specific parts of the chapel, placing named plaques and dedications, Labich said.
SU alumnus William Gilberti Jr. contributed to the creation of a marble baptismal in front of the altar to honor his wife, who died from COVID-19 in 2023.
“I was very moved when I was asked if we would be the benefactors of something that brings new life into the world,” Gilberti said. “The thought of every child over the next 100 years or more, being baptized, and that font being there in honor of my wife was something that completed the circle that I’ve been going through since she passed.”
The chapel is located where the previous St. Thomas More House once stood.
Christian Calabrese | Asst. Photo Editor
The center’s Student Engagement Coordinator and SU alumnus Jack Rose used to live in the house, which provided housing for students who frequented the Catholic Center. Before the building was demolished in 2024, Rose kept a brick from the structure, which he showed attendees during a speech.
He said he had some of his best memories there, but described the new chapel as an “even more wonderful thing.”
“The Catholic Center is a people more than it is a place, so if they have the space where they can recharge, grow, share and then go out and spread that energy and kindness with the other people on campus, then it’s for the better,” Rose said.
Several attendees, including Rose, agreed that the renovation and expansion make the center feel like a more religious space rather than just another building. The new crosstower now rises above the chapel with a green-lit cross.
“There’s a beacon of light on the corner of East Adams and Walnut Park that is very tall and great, and I think that everybody can see it,” Waterman said.
A former chaplain told Waterman he could see the chapel’s crosstower from far away and sensed a stronger Catholic presence.
Gilberti, who regularly attends mass at the center and engages with community members, said he’s seen the number of students visiting the center “quadruple” over the past few years.
“The Chancellor used to come to mass here and he said there were probably 10 or 20 students at the 10:30 mass, now there are 180 students,” Waterman said.
Jackson said he’s met several students and community members at the center and hopes the new chapel will welcome more people from all over.
“The Catholic Center is here to be a safe space and haven for students, so being able to see the fruits of what the Catholic Center brings is important,” Jackson said. “Part of what the chapel does is allow space for students to have to pray, and also meet community and have friends.”
Gilberti linked the rising number of students at the Catholic Center to a “need for community” among younger generations, and said he hopes the new space will be a “beacon” for positive change.
“There’s also a feeling of need for slowing down vitriol, hatred and hate speech, and coming together more, and so I think the Catholic Center will be a beacon of that happening,” Gilberti said.
The expansion of the center to include the chapel is only the first part of a bigger project, Labich said. The center plans to renovate the Theta Phi Alpha Community Hall, a multipurpose space opposite the chapel.
