Center for Religious and Spiritual Life records

The Rev. Edward Duffield Neill, the founder of Macalester College, was a Presbyterian minister. He believed that a college education was incomplete without exposure to the Christian faith, so he founded Macalester as a Christian college, gaining the financial support of wealthy Presbyterians and the Synod of Minnesota. Macalester continued to have a strong relationship with the Synod for many years and would regularly report to the Synod about how the college was integrating religious education into the lives of the students.

The Chaplain’s Office, which is now known as the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life (CRSL), held a variety of responsibilities. The office would lead worship services, organize events, support religious student organizations, and assist individual students in their relationship with faith. Today, a lot of these responsibilities remain the same, but with a focus on interfaith ministry.

For many years, all Macalester students were expected to fulfill certain religious requirements, including attending the weekly chapel services and taking courses about religion. In the 1960s, these requirements started to change as Macalester’s relationship with the church began to shift. Many campus discussions began to focus on pluralism as students were coming from increasingly diverse faith backgrounds. The chapel attendance requirement was eliminated, as well as the requirement that two thirds of the Board of Trustees be members of the Presbyterian Church.

The Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel opened its doors in 1969, a gift of the F.T. Weyerhaeuser family. The building’s unique layout was designed by Dewey Thorbeck, a local architect who is a professor at the University of Minnesota and director for their Center for Rural Design (taken from CRSL website). Amid discussions of the college’s evolving relationship with the church, having a physical space dedicated to the religious life of the college raised even more questions. There was much debate about what kinds of events and groups should be allowed to use the chapel.

The CRSL has supported a variety of student organizations over the years, including the Macalester College Christian Movement (MCCM), Macalester Jewish Organization (MJO), a Roman Catholic Student Group, Project Reconciliation (a group with the goal to establish dialogue within context of Christian and educational institutions), Kurios House (a Christian “coffee house”), and the Macalester Draft Information Group.

Historical note by: Ivy Coldren