A Brief History of Catholic Campus Ministry
Beginning in 1946

     In 1946 a group of college students from SMSU got together and with the help of Father William Rochford from Saint Agnes Cathedral, established the first Springfield chapter of the Newman Club.  Drury College (as it was known in those days) formed its chapter one year later.  Approximately 51 students were in these first two chapters and formed the beginning of the two campuses with a vibrant ministry serving the students

      The ministry has seen many different locations over the past 50 plus years.  Beginning in 1946 in a house near St. Agnes Cathedral, the students went from house to house including the "Newman Hall" at 821 South Kings and 648-662 South Florence.  In 1966 the Ecumenical Center was built on the SMSU campus, which is where the ministry held its weekly Masses.  The "Ec Center," as it was often called, was the ministry's center at SMSU and was a link to some other Christian denominations.

     The Claretian Presence appeared on Campus in 1979 with Father Dan Drinan and later was followed by Father Len Brown (currently Director of CCM) and Father Ron Stua.  Other Claretians, as well, came through for shorter ministerial terms.

The Ecumenical Center
"The Ec Center"
housed Catholic Campus Ministry
and several other 
Christian campus ministries.

     In 1989, the Catholic Campus Ministry moved to its last home - the Nancy McGregor House (847 South Holland), where it remained until 2001.  The O'Reilly Catholic Student Center was built in 2000-2001 due to the growth CCM experiences.  The Ministry's student body had outgrown the limited space at the Nancy McGregor House, and also because the Masses at the Ecumenical Center were overcrowded.

     Today, CCM has a student body that exceeds 5,000 students.  While the majority of these students attends SMSU, the Drury students are also an important part of the CCM population.  In addition to these two campuses, Ozarks Technical Community College is also now served by the Ministry.

The Nancy McGregor House
847 South Holland

Note the apartment buildings
to the left.  These were torn
down to provide land
for the new
O'Reilly Catholic Student Center
and the Chapel 
of the Claretian Martyrs.

Mary Weaver (Sweeney) was among the first college students to join the Newman Club.  She has memories to share which will be printed here in the near future. It was here that she met her future husband, Jack Sweeney.  

This was Mary's official "membership card" for the Newman Club for the school year 1946-1947.

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