History and Mission

History

St. Philip Neri House was established by the Archdiocese of Toronto in the fall of 1998 as the Catholic chaplaincy for Ryerson Polytechnic University. After a brief and busy preparation period, the first Mass was offered in the chapel on January 6, 1999.

In taking its place in the life of this educational community, St. Philip Neri House journeys down a well-traveled path. The establishment of a Catholic presence on secular university campuses is a mission taken very seriously by the Church. We are guided by her counsels in such documents as The Presence of the Church in the University and in University Culture, issued in 1994 by the Congregation for Catholic Education.

As St. Philip Neri House defines its role in this particular university, it can also benefit from the many successful models of well-established chaplaincies, both local and world-wide, whose programs and thriving liturgical life are testimony to the great potential of the campus apostolate.

With such abundant possibility, there might be some question as to where to start. The answer is simple enough: "Every work of the Church begins in prayer."

Mission

The primary mission of St. Philip Neri House is sacramental. The call to holiness precedes and directs the engagement of the faithful Catholic with the world. Our first commitment has been to make available on the campus daily Mass, confession, and spiritual direction.

The chaplaincy supports a full range of educational and service programmes, many of them in conjuction with the Ryerson Catholic Students League.

Catechism and Bible study
"Let's Talk" dinner and discussion night
"Faith and Work" Catholic speaker series
Street Patrol: food for the homeless
Missionaries of Charity after-school tutoring
Pilgrimage to Martyrs' Shrine
World Youth Days
Annual Mission to Jamaica

Dedication

Photo of Chiesa Nuova, the first Oratory Church. The Catholic chaplaincy at Ryerson is named for St. Philip Neri, 16th-century founder of the Congregation of the Oratory (whose Toronto house provides our chaplains). In a Rome which was still reeling from foreign invasion and the rupture of the Reformation, St. Philip's influence was felt so profoundly in the streets and households of the city that he was honoured with the epithet once reserved for St. Paul--he became known as the new "Apostle of Rome."

This he achieved through a singular combination of charitable service to those in need, and an equally active spiritual life--a life of prayer and meditation, solitary and communal, intensely engaging both heart and mind.

Photo: Chiesa Nuova, the first Oratory Church.

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