The University of Denver and the Methodist Church are not alone in trying to rebuild religious relationship on campus. A similar effort is underway at Niagara University, founded by a Catholic order.
“The religious demographics of student bodies at Catholic universities are very diverse,” said Jeff Klein, campus minister for Niagara University located in upstate New York.
Niagara is similar to DU in a number of ways – it is a religiously-founded private school, founded just 10 years before DU, with an undergraduate student body of 2,500. The yearly total tuition also adds up to more than $20,000.
During the 1970s and 1980s, cultural differences and feelings of “against the institution” decreased the involvement of the churches on religious institutions. Niagara has also found the last 20-30 years a challenge to traditions and religious identity.
“Most, if not all, Catholic schools in the nation are struggling with the issue of Catholic identity,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a huge issue for Niagara, but it certainly is a factor in some issues. The main question is usually some variation of the following: how does a Catholic university retain its identity as a Catholic institution while respecting the diversity of its community?”
The Niagara Campus Ministry sponsors numerous events on campus, similar to the University Park United Methodist Church’s Project DU, an outreach program to involve DU students in religious studies and community awareness. The Niagara Campus Ministry sponsors retreats, volunteer opportunities, Bible studies and events to raise awareness about poverty and other social justice issues.
The chapel at Niagara, however, is the primary parish on campus and is not affiliated with a nearby community church, as the University Park UMC is with DU. The chapel at Niagara is headed by a diocesan priest who acts as vicar for campus ministry.
The Catholic faith is a bigger part of student life at Niagara than the Methodist religion in the DU campus. Students are required to take religious courses as part of their program of study. They choose between Introduction to Religion and Introduction to Christianity to begin, and then follow up with two higher level religion electives as part of the general curriculum requirements.
There is also a mass during freshman orientation, and a baccalaureate mass on the day before graduation.
The original staff at Niagara was clergy and religious figures, but the Catholic influence at the university has stayed stronger through the past century. Forty-one percent of students are registered Catholics, although Klein says several students choose not to respond to that part of the questionnaire, and puts the number closer to 60 percent.
DU has a four-branch system of Methodist influence on administration – the chancellor, the president of the Iliff School of Theology, the regional Methodist bishop, and the reverend of the University Park UMC.
