Chaplaincy
History of the Chaplaincy
(Celebrating 100 years, 2009-2010)
The charter of the new Queen’s University of Belfast, founded under the Irish Universities Act of 1908, made provision for the nomination by the various churches, of clergy who were to be known as Deans of Residence (now known as Chaplains). It was declared in the act that the new university was to be a secular one which would neither extend favour to or withhold it from any denomination. The first Catholic Dean of Residence was the Rev. J.P. Clenaghan who held the position from 1909-1913.
Due to the small number of Catholics at the University and its part time nature, the post was not an onerous one. In 1941 the Rev. Michael Kelly was appointed and being a man of vision who foresaw the post war boom in education, he asked the then Bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Mageean, for the use of a house in Fitzwilliam Street, as a base for himself and the Catholic community at Queen’s.
The first house was such a success, that over time, the neighbouring three houses were bought and the four knocked into one.
His successor, the Rev. Patrick Walsh, arranged for the purchase of six houses in Elmwood Avenue, which belonged to Queens, in return for the four houses in Fitzwilliam Street (the present Guthrie House) plus a cash payment.
The original plan was for a Chapel in the rear gardens with the houses themselves being knocked into one. The latter proved an impossibility for practical reasons and so the present Chaplaincy building was designed and opened in 1972 by Bishop Philbin with Rev. Ambrose Macaulay as Chaplain.
