Welcome!

The University Chaplain provides interfaith services and programs and serves as an umbrella for all religious life on all campuses. The University Chaplain works cooperatively with the Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and Muslim Chaplains and administers Goddard Chapel and the Interfaith Center, 58 Winthrop St. as university facilities. Special support is provided for traditions not represented by Chaplains, like Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.The University Chaplain also reaches beyond traditional religious groups to address concerns in all aspects of university endeavor and in relations with surrounding communities. This includes teaching, community service, counseling, helping to address ethical and spiritual concerns for Tufts. The University Chaplaincy upholds the Universalist tradition and commitment to inclusivity.The Interfaith Center is located at 58 Winthrop St. For information regarding policies and reservation form for the Center, please consult our reservation form for students, our reservation form for non-students, or for further information, please call 617-627-3427.

We in the Chaplaincy just completed a wonderful year here at Tufts University.  We congratulate the classes of 2013.  We are committed to a rich inner life, dynamic worship, meaningful communal education and fellowship, critical spiritual thinking, profound ethical reflection, and active engagement with the issues and needs of our time.  We hope you enjoy the summer.

I Am Graduating Too . . .

Baccalaureate and Commencement are over and my time as University Chaplain, ad Interim, is almost here.  I feel as if I am graduating with the Class of 2013.  For my time on the hill, I want to say “thank you.”  I am very grateful for the opportunity to have served as Interim University Chaplain.  I have loved working with our Chaplains, Naila Baloch, Lynn Cooper, Rachael Pettengill-Rasure and Rabbi Jeffrey Summit, as well as our Designated Advisors.  I am especiall thankful for Linda Karpowich and Laura Manion with whom I have worked so closely on a daily basis.  They are all the best!

Working with students from our Student Religious Groups and specifically with the students on the Interfaith Advisory Council has been very rewarding.  And engaging in programs and conversations with faculty and staff and visiting lecturers has been a real gift.  We have addressed important and sometimes controversial issues of spiritual, moral and ethical significance.  We have sung and celebrated together.  We have reached out to the community after the Marathon Bombings.

The work of each of our Student Religious Groups has enriched life on the Medford campus.

As I move on, I return to writing a book that has been on hold since I came to Tufts.  I am very pleased to welcome the Rev. Greg McGonigle as our new Univesrity Chaplain.  He begins his work here on July 1st, and we are all very excited about his coming and all he has to offer this University.

Sincerely – Patricia Budd Kepler

A Message from President Monaco:

Dear Students and Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the appointment of The Reverend Gregory McGonigle as Tufts’ next University Chaplain. Greg is currently the Director of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life at Oberlin College, where he has served with distinction since 2008. His appointment was unanimously recommended to me by a university-wide Search Committee that oversaw a rigorous national search process. I am grateful to the members of the Search Committee for their service and to the many other students, faculty, and staff who took part in this successful search process.

The University Chaplain advances the educational mission as well as the vision of the University by promoting the spiritual, moral, and ethical development of members of the Tufts community and, through leadership of the University Chaplaincy, supports religious and spiritual life on all three campuses. I agree with the Search Committee that Greg is uniquely qualified to provide strategic leadership of the Chaplaincy. At Oberlin, he has led the  transformation and revitalization of the Office of Religious Life into a vibrant multifaith program, creating new opportunities for interfaith dialogue and developing new programs to educate the college community about current events and issues in religion and ethics and to promote the knowledge and appreciation of religious
communities.

Greg impressed the Search Committee and other interviewers with both his commitment and his vision. His accomplishments at Oberlin include programs to support under-resourced campus spiritual communities as well as collaborative programming with campus offices responsible for health and wellness, multicultural affairs, residential life, and service learning.

He has also taught in Oberlin’s Experimental College on topics including religions, genders, and sexualities and interfaith engagement and leadership.

Greg received his A.B. magna cum laude from Brown University with a concentration in Religious Studies, focusing on South Asian religions, and his M.Div. From Harvard Divinity School, where he designed his ministerial education specifically for academic chaplaincy. He is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, and prior to his work at Oberlin he served as a campus minister for four years at the University of California at Davis.

We have been very fortunate to have superb leadership by The Reverend Patricia Budd Kepler as University Chaplain ad interim since the beginning of 2012. Pat will continue in this role until Greg joins Tufts at the beginning of July. I hope you will join me in welcoming Greg to the Tufts community, and in thanking the many students, faculty, and staff who have contributed their insights to our visioning exercises and the subsequent search process.

Best wishes,

Tony Monaco

Goddard Chapel is open:

Mondays – Thursdays from 9 AM - 5 PM and on Fridays from 9 AM - 2 PM.

Interfaith Center, 58 Winthrop St., is open:

Only for scheduled events.

Religious Holy Day Observances when Classes are in Session: 2012/2013

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the people in Moore, Oklahoma, and their extended families and friends during this time of tragic loss.  May strength be with those who are helping others and working in the aftermath.  We ask for healing for those who are hospitalized and wounded.”  Rev. Patricia Budd Kepler