The records of St. Mary Student Parish are divided into seven series: (1) St. Mary Chapel administrative files; (2) Gabriel Richard Center records; (3) Newman Club records; (4) Topical files; (5) Newsletters; (6) Photographs, Scrapbooks, and Albums; and (7) 2011-2014 Accessions.
St. Mary Student Chapel (now Parish) of the Immaculate Conception (Ann Arbor) traces its origin to 1914 when the auxiliary bishop of Detroit appointed Father Michael Patrick Bourke to begin organizing a separate congregation for Catholic students attending the University of Michigan. Catholic students on campus at that time numbered approximately 600, and it was felt time to provide a facility for their "religious welfare." The first site of the chapel was the Morris property on the southwest corner of Jefferson and State streets which had been secured on March 26, 1915. The Morris home was soon inadequate to meet the needs of the growing Catholic student population, and thus a fund-raising program for the construction of a new building was initiated. Owing to a decision of the University's Board of Regents in 1922 under their power of "eminent domain" to condemn the proposed site of the chapel for state use, Father Bourke, who had been appointed chaplain of the "University Chapel" on April 12, 1919, was forced to secure a second site on which to build. With the money raised, he subsequently purchased a parcel of land on the northeast corner of William and Thompson streets for the sum of 29 thousand dollars. Construction of the chapel began in July 1923 and was completed on April 7, 1924, with the laying of the cornerstone. The Student Chapel was officially dedicated on February 29, 1925.
A Newman Club was organized at the Chapel in 1930. Taking its name from the famous English Catholic theologian of the 19th century, the first Newman Club had originated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1893 and soon spread westward. The purpose of the Club at the University of Michigan was "to sponsor the educational and social phases of the Chapel program." The club at the University was reorganized in the mid-1930s, and the first meeting of the modern Newman Club was held on January 23, 1938. On March 5, 1939, the Club began the publication of its bulletin, the Chapel Chronicle.
The subsequent growth of the Newman Club made necessary the building of a facility which could both serve as a student center and as the home of the Newman activities. The Father Gabriel Richard Center was the inspiration of Father Frank J. McPhillip, who coordinated a highly successful nation-wide fundraising campaign among Catholic alumni of the University. The building was formally dedicated November 22, 1953. The Newman Club was subsequently renamed the Newman Student Association. The Association sponsors distinguished speakers, organizes community dinners, religious classes, and takes on a variety of social action projects.
