History

From the beginning, religious and spiritual life has been integral to Yale.  Initially founded to train Christian ministers, even as the university’s focus widened, Yale had the first university church in the United States.  As the twentieth century began, Yale’s student body became more diverse: as a result of advocacy by Jewish and Catholic students who felt excluded by the institution’s Protestant focus, there was gradual recognition that one approach to spiritual and religious life would not fit all Yale students.  Chapel attendance stopped being mandatory in 1926, and in 1927, Yale appointed its first university chaplain to see to the spiritual needs of its students. By the 1930s, Yale’s student body was beginning to diversify, with the first openly agnostic, atheist and Buddhist students matriculating. The chaplain’s office recognized that they needed to serve a wider community than the protestants who had traditionally made up the student body, and began running the first specific programming for Jewish and Catholic students.

The university has continued to change through the decades, and the 21st century has seen a renewed focus on the diversity of spiritual life across campus. The Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu communities now have dedicated chaplains as well as spaces on Yale campus for worship and reflection. The university church has gone through further changes, becoming an ecumenical, student focused church. The Pastor of the University Church is no longer a title tied to University Chaplain, meaning that the University Chaplain can focus on the wider spiritual needs of all of campus: as a result, the University has had its first non-ordained University Chaplain with Sharon Kugler in 2006, and, in 2024, appointed Maytal Saltiel as its first Jewish University Chaplain.

In the nearly one hundred years since the chaplain’s office opened its doors, we have provided care, support, hospitality and counseling for Yale’s students.  As the makeup of the student body changes and diversifies, the way that the chaplaincy meets those needs has broadened and shifted, but the fundamental mission of care for the spiritual needs of the Yale community has remained the same.