The Roman Catholic Church at RPI began as a Newman Association with a faculty advisor in 1907. ("Newman Associations" and "Newman Centers" are often used to designate Catholic campus ministry centers at state and other non-Catholic universities; they take their names from Cardinal Newman). In 1914, a part-time chaplain was assigned to RPI by the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. In 1936, Monsignor William M. Slavin was appointed as the first Resident Catholic Chaplain at RPI, serving the entire campus community. He was succeeded in that position by Reverend Thomas W. Phelan in 1959.
