After Father Joe Fenton retired as Catholic Priest in October 2024, the McAllister Center for Religious Activities is considering how to fill the vacancy. For the past few weeks, the center has been collecting feedback from 7C community members to decide whether to keep the role separate or to merge it with the Protestant Chaplaincy to create a unified Christian Chaplaincy.
Father Fenton served the McAlister Center as a chaplain for two decades. The Office of the Chaplains, housed within the McAlister Center, now has three chaplains: a Protestant minister, a Jewish rabbi and a Muslim imam.
According to the Claremont Colleges Service’s (TCCS) website, each chaplain works to support religious and spiritual student groups and communities on campus.
“The chaplains serve as confidential spiritual counselors and provide ethical leadership to the seven schools of The Claremont Colleges,” the website reads.
Rather than simply rehiring another Catholic priest, the Center is considering consolidating the Protestant and Catholic chaplaincies into a Christian chaplaincy and adding either a Dharmic or Humanist chaplain. A Dharmic chaplain would serve students of four major religions — Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism — while a Humanist chaplain would cater to nonreligious members of the 7Cs.
“While our existing chaplains strive to serve students of all religious backgrounds, we recognize from feedback that not every student feels fully included,” TCCS said in a press release to TSL. “The feedback process is intended to engage our community in the important decision of how to position the Chaplains best to fulfill this service.”
Some students have expressed concerns over the proposed Christian chaplaincy position, including Miguel Barrios CM ’27.
“For Catholics, it’s part of our Mass to be presided by a priest,” Barrios said. “I think a merger of a Protestant chaplaincy and a Catholic chaplaincy misses the point of what it means to practice each faith.”
He said the McAlister Center has historically served as a hub for Catholic students to practice their faith and bond.
“They do a lot of weekly programming for Catholic students — weekly dinners, retreats to Malibu and Catalina Island — all completely free,” Barrios said. “Having that safe space at McAlister to be around like-minded people meant a lot.”
Starting this semester, the McAlister Center has begun collecting feedback from 7C student governments on the potential replacement for the Catholic chaplaincy position. This month, they will begin conducting listening sessions with faculty, staff, alumni and community members.
“Once all feedback has been synthesized, a report will be considered for final approval,” TCCS said in the press release. “Although the timeline is aggressive, we aim to begin the search process by April and have the new chaplain(s) start by July 2025.”
On Feb. 6, TCCS Vice President for Student Affairs Stephanie Blaisdell and Protestant Chaplain Reverend Dr. Joel Daniels attended the Associated Students at Pomona College (ASPC) Senate to discuss the potential change with students. When asked why the center could not hire two part-time chaplains, they said it would be difficult to find candidates for the two half-time positions and more challenging logistically.
Students at the ASPC discussion suggested that the McAlister Center provide additional funding or support to religious communities without a dedicated chaplain.
Students also raised concerns about both proposed new chaplaincy positions. One student questioned whether a single Dharmic chaplain could represent four different, diverse religions. Another student argued that the Humanist chaplaincy position might be an unnecessary addition to the center, as there are already spaces on campus for non-religious students to explore spirituality.
In the meantime, the McAlister Center continues to host Catholic Mass every Sunday at 10 a.m. in McAlister Lounge, coordinated by a part-time unordained associate chaplain and supported by Holy Name of Mary Catholic Church in San Dimas.
“This work is supported by a grant from Pomona College to enhance student programming in the last few years,” TCCS said in the press release. “This arrangement ensures that our Catholic community remains actively supported despite the vacant Catholic chaplaincy position since October.”
Father Fenton’s retirement came as a shock to Barrios.
“I ran into the McAlister group at Our Lady of the Assumption [Church], and they said he had suddenly just retired — like, out of nowhere, he was not going to be giving homilies anymore,” Barrios said. “It was very sudden, from what I heard.”
Barrios said he fondly remembers Father Fenton, his homilies and his politics.
“I always really liked his homilies: They were definitely skewed in one way politically, [as] he was against the merger of church and state,” Barrios said. “I think he’s one of those rare, I would say heroic, individuals in the church that really maintains that church and state should be separate.”
Barrios said he hopes that a decision will consider the full needs of the student body.
“It would be amazing if we could, in addition to a Catholic chaplain, also hire a Dharmic chaplain,” Barrios said. “I think it would be very sad if we had to pick one or the other: if we [do], dozens of students across campus will feel like they’re losing their ability to practice their faith.”
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