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Campus Catholicism Is Having a Moment

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When John Phillips got his acceptance letter to Harvard College, he almost said “no.” Having attended only Catholic schools in suburban Illinois, Mr. Phillips said, “I was worried I wouldn’t be able to grow my faith in a secular environment.” Harvard was founded in 1636 to educate Puritan clergy, but long ago abandoned its Christian identity and its foundation of classical curriculum. Yet soon after Mr. Phillips set foot on the Ivy League campus in 2022, he met students who were equally committed to Catholicism, while pursuing hard classes and ambitious extracurriculars. “I saw a community I could be part of,” he said. Now president of the Harvard Catholic Center, Mr. Phillips has seen the Catholic presence on campus take on a life of its own. This fall, the Catholic Center and its affiliated parish, St. Paul’s, boast 80 people seeking to formally enter the church. That’s double the number from last year and “our largest class ever, by a wide margin,” said Fr. Nathaniel Sanders, 34, Ha

Members of Princeton’s Catholic campus ministry on May 16, 2025. Photo: Luis Andres Henao/Associated Press When John Phillips got his acceptance letter to Harvard College, he almost said “no.” Having attended only Catholic schools in suburban Illinois, Mr. Phillips said, “I was worried I wouldn’t be able to grow my faith in a secular environment.” Harvard was founded in 1636 to educate Puritan clergy, but long ago abandoned its Christian identity and its foundation of classical curriculum. Yet soon after Mr. Phillips set foot on the Ivy League campus in 2022, he met students who were…

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