Student volunteers pause for a photo at the Empty Bowls & Baskets Dinner and Auction.

St. Bonaventure University

University Ministries


University Ministries welcomes students of all religious affiliations to participate in a variety of opportunities for spiritual growth, service learning, social action and community building.

Pictured_The McGinley-Carney CenterAs the nation's first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure affirms the unique dignity of every person and invites everyone into a community of  acceptance and understanding. All are welcome here.

University Ministries is the focal point for forging these loving bonds of belonging, and for extending this sense of community beyond our campus borders. We strive to share God's unconditional love, particularly with marginalized populations — the needy, ignored and excluded.

We're located in the McGinley-Carney Center for Franciscan Ministry (pictured), located in the center of campus. Opened in 2017, the center houses offices, an interdenominational prayer tower, a great room for student gatherings, and kitchen facilities.

We are committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside of the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship.

Our liturgical life, centered around Sunday Eucharist, invites all members of the Bonaventure community to join in various liturgical ministries and many prayer opportunities.

Franciscan Center for Social Concern


Your hub for service-learning, whether it's feeding the hungry, befriending a child, or visiting with a senior citizen. Be a leader in service to others.

The FCSC

Mt. Irenaeus


The resident friars of this Franciscan community near campus welcome all to relax, hike, garden, sit and talk, or share a home-cooked meal. A special ministry, a special place.

Mt. Irenaeus

Faith formation, worship & ministry


We invite all into the life of the Catholic Church, with liturgical programs, sacraments, worship experiences and opportunities for spiritual growth.

Faith, worship & ministry

Mass Card Requests


Mass intentions to honor the living and remember the deceased may be ordered online.

A donation to the Franciscan Friars of $15 is suggested for each Mass intention requested. We can accept up to two intentions for each Mass.

During the academic year, the Franciscan friars offer daily Mass at 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Great Room of the McGinley-Carney Center for Franciscan Ministries. Sunday Masses are offered in the University Chapel at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.

You may choose from a selection of cards and make your donation online. (Card #1 is the Mass card for deceased; Cards # 2 and 3 are Mass cards for the living). We will send you a confirmation with the date that the Mass will be offered, and, if you desire, we will inform people in the university community.

We welcome your Mass requests.

For questions or more information, please email Brian Negron or call him at (716) 375-2662.

Order Mass cards online


News-Publications-Research- Banner

Pandemic can’t suppress generosity of St. Joe’s students as they make 39th Warming House delivery

Dec 18, 2020

Even in the face of extraordinary challenges, the young men at St. Joe’s always deliver.

students unload boxesFor the 39th year in a row, students from St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute in Buffalo delivered a truckload full of non-perishable food items and paper products to the Warming House, St. Bonaventure University’s soup kitchen on North Union Street in Olean.

A global pandemic wasn’t going to stop the school from celebrating the 50th anniversary of the St. Joe’s Food Basket. The Warming House, which started receiving donations from St. Joe’s in 1982, is the primary beneficiary of the school’s annual food drive.

This annual Christmastime donation is the largest donation of non-perishables the Warming House receives each year.

“We simply couldn’t operate without their generosity,” said Alice Miller Nation, director of SBU’s Franciscan Center for Social Concern. “And this year, with the financial hardship caused by the pandemic driving even more people to the Warming House, their donation is more important than ever.”

More than two dozen young men from St. Joe’s took less than an hour Friday morning to unload boxes containing more than 11,000 items. 

plaque presentation

Afterward, they were treated to a socially distant lunch in the parking lot behind the Warming House.

University President Dr. Dennis DePerro presented St. Joe’s social studies teacher Michael Stewart, a co-moderator of the Food Basket, with a plaque commemorating the golden anniversary of the Food Basket. The plaque also thanked St. Joe’s for being the “lifeblood of the Warming House operation” for almost 40 years.

In 1970, St. Joe’s religion teacher Chuck Ende and a group of St. Joe’s students began collecting food donations for those in need. That first year, Ende said the collections fit in the trunk of his car. When Ende retired in 2007, students that year had “collected 60,000 food items, enough to fill three trucks.”

This year, given the challenge of collecting donations, St. Joe’s asked its alumni to assist in the collection by either dropping the items off at the school, or utilizing an Amazon Wish List to send boxes of non-perishables directly to the Warming House. Boxes have been arriving for the last two weeks at University Ministries to supplement what the students delivered Friday.

The Warming House is the oldest student-run soup kitchen in the nation.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. In 2020, St. Bonaventure was named the #2 regional university value in New York and #3 in the North by U.S. News and World Report.