The Hawk

Issue date: 5/10/08 Section: Features

When the Saint Joseph's University community officially migrates to the Maguire Campus in the coming years, students will be able to conduct meetings under sloping roofs of weathered copper, eat while staring up at a skylight at the base of a spire, or lounge while gazing out glass doors flanked by walls made of windows.

What these students will not see are rows of wooden pews that currently reside in three of the four wings that make up the building, the altar that sits on a stone square in its center, the stained glass Nativity scene that marks the main entrance to the building, or the large wooden cross that hangs from the center spire over the altar.

What they will not see is what the building currently is - a place of worship.

On June 6, Christ Chapel, the center for worship and focal point for The Episcopal Academy's Merion campus, will be officially secularized in preparation for Episcopal's move and St. Joe's acquisition of the building.

This process of secularization, similar to the deconsecration of Catholic spaces, will mark the building's final day as Christ Chapel and the beginning of its use as a student center for St. Joe's.

"Of all the things in terms of the move, this has been the most emotional tug on people," said James Squire, chaplain and chair of religion at Episcopal. "This is the most special place on campus."

Christ Chapel was consecrated on May 15, 1960. It was designed by architect Vincent G. Kling, who was an Episcopal parent and trustee at the time.

The building is modeled after a Greek cross, with four equal wings protruding from the sides of a center square.

Christ Chapel is the "signature building" on Episcopal's campus, Squire said, and is used frequently throughout the week, mainly for the school's mandatory Chapel Program. That program provides students with a "shared religious journey" and encourages dialogue about faith and religion, Squire explained.

In addition to the Chapel Program, the building is also used for concerts or lectures and even rehearsal space. But most significantly, it has been the site of countless funeral services and weddings and is the location for graduation every year.

It is a "place with really happy times as well as ultimate sorrow," said Squire.

For that reason, Squire finds it strange to think of Christ Chapel as a student congregational space.

The process of secularizing the chapel will be quite simple, Squire said.

First, the "utensils of the temple," which include the altar, a hanging wooden cross,

the organ, wooden memorial plaques, and a stained glass Nativity scene that is the main entrance to the building, will be removed from the chapel, Squire said. These items will not be secularized.

Then Squire, as well as other school and church officials, including Edward L. Lee, assisting bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Philadelphia, will begin a service from "The Book of Occasional Services 1994" that will officially secularize the building.

The service will last about 50 minutes, Squire said, and will, in essence, officially declare that Christ Chapel will no longer be used as a place of worship.

"The beauty of it is in the simplicity," said Squire of the service.

Once secularized, the building will be ready to be converted into "student support space," containing seating, rooms for meetings, lounging, and maybe eating, said Beverly Owsik, assistant to the vice president of administrative services at St. Joe's.

The building will make for an expansive student space, as it seats 700 people as a chapel now. Yet it is still a warm setting, providing people with "a sense of awe and intimacy," said Squire.

For the chapel on Episcopal's new campus in Newtown Square, Squire has made sure that Christ Chapel's intimate setting has been replicated, not only to produce the same effect for those who occupy it but also to ease the school community into its new campus.

Philadelphia architect Robert Venturi, a 1944 graduate of Episcopal and a 1991 winner of the Pritzker Prize in Architecture, designed the chapel on Episcopal's new campus.

In fact, Venturi's M.F.A. thesis at Princeton University, where he graduated in 1950, was a conceptual design for a chapel at Episcopal, according to Michael Letts, Episcopal's director of communications.

"Having one of our own build that chapel made that an easier pill to swallow," Letts said.

Now, with the secularization service only about a month away, Squire said he finds that Episcopal alumni are the most emotional about losing Christ Chapel.

"Christ Chapel is where I came to an understanding of God," said Albert Zug, Sr., Middle School chaplain.

A 1978 graduate of Episcopal Academy, Zug was married in the chapel and nine years ago returned to the school as Middle School chaplain. Though Christ Chapel has been an important place for Zug, both spiritually and emotionally, he is not bothered at all by St. Joe's planned renovations to it.

"I'm glad it's going to a school, and not only that, but a religious school," he said.

"I can't think of much better use for it then a place for students to gather."

For Zug, no matter how the chapel will be used in the future, it will always remain sacred space for him, whether or not the Episcopal Church recognizes it as such.

As for the students, the reality of the loss of the chapel will come later, said Squire.

"Not until we actually leave this campus and begin the new school year in Newtown Square will the students realize that they will not be worshiping in Christ Chapel, or learning on this campus ever again," he said. "That's not even on their radar right now."

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