Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel marks 75th anniversary with weekend of celebration

Monday, October 17, 2005, By News Staff

Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel marks 75th anniversary with weekend of celebrationOctober 17, 2005Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

For 75 years, Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel has done much more than nourish the spiritual lives of the members of the University community. It has been the site of some of the University’s most significant events and teachable moments. From its construction in 1930, when it was dedicated to promoting the moral and spiritual welfare of students, the chapel has become an inclusive spiritual and social resource for the University and the community at large.

The chapel was where the anti-war protests of the 1960s took place, and where the University community gathered seek solace following the devastating tragedies of the bombing of Pam Am 103 and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Over the years, the chapel has been the setting for visits by distinguished speakers such as poet Robert Frost, religious and social activist figures such as the Dalai Lama, Eleanor Roosevelt, Elie Weisel and James Baldwin, as well as politicians, scientists, economists and other scholars.

The University community will welcome alumni and community members to campus on the weekend of Nov. 4-6 to mark the chapel’s milestone anniversary and to rededicate and recommit the chapel to its vision for the future.

“The chapel’s richest resources through the years have been its many relationships and collaborations on and off campus,” says the Rev. Thomas V. Wolfe, dean of Hendricks Chapel. “This weekend celebrates the many individuals and groups who, working together, have made the chapel what it is today. In that spirit, we look to the future.”

The celebration includes the following events that are open to the public. All are free except the Saturday banquet. Parking will be available in the Irving Garage for Friday and Sunday’s events. Parking for Saturday’s events is noted below. More information is available from the Hendricks Chapel Dean’s Office, (315) 443-2901, orat http://hendricks.syr.edu.

The anniversary activities will begin on Wednesday, Nov. 2. The Rev. Richard Phillips, dean emeritus of Hendricks Chapel, will discuss his co-authored book, “Hendricks Chapel: Seventy-five Years of Service to Syracuse University” (Syracuse University Press, 2005), at 4 p.m. in the main chapel. Books will be available for purchase following the discussion.

The weekend’s events include the following:

Friday, Nov. 4

  • A symposium on “The University Student: Learning and Living a Legacy of Civic Engagement,” sponsored by Students Offering Service, will be held from 10-11:30 a.m. in the Noble Room. The conversation, fostered by seven panelists who are alumni of SU, will offer perspectives on the critical intersections of scholarship and civic engagement.
  • The annual Convocation for Remembrance Scholars will be held at 3:30 p.m. in the main chapel.
  • Tours of the chapel, a reception and book signing by Phillips will begin at 7 p.m. in the Noble Room. His book will be available for purchase.

Saturday, Nov. 5

  • Students will collaborate with citizens on Syracuse’s north side, including school children, to begin painting a mural that will offer pictorial evidence of the “Faces and Souls of Historic Northside Neighborhoods – 1800-2005.” The project will take place at the Saint Clare Gardens Theater, 1119 North Townsend St., from 9 a.m.-noon
  • A keynote lecture on “Religious Pluralism and the End of Protestantism” by Amanda Porterfield at 4 p.m. in the main chapel. A reception willfollow in the Noble Room. Porterfield, the Robert A. Spivey Professor of Religion at Florida State University, is a historian of American religion. She was a member of the SU religion faculty from 1975-94. Parking for this event will be available in the Q1, Q3 and Q4 lots.
  • A 75th Anniversary Banquet in Goldstein Auditorium in the Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center, 6:30 p.m. The event will include a video on the history of Hendricks Chapel and special remembrances. Tickets are $30 per person or one dinner charge for students with meal plans. Reservations may be made by contacting Ginny Yerdon in the Hendricks Chapel Dean’s Office at (315) 443-5044 or gyerdon@syr.edu. Parking for the banquet will be available in the Waverly, Marion, University Place and Q2 and Q4 lots.

Sunday, Nov. 6

  • A Convocation of Rededication will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the main chapel and include the premiere of a newly commissioned anthem by Craig Phillips and music by the Hendricks Chapel Choir, Hendricks Chapel Handbell Ringers and the Black Celestial Choral Ensemble.