WKU To Build Interfaith Chapel

October 31, 2008

Bowling Green, Ky. - A new interfaith chapel, envisioned by Western Kentucky University President Gary Ransdell and supported by private donors, will soon grace the campus of Western Kentucky University.  WKU celebrated the announcement of this project during Homecoming week on Oct. 31.

“As we transform this campus, I’ve observed that there’s a missing element in our first 100 years and that is a place in which our faculty, staff, students and alumni can express their faith,” Dr. Ransdell said.  “For some time now it has been my intention to help bring about that place on our campus—a place for peace, solitude, and private contemplation in a completely non-denominational manner where every person and religion is embraced.  And even those who just seek solitude and inspiration without religious context can find comfort.”

With a lead gift of $800,000 from David Chandler (’82) of Bowling Green, the $1.6 million Chandler Memorial Chapel has already received almost $1.3 million in gifts from nearly 50 alumni and friends.  Chandler said the Chapel will add an important element to WKU.
 
“Its very presence is symbolic of the majesty of God and has been designed as a center for vital religious activity and spiritual development for the campus community,” he said.

President Ransdell agreed.  “I want to help create a place where we can come together as a campus community in moments of celebration and tragedy—a place for weddings and special moments but also a place to grieve and console,” he said.  “I want to express my appreciation to Dave Chandler for his extremely generous gift that allowed the project to unfold and to all of the other donors who helped make it possible.”

Kevin Brooks (’74) of Bowling Green is chairing the steering committee for the project.  “This is a project I have hoped to see happen at WKU for more than a decade,” he said.  “I think all great universities should have a chapel.  The Chandler Memorial Chapel will fit perfectly with WKU’s vision to be a leading American university with international reach.  I believe that, as a diverse University community, it’s important to have a place that recognizes one’s faith—a place for solace, quiet, prayer, or reflection.  That's the kind of place this will be.”

The idea of a chapel is synonymous with WKU’s rich history, dating back to the University’s founding when Henry Hardin Cherry encouraged students to attend a daily chapel service in Van Meter Auditorium. “In its final analysis, chapel is the place where Western is daily born,” Dr. Cherry asserted, and many students and faculty agreed with him. Chapel was one of the fondest memories that many students carried from the Hill, and their most vivid recollections were often of Dr. Cherry’s own inspirational talks.

A key part of the Chapel will be a WKU Columbarium, which will allow WKU alumni and friends to secure a permanent place on sacred WKU ground. Several niches will be built in the Chapel and adjacent grounds. These niches will be sold and reserved for the owner(s). An owner’s ashes will be permanently sealed in an urn in each personally identified niche. Each owner’s name and limited personal information will forever mark the niche.  A “Memorial Wall” will also be available to remember those persons interred elsewhere but who wish to be remembered at WKU.

“I wanted to create a place where those who care deeply about this institution can place their remains in perpetuity through the Columbarium,” Dr. Ransdell said.  “My wife, Julie, and I will be the first to reserve a niche in the Columbarium.”

“Columbarium” derives from a Latin word for a structure provided for the nesting of doves. In modern use the word refers to a burial vault for urns holding cremated human remains. With the small space required for each urn, cremation is an ancient practice that is becoming more widespread. The process is widely recognized as both theologically and ecologically sound. 

The cost of building the chapel must be covered by private gifts. While all gifts are welcomed and all are encouraged to contribute, donors who give $1,000 or more can choose to be personally recognized in the chapel or select someone else to memorialize.  Two major naming opportunities are still available: the Interior Hall ($250,000) and the Chapel Lawn ($100,000).  In addition, all benefactors who give $25,000 or more to the project will be listed on a prominent display inside the Chapel.
           
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For more information, contact John Paul Blair at (270) 745-6520.