Ship of Fools: MW 3203: Duke University Chapel

Thread: MW 3203: Duke University Chapel Board: Ecclesiantics / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Nick Tamen (# 15164) on :

I enjoyed the report of the consecration of the Rt. Rev. Samuel Sewall Rodman as twelfth Bishop of North Carolina. (I do wish I could report on the new cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, but alas, being neither a major donor nor even a Catholic, I was left off of the ticket list.)

But there is one aspect of the report I think is worth expanding on. At the "Denomination" heading, the report says "Duke University was founded by Methodists and Quakers but is now nonsectarian." While probably technically accurate, this statement is misleading.

The original educational institution that would grow into Duke University was Brown's Schoolhouse, founded in 1838. it was in Randolph County, NC. In 1841, it was chartered as the Union Institute Academy, which was organized by the Union Institute Society, composed of Methodists and Quakers. (Quakers had a strong presence in central North Carolina from colonial times.)

In 1851 it became Normal College and in 1859, Trinity College. By that time, the college was firmly Methodist. The town that grew up around the college was named Trinity.

In 1892, the college moved to Durham, largely thanks to major gifts from the Duke family, a Methodist family that made its money in tobacco and electricity. The Dukes continued to support the school very generously, and in 1924 it was renamed Duke University.

While Union Institute Academy had some Quaker support, Duke has never been considered a Quaker school; rather it has long been firmly identified with the Methodist Church. It is technically nonsectarian now—a few years ago the by-laws were changed so that the North Carolina Conferences of the UMC no longer make appointments to Duke's Board of Trustees.

But Duke still acknowledges the historical connection to the Methodist Church, and the university's Divinity School is still formally related to the NC Conferences of the UMC. Likewise, while not technically having a Methodist congregation, the chapel is strongly identified with the Methodist Church.

Posted by mr cheesy (# 3330) on :

OK so why was an Episcopal bishop consecrated in a chapel of a non-sectarian college with Methodist roots? Do they have no buildings of their own?

Posted by Nick Tamen (# 15164) on :

quote:
Originally posted by mr cheesy:
OK so why was an Episcopal bishop consecrated in a chapel of a non-sectarian college with Methodist roots? Do they have no buildings of their own?

The Diocese of North Carolina has no cathedral, and the largest parish church is still significantly smaller than Duke Chapel in terms of capacity. (Of the 3 Episcopal dioceses in NC, only one has a cathedral, and it is a former parish church, not particularly large). There is no parish church in the diocese large enough to hold all the diocesan clergy, representatives of each parish, clergy and guests from the national church, choir, etc.

Prior to the building of the new Catholic cathedral (the current Catholic cathedral is the smallest in the lower 48), Duke Chapel was the largest church in the state. It has long been used by other denominations for services of this sort; I'm pretty sure that at least the last 2 or 3 Bishops of North Carolina were consecrated there. Meanwhile, the last consecration of a Catholic bishop here took place, if I remember right, in the local convention center.

[ 25. July 2017, 11:40: Message edited by: Nick Tamen ]

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

I found it interesting that apparently no Roman Catholic or Orthodox bishops were present at the ceremony.

[ 25. July 2017, 11:49: Message edited by: Amanda B. Reckondwythe ]

Posted by Nick Tamen (# 15164) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
I found it interesting that apparently no Roman Catholic or Orthodox bishops were present at the ceremony.

Yes. I don't know if that's because none were invited or none accepted. The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina overlaps parts of the Catholic Dioceses of Raleigh and Charlotte. The Diocese of Raleigh is currently without a bishop—the new bishop was just named a few weeks ago. And there are relatively few Orthodox churches around here, and Orthodox bishops actually in NC, and the non-Anglican bishops listed as in attendance are all in NC. (The Southern Province of the Moravian Church is based in Winston-Salem.)

That said, the non-Anglican bishops listed are, I think, all from churches with which TEC is in full communion (ELCA and the Moravians) or churches with which dialogue has led to a proposal for full communion (UMC). My guess is that other clergy/denominational representatives were there, but the clergy listed actually participated in some sort of episcopal capacity.

BTW, the service can be watched at the diocesan website.

Posted by Augustine the Aleut (# 1472) on :

quote:
Originally posted by mr cheesy:
OK so why was an Episcopal bishop consecrated in a chapel of a non-sectarian college with Methodist roots? Do they have no buildings of their own?

It's not unknown for major Episcopalian ceremonies to be held in other churches' facilities. There were several in RC cathedrals in the 1970s and 1980s (e.g. John Thompson, Coadjutor of Northern California in Sacramento) but I am not sure of any in recent years). Remember that TEC in the US is a relatively small church, with only 1.2% of the population claiming affiliation (3 million), and an even smaller number baptized (1.9 million)- as a relatively evenly dispersed church population, many of its congregations are fairly small and, as others noted, some dioceses do not have cathedrals. The use of Duke chapel would not be noticed.

Posted by Oblatus (# 6278) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Augustine the Aleut:
It's not unknown for major Episcopalian ceremonies to be held in other churches' facilities. There were several in RC cathedrals in the 1970s and 1980s (e.g. John Thompson, Coadjutor of Northern California in Sacramento) but I am not sure of any in recent years).

+Jeffrey Chicago was consecrated in the House of Hope, the 10,000-seat arena that is home to the Salem Baptist Church. The service was wonderful, and a great many people were there, but I'd say less than half the capacity of the House of Hope.

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

Here it's the other way round. One of our local universities regularly borrows our Cathedral for its degree ceremonies.

Posted by Og, King of Bashan (# 9562) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Oblatus:

quote:
Originally posted by Augustine the Aleut:
It's not unknown for major Episcopalian ceremonies to be held in other churches' facilities. There were several in RC cathedrals in the 1970s and 1980s (e.g. John Thompson, Coadjutor of Northern California in Sacramento) but I am not sure of any in recent years).
+Jeffrey Chicago was consecrated in the House of Hope, the 10,000-seat arena that is home to the Salem Baptist Church. The service was wonderful, and a great many people were there, but I'd say less than half the capacity of the House of Hope.

Likewise, +Rob O'Neill here in Colorado was consecrated at a suburban megachurch campus. We have a fairly large cathedral, but it's still too small for this kind of event. Not to mention that parking in Capitol Hill is a nightmare even before half of the Episcopalians in the diocese show up.

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

+Gene Robinson was consecrated at an indoor ice hockey rink.

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

And the present Bishop of Arizona was consecrated in St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church, the cathedral having been closed due to fire damage, and was seated in his cathedral after it reopened several months later.

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
And the present Bishop of Arizona was consecrated in St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church, the cathedral having been closed due to fire damage, and was seated in his cathedral after it reopened several months later.

The previous Bishop of Arizona was also consecrated in St. Francis Xavier (1992), but I believe it was because Trinity Cathedral is too small to accommodate the crowd. (In both cases the candidate was consecrated Bishop, then a few months later seated at the Cathedral when the outgoing Bishop retired and the new Bishop became the Ordinary.)

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