Spring Break
Come one, come all
On campus chapel gives students safe haven and community center for learning and inspiration
By: Amanda Casanova
Issue date: 9/23/08 Section: News
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While All Faiths may be booked almost every night, some Texas A&M University officials are worried the chapel is in dire need of renovation.
"It really no longer serves the needs for all the students," Kathy Scott, office associate for Hospitality and Scheduling Services, said. "For example, the Muslim students need places to put down their mats, and we have chairs bolted down to the floor in there."
Students still use the aging building, making the chapel one of the University's staple locations. Modeled after a church sanctuary, the main area of All Faiths can seat up to 200 people.
Organizations like Campus Crusade for Christ, Brothers Under Christ and the Catholic Student Association opt to use the chapel for meetings and Bible studies rather than fill a conference room in the Memorial Student Center.
"It's just a great place where you can come and meet with God," Dustin Alderson, senior biomedical science major, said. "There are no distractions here."
Upstream, a non-denominational Bible study for freshmen, meets weekly in All Faiths. Topher Jacobson, junior psychology major and Upstream coordinator, said the chapel is instrumental in efforts to minister to the Class of 2012.
"This wouldn't work without All Faiths," he said. "The heart of Upstream is to get kids plugged in with awesome people and to reach out to the freshmen and help them grow. There are so many other places you can go on a Thursday night in College Station. But these guys come to All Faiths."
Jacobson first visited All Faiths as a freshman, tagging along with a friend who had invited him to Upstream.
"I was involved in a lot of things I shouldn't have been doing," he said. "When I showed up at All Faiths, I was like, 'Oh, it's a Christian thing.' But then I saw the joy in everyone. I just knew there was a reason for this so I started asking questions."
Upon opening the wooden double doors to the chapel, visitors are greeted by a bronze plaque that boasts a verse from the book of Isaiah: "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples."
To the left of the sanctuary, the chapel includes a pair of meditation rooms for prayer and quiet time. The chapel is open 24 hours a day, making it a convenient locale for students to get away at any time.
"I've been there at three o'clock in the morning before," Jacobson said. "It's this sort of safe haven. You can really just commune with the Lord there."
While several places on campus feature hushed atmospheres, like the libraries and parts of the MSC, Brannon Veal, junior electrical engineering major, said All Faiths offers students a different environment.
"It's a place that's quiet where you can come and think and grow," he said. "It's really just a great place to sit, learn and get a spiritual education."
Flanking the bookshelves of texts from different religions are signs that display the mission statement of the brick building.
"All Faiths Chapel at Texas A&M exists to create an environment of equal access and respect for the diversity of faiths represented in the campus community." "The greatest thing we can do to increase our faith is by listening," Veal said, "so having a place to listen, like this place, is important."
Campus Ministry Association members, including a priest from St. Mary's Catholic Church and a rabbi from the Hillel Jewish Student Center, serve as campus chaplains at the chapel Monday through Thursday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
"There are two forms of education," Veal said. "There's book education and then there's the emotional education. It's important to develop the emotional education, if not more important."
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