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VOLUME 16, NUMBER 3 MARCH, 1969 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Soul' Opens in Hospital
ALLEN MEMORIAL CHAPEL—The circular altar of the new hospital chapel
provides freedom of access for all who enter. The chapel, located off the first
floor corridor near the main lobby, is open for patients, visitors, staff, faculty,
employes and students, (photo by Tom
'Clinic for the
The medical center has diagnostic and
treatment facilities for almost every fam
ily of disease known to man.
But the newest "clinic" here is one
that doesn't deal with physical com
plaints. Those who visit it might bring
a sorrow instead of a symptom; a plea
instead of a pain; or simply a word of
thanksgiving.
This new "clinic for the spirit" is the
Allen Memorial Chapel, an interfaith cen
ter of worship located where the old
hospital lobby used to be.
The chapel, a dream of Chaplain
Wesley Aitken since he came to Duke as
the hospital's first fulltime chaplain in
1956, was named for the late George
Garland Allen, a chairman of the Duke
Endowment Trustees. At Mr. Allen's
death several years ago, his family asked
that instead of floral tributes contribu
tions in his name be made to a chapel
fund at the hospital.
Over the years other families made
similar requests until today the $30,000
Allen Memorial Chapel not only is a
tribute to the man whose name it carries
but also is a memorial to many others.
A permanent record of all contribu
tors will be made and placed in the
chapel when it is dedicated.
Perhaps the most eye-catching feature
of the small chapel, which has 24 seats, is
the circular altar, which Chaplain Aitken
said "provides freedom of access. Its
very design makes people want to walk
up to it."
It was designed that way in part to
accommodate the half-circle of a bay
window behind the altar site, but also to
make it acceptable to any person of any
faith.
Chaplain Aitken consulted with per
sons of different faiths, including Msgr.
James E. McSweeney, pastor of Immac
ulate Conception Catholic Church in Dur
ham, and Rabbi Herbert Berger and
Rabbi E. M. Rosenzweig, both of Dur
ham.
The altar design was acceptable from
the Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and non
sectarian points of view. Chaplain Aitken
said, but he recalled that "Msgr. McSwe
eney asked if we could make it exactly
39 inches high."
That is the height, the priest ex
plained, of all Roman Catholic altars,
and priests become accustomed to per-
Knight)
forming the rituals of the mass at that
level.
Chaplain Aitken checked the specifi
cations for the altar and found it was
planned to be 36 inches high. A change
order was put into the contract and the
finished altar is 39 inches high.
The altar is free of any specific reli
gious symbols except for a Bible which
lies open on top of it. People may carry
their own symbols to the altar when they
(continued on page five)