40 Days, 40 Churches

Day 11: Glavin Family Chapel, Wellesley MA

If it weren't for the sculpture pictured on this page, you'd probably have a hard time telling that this building is a chapel. It's basically a large rectangular solid set on its short end, making it look more like the First Assimilated Church of the Borg than anything else.

This is sort of the point, though, given the range of spiritual organizations that use the chapel. I mostly used it during the week if I couldn't get off campus on a day of obligation, as the lunchtime service usually drew as many employees as students. The priest served a few schools in the area, and was a nice guy, with a slight undertone of crazy grandfather in him. He had a particular habit of blessing too many hosts, which usually saw him have to eat a good 20 to 30 wafers after the service ended.

And for its box-like structure, it really is a nice space. The ceiling is done like the hull of a ship, which helps with the acoustics and breaks up all the straight lines. There's also a small garden and patio outside, which was mostly used during my time for social functions. A few of you might remember that this was the location of the opening and closing meetings for NAQT sectionals in 2003. BU hosted, but used our campus due to some function on their campus that weekend. You think with quizbowlers being in a chapel we'd have taken the opportunity to use some holy water or incense to fight the funk. An opportunity lost.