Chapel Program

We are an Episcopal Church School, but our students come from a wide variety of religious backgrounds. In addition to those from Episcopalian and other Protestant denominations, our community includes students of Catholic, Jewish and Muslim faith, as well as students from no religious tradition at all. We gather twice weekly for services in the A. Felix duPont, Jr. Memorial Chapel, and we honor all, welcome all, and celebrate all who join us in the Chapel and in our community.

Our Chapel services provide welcome shelter from the whirlwind of our daily life, and offer us a time to look inward, a chance to focus on what we have done and left undone, a space to think of loved ones and those in sickness, sorrow, or need. Most importantly, Chapel services turn our attention to the great, eternal mysteries of life.

Following dinner on Wednesday evenings, all members of the faculty and student body gather in the Chapel to hear a faculty, staff, student or guest speaker deliver a Chapel Talk on a subject of his or her choosing. Wednesday night speakers are encouraged to share personal experiences and stories of emotional or spiritual growth. On Sunday morning, all members of the student body and weekend faculty group attend Chapel service, which follows the Episcopal Church liturgy. Students who wish to attend other worship services off-campus may do so with a faculty chaperone. We also offer one voluntary service each Friday afternoon. Special programs throughout the year lend variety to our moments of communal reflection. Among the most popular of these are the Christmas Service of Lessons and Carols, St. Francis Day Blessing of the Animals, and outdoor Earth Day and Easter services.

Whether we are in the Chapel or not, we work to practice radical hospitality and acceptance of others; we work to "love our neighbors as ourselves." To express empathy, share compassion, foster generosity of spirit, and build courage, we thus come together as a faith community to recognize and affirm our common humanity. Both our Chapel program and our community service program are rooted in our need for deep contemplation of our values and our desire to share generously with those less fortunate than we are. In all of our pursuits, we aim to instill in our students a reverence for the humanity in each of us, and a sense of personal responsibility to use their talents now, and throughout their lives, to serve others and the world in which we live.