Tag Archives: Sunday

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Sacred Spaces

“We need the sense of the sacred, and the sense that things transcend our grasp.

We need to know that we are dependent on others,

and that the condition of our existence is the existence of others.”

— Sir Roger Scruton

“View of Eton College Chapel” 1834 William Ingalton

Natural Religion

The founding of many education communities is inspired by faith communities.   In many of them the place of worship was the very first building.   College and university chapels are central places of worship for students, staff and faculty, and provide a space for solitude and reflection.  A place for feeling at home in the world.

International Building Code | Section 303.4 Assembly Group A-3

There are several hundred technical standards, or parts of standards,  that govern how churches and chapels are made safe and sustainable.  Owing to innovations in construction, operation and management methods, those standards move, ever so slightly, on a near-daily basis.  They are highly interdependent; confounded by county-level adaptations; and impossible to harmonize by adoption cycle.  That movement tracked here as best we can within the limit of our resources and priorities.  That’s why it’s best to simply click into our daily colloquia if you have a question or need guidance.

The Bible: Silly Stories or Symbolic Wisdom


Richard Miniter observes that the United States was founded as four distinct religious utopias, each originating from different regions and historical periods in England (and the broader British Isles). These groups, shaped by conflicts like the English Civil War, brought competing visions of society, governance, and faith that continue to influence American culture and politics today.1. New England Puritans (from East Anglia): Strict, communal Calvinists seeking a “city upon a hill” with moral oversight and collective piety.
2. Cavalier culture in Virginia and the South (from southwest England): Hierarchical, Anglican/Royalist tradition emphasizing order, honor, and aristocratic values.
3. Middle States (influenced by the West Midlands): More tolerant, pluralistic Quaker and other nonconformist approaches fostering commerce and individual liberty.
4. Appalachian borderlands (from the English-Scottish border): Scots-Irish Presbyterian folkways stressing independence, martial honor, and anti-authoritarian egalitarianism.These enduring subcultures create ongoing tensions over freedom, authority, and religion in America.

Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief | Jordan Peterson, Douglas Murray, Sam Harris

Taylor University | Grant County Indiana

The image criteria of our WordPress theme does not permit many images of college and university chapels to be shown fully-dimensioned on sliders or widget galleries.  We reproduce a few of the outsized images here and leave the complexities of financing, designing, building and maintaining of them in a safe and sustainable manner for another day.  CLICK HERE for the links to our Sacred Space Standards workspace.

Click on any image for author attribution, photo credit or other information*.

Orchard Lake Schools | Oakland County Michigan

Saint Leo University | Pasco County Florida

Newman University Chapel Dublin

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen:

not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

— C.S. Lewis

Vilnius University

Mount St. Joseph University | Hamilton County Ohio

Sainte-Chapelle:pic.twitter.com/B2lPLtWEVx

— Culture Critic (@Culture_Crit) February 12, 2024

Marian University Indianapolis

Wittenberg University

Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem

University of San Diego

Augustana University | Minnehaha County South Dakota

Bucknell University Pennsylvania

Carroll College All Saints Chapel Montana

 

Marquette University Wisconsin

Saint Louis University Missouri

University of St. Thomas Minnesota

Keuka College New York

جامعة الأزهر (الشريف)

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

University of Chicago

Thomas Aquinas College California

St. Albans School | District of Columbia

Princeton University

Yale University

Harvard University

Piula Theological College Samoa

Universität zu Lübeck

Wycliffe College

Universitat de Barcelona

Hillsdale College

Liberty University

Gordon College

 

Colorado University Denver

Walla Walla University / Washington

University of the Incarnate Word / San Antonio, Texas

Pepperdine University / California

University of Kentucky

Loyola Marymount University / Los Angeles, California

Lourdes University

Seton Hall University

Durlston Court Prep School Chapel

Colorado University Denver

Luther College at the University of Regina / Saskatchewan, Canada

 

계명대학교 / Keimyung University Chapel, South Korea

U.S. Coast Guard Memorial Chapel | New London, Connecticut

Saint John’s University | Photo by Paul Middlestaedt

Trinity College / Hartford, Connecticut

Georgetown University Chapel | Washington, D.C.

Kings College Chapel | Auckland, New Zealand

Brigham Young University / Idaho

Newman University Church / Dublin

Our Lady of the Lake University / San Antonio, Texas

Southern Methodist University | Dallas, Texas

Southern Methodist University | Dallas, Texas

St. John’s College Oxford

United States Naval Academy Chapel

Wellington College Chapel

Fitzwilliam College Chapel Cambridge

Sorbonne Université

West Point | US Army Cadet Chapel

Hebrew Union College

Tuskegee University Chapel

The Spring Hill College Chapel | Mobile, Alabama

Boston University

University of Tennessee at Chattangooga

Wake Forest University

Auburn University Chapel

Davis & Elkins College

University of Tulsa

Randolph College Chapel

 

Sewanee | The University of the South

King’s College Chapel | University of Cambridge

Hope College | Holland, Michigan

Duke University | Durham, North Carolina

Christ’s Chapel | Hillsdale College, Michigan

Basilica of the Sacred Heart | University of Notre Dame | South Bend, Indiana

Three Faith Chapels | Brandeis University

University of Wroclaw | Jesuit College | Wrocław, Poland

Alma College Chapel | Alma, Michigan

Stanford Memorial Church | Palo Alto, California

Universidad Adventista Templo | Buenos Aires, Argentina

St. Thomas of Villanova University Chapel | Villanova, Pennsylvania

St. Paul’s Chapel | Columbia University | New York City

Scotch College Chapel | Melbourne, Australia

Princeton University Chapel

United States Air Force Cadet Chapel | Colorado Springs

Chapelle Sainte-Ursule de la Sorbonne | Paris

Memorial Chapel | Glasgow University | Glasgow, Scotland

Alice Millar Chapel | Northwestern University

Bowdoin College Chapel | Brunswick, Maine

Loyola University Chapel | Madonna della Strada Chicago

Heinz Memorial Chapel | University of Pittsburgh

Madonna University Chapel | Livonia, Michigan

Vassar College Chapel | Poughkeepsie, New York

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Student Chapel | Cambridge, Massachusetts

St. Ignatius Church | University of San Francisco

Church of the Resurrection | Valparaiso University | Valparaiso, Indiana

Baughman Center | University of Florida

Exeter College Chapel | Oxford University

 

More coming.

*404 ERRORS and Page Not Found messages are common as webmasters move content.


More

CLICK HERE for bibliography

 

 

 

Roast Beef Dinner

Cooking on a Budget: Learn how to make a flavourful dish for less than £1.70

Food Standards Agency UK: Meat and slaughter

Trump’s children all turned out so well

Sunday Brunch

Michigan Central

 

Sunday Brunch

Kitchens 300

 

MSU Infrastructure Planning & Facilities

“From College Town to Chinatown” | The Chronicle of Higher Education, December 2018 This article directly addresses how the boom in Asian international students (heavily Chinese) has turned numerous U.S. college towns into “quasi-Chinatowns,” with examples of economic benefits from Asian-owned businesses but also vulnerabilities when enrollment drops. It covers the nationwide trend across multiple universities.

Homophily Michigan

Wild Mountain Tyme

Also widely known as “Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go?” or “Purple Heather” is a beloved folk song with roots in both Scottish and Irish traditions. It’s a romantic invitation to wander the hills and pick wild mountain thyme (a fragrant herb also called wild thyme or “purple heather” in some versions), symbolizing love and the beauty of nature.

Historian Richard Miniter interprets America’s cultural and political foundations as stemming from four distinct English religious utopias—coercive visions of ideal societies—brought by settlers during the colonial era, rooted in the ideological divides of the English Civil War (Puritans vs. Royalists/Cavaliers).

  1. Puritans (Roundheads) from East Anglia landed in New England (e.g., Massachusetts). They viewed liberty as the freedom to impose moral virtue and godly order on society, creating tightly regulated communities focused on communal piety and moral enforcement.
  2. Cavaliers (Royalists/Anglicans) from southwest England settled in Virginia and the South. They emphasized hierarchical order, aristocratic values, and loyalty to established authority, building plantation-based societies with Anglican traditions.
  3. Quakers and other dissenters (often from the West Midlands) arrived in the Middle States (e.g., Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware). They promoted religious tolerance, pacifism, and egalitarian ideals in diverse, pluralistic colonies.
  4. Borderers/Scots-Irish Presbyterians from the English-Scottish borderlands first landed in the backcountry regions of the Appalachian frontier; thereafter migrating deeper into the new territories of the Ozark Mountains Missouri. They brought a rugged, clan-based, individualistic ethos with Calvinist influences, valuing personal honor and resistance to centralized control.

These four groups’ competing visions—of imposed virtue, hierarchy, tolerance, and frontier independence—created enduring regional tensions that still shape modern American society, politics, and debates over freedom and governance.  This view enlightens understanding of why the United States remains in one piece; however tenuous.

“A republic madam, if you can keep it” — Benjamin Franklin

 

The modern Democratic Party traces its cultural and ideological roots to the Roundheads from the English Civil War. These were the ideological, intolerant, legalistic faction that sought to impose moral virtue and godly order on society, often through coercive means like censorship and value-shaping institutions (e.g., schools, colleges and government programs fortified by battalions of lawyers ).

Miniter links this to contemporary Democrats’ emphasis on identity politics, political correctness (which he calls a form of class warfare), and paternalistic efforts to mold citizens’ views—through regulation and ownership of legacy and electronic media.

In contrast, he sees Republicans drawing more from Cavalier (hierarchical, traditional) and Borderer (individualistic, anti-authority) traditions which conflict with the Leftist Immersion of United States public higher education of which most international students are hardly aware.

Missouri

Europe Has Been Living Off The West For Decades

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High Tea Wichita

🌻 Standards Kansas 🌻

Newman University hosts its Heritage Month in February to celebrates the English heritage of the university’s namesake, St. John Henry Newman. It typically takes place in the Dugan-Gorges Conference Center following the St. Newman Mass and features meticulously prepared finger foods, English breakfast or Earl Grey tea, and elegant tea sets, fostering a sense of community among students, alumni, faculty, and staff.


Why and How High Tea Originated as a Working-Class Custom: High tea, despite its modern association with elegance and afternoon tea, began as a practical, working-class custom in 19th-century Britain. Its origins lie in the Industrial Revolution, when factory workers, miners, and laborers, typically from the lower classes, returned home after long, physically demanding shifts. Unlike the leisurely afternoon tea enjoyed by the upper classes, high tea was a hearty, substantial meal served around 5–7 p.m., designed to sustain workers after a grueling day.

Why It Was Working-Class:Timing and Necessity: Workers couldn’t afford mid-afternoon breaks for tea, as their schedules revolved around factory or manual labor. High tea was served after work hours, replacing or supplementing dinner with affordable, filling foods like meat pies, bread, cheese, and tea, which provided energy and comfort.

Economic Constraints: The working class lacked the resources for the delicate sandwiches and pastries of upper-class afternoon tea. High tea used simple, inexpensive ingredients, reflecting the economic realities of laborers.
Cultural Context: Tea was a cheap, widely available beverage by the 19th century, thanks to Britain’s colonial trade. It became a staple for workers, offering warmth and stimulation, while the meal addressed their hunger.

How It Developed: High tea was served at a high dining table (unlike the low tables of aristocratic tea settings), where families gathered for a practical meal. The term “high” referred to the table height, distinguishing it from the refined “low tea” of the elite.
Food and Function:

The meal included robust dishes like stews, cold meats, or potatoes, paired with strong tea. It was less about social ritual and more about nourishment, often the main meal of the day for working families.
Social Evolution:

As tea became a British cultural staple, high tea spread across classes, but its working-class roots remained evident in its heartier fare and evening timing, contrasting with the lighter, earlier afternoon tea of the wealthy.

By the late 19th century, high tea’s association with the working class faded as middle and upper classes adopted and refined it, leading to its modern, more elegant connotations.

The Parable of the Talents | Matthew 25:14–30

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