Department Feature: Office of the Dean of the Chapel

Dedicated in 1896, the Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel is a landmark at Howard University. Led by Rev. Dr. Bernard L. Richardson, the Office of the Dean of the Chapel manages the ministry of the Chapel and oversees the coordination of various campus ministries,

Dr. Bernard Richardson, dean of the Chape

acting as the liaison between the University and local, national and international religious organizations.

“We are responsible for the religious organizations and all the religious affairs as they relate to Howard’s students, faculty and staff,” says Richardson.

Having outgrown the capacity of the actual Chapel, the services are now held in Cramton Auditorium featuring weekly radio broadcasts of the worship service, which reaches listeners in the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, and parts of West Virginia and Delaware, have dominated the top-time slot among all radio broadcasts in the metropolitan area. In the past year, Chapel speakers have included such notables as Calvin O. Butts, III, Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Michael Eric Dyson, The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings, Vernon E. Jordan Jr. and Howard University President H. Patrick Swygert.

The Office provides oversight to Howard’s various campus ministries, which include the ministries of Baha’i, Baptist, Roman Catholic, United Methodist, Episcopal/Anglican/Lutheran, Seventh Day Adventist, Tom Skinner Associates, Muslim Students Association and The Navigators. The Office works with these different religious organizations to form a strong interfaith community on campus.

Students’ response to the work of the Chapel team has been extremely positive. “Students are very supportive of the Chapel,” says Richardson. “I would dare to say there’s not another campus that has the kind of support that we have.”

Richardson, Rev. Fay Acker, and Rev. Calvin Smith, also provide counseling and spiritual direction to members of the Howard University Community. “People come to us for support and counseling. We view their concerns from a spiritual perspective, and they appreciate our confidentiality. They see the Chapel as a place of respite and support,” says Richardson. The Office also provides counseling support to alumni who seek their help.

Rev. Robyn Franklin-Vaughn speaks with a new student at first the Chapel service for the Class of 2011.

The Chapel is also responsible for the annual Alternative Spring Break program, which for the last two years organized hundreds of students to help with rebuilding efforts in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Dean Richardson is a tenured associate professor in the Howard University School of Divinity. He established the Spiritual and Ethical Dimensions of Leadership Initiative (SEDL), which was awarded a $2 million dollar grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc., to assist students in examining how faith commitments relate to vocational choices, to create opportunities for the consideration of ministry as a possible vocation and to enhance the capacity of the faculty and staff to teach and mentor students effectively in this area. Through the dedication of Richardson and his staff, Howard University is proud of the outreach and service the Chapel has provided to the community. “

The Chapel is available to everyone and we are effective because of the support it gets from the University Community,” says Richardson.