Among the festivities for the opening of the new hospital in Plainsboro was a dedication ceremony for the new Chapel of Light held on Thursday, May 17.
Leaders from Central New Jersey’s faith community joined Princeton HealthCare System CEO Barry Rabner to introduce the 15-foot high, 12-foot diameter chapel and altar inside the new building. The design was created as a semi-circle shape to “include all who gather in the spiritual space.”
The chapel is surrounded by a curtain of 115,634 beads sitting in 323 strands. Each strand is encoded with a book from either the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament of the Bible, or the Qur’an. The center portion of the bead curtain represents the Book of Genesis. The top three feet of each strand of beads is made from solid gold. Asides from religious significance, the effect the design tries to convey is that of a sparkling, golden rain. Architect Robert Hillier spoke at the ceremony and credited his designer, Frances Fox, with adding this concept based on a chapel at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
As part of the hospital’s department of religious ministries, the Chaplaincy seeks to address the needs of patients or their family members of various religious traditions as well as those who have no formal religious association.
At the chapel dedication ceremony, PHCS spokesperson Andy Williams said when a patient has a relationship with any local congregation, the Chaplaincy would serve as a link between the patient, the medical center, and the congregation.
The hospital’s department of religious ministries was established 50 years ago as a cooperative effort between PHCS and the local faith community. It started with one part-time chaplain working from a desk in the lobby of the old building on Witherspoon Street. Today the department serves hospital patients and families 24 hours a day, making approximately 10,000 pastoral care contacts every year. The current staff consists of Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish employees as well as 16 volunteers and a half dozen students from the Princeton Theological Seminary.
Speaking at the ceremony, Rabbi Adam Feldman of the Princeton Jewish Center and vice president of the Princeton Clergy Association, said the name Chapel of Light was very appropriate because light represents hope, warmth, love, and caring. “God will dwell amongst them — the people who use and inhabit this space, the people who pray and who strive to do God’s work, including those who will help bring healing and comfort to anyone who enters this building.
