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.
“This chapel will be a sacred space for several different religious traditions. I don’t know if there is another space anywhere in Central New Jersey that will serve various religious traditions like this chapel will,” he said.
Rabbi Feldman then used a quote from the Book of Exodus to illustrate his point.
“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. God’s work will be done in many different places in this hospital,” Feldman said.
#b#School Board to Community Care#/b#
One familiar face who participated in the chapel dedication ceremony was Anjani Gharpure, a former WW-P board member who’s also taken part in the local “Support Dharun Ravi” initiatives over the past two months. She served on the WW-P school board from 2006 to 2009, but this year Gharpure emerged weeks ahead of the April school board election, just after Ravi’s trial concluded in New
Brunswick. Her first effort was publicizing a petition to Governor Christie which aims at granting Ravi a reduced jail sentence, saying at the time that 10 years was too harsh a punishment for his crimes. Gharpure articulated the views behind the petition in a letter to the editor which appeared on the cover of the WW-P News on Friday, March 30.
Gharpure remains active in events organized in support of the Ravi family, including the rally in Trenton on May 14 and the gathering at the Mirage banquet hall in Edison on May 4 (WW-P News, May 11). And at Ravi’s sentencing, which is scheduled for Monday, May 21, she will be part of a group that will gather at the courthouse in New Brunswick at 8 a.m. to show support for Ravi and his parents.
When news of the case against Ravi spread in 2010, it hit home for Gharpure because her son Anant was in the same graduating class with Ravi at High School North earlier that year. In an interview on May 17, Gharpure said her son and Ravi knew each other but were not close friends and did not meet each other socially during high school. Nonetheless, as Ravi hails from Plainsboro and the family had some connection to her with sons in the same class, she took it upon herself to reach out to Ravi’s mother and father in May of 2011.
Gharpure became involved in community outreach through volunteer work with the Arsha Bodha Center, an ashram in Franklin Township dedicated to the traditional teaching of Vedanta, Sanskrit, Bhagavad Gita, meditation, chanting, and related spiritual practices. The ashram was founded in 2000 and will celebrate its 12th anniversary on Saturday, June 2, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 84 Cortelyou Lane, Somerset. Call 732-940-4008 or visit www.arshabodha.org for details.
For the past two years Gharpure has served as assistant director of the center’s “Jana Raksha Community Care” program — a shoulder to lean on for Hindus across Central Jersey. The Arsha Bodha Center created the program as a way of helping members of New Jersey’s Hindu population cope with physical or emotional distress.
At the Chapel of Light ceremony on May 17, Gharpure explained to a crowd of 100 people that “Jana” means community and “Raksha” means care. A variation of the term can also mean “protection” in Hindi.
Through Jana Raksha trained caregivers volunteer to provide one-on-one support, encouragement and spiritual comfort to those in need. The program also provides referrals to community-based services that are available to individuals. All consultation is done on a confidential basis and most importantly, Gharpure notes that all the services offered are free of charge.
The hospital and the program have a working relationship with Gharpure as the main liaison. As a resident of Plainsboro for the past 14 years, she also welcomed the idea of taking on a more prominent role to reach out to the Indian and Hindu community.
Gharpure says the basic premise behind the Jana Raksha program is “friends helping friends.” She says in her time with the program more than 100 calls for help have been answered. Her recent efforts to provide support to Ravi’s family and other supporters were initiated through her work with Jana Raksha. But Gharpure clarified that Dharun Ravi’s mother contacted her seeking support aside from the program, leading up to the recent public gatherings. Gharpure has since met with the Ravi family a few times.
When the hospital was still on Witherspoon Street in Princeton Gharpure became involved, saying that her role has helped fill a void that exists.
“I have been helping PHCS’s chaplain’s department whenever they need help with Hindu patients. Many hospitals don’t have any chaplain services in place for Hindus,” she said.
In her speech at the chapel ceremony, Gharpure added that with the hospital moving to the east side of Route 1 — closer to Indian populations from communities in North Brunswick, South Brunswick, Plainsboro, East Windsor, and West Windsor — she foresees an increased need to help Hindu patients. Before reciting a Shanti Mantra (in Sanskrit) for the audience, Gharpure announced that she provided copies of the Bhagavad Gita for the hospital’s Chapel of Light.
Gharpure says the Jana Raksha program is not limited to its involvement with PHCS. “We have volunteers going to hospital near Bridgewater and one more at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital. One of our volunteers will work with Capital Health in near future. With nursing homes, we have provided our program information to nursing homes all around Central Jersey so whenever the need arises they can contact our program,” Gharpure said.
At the reception after the chapel dedication ceremony Gharpure met with some students from the Princeton Theological Seminary who told her that they are interested in connecting with members of all faiths through the hospital. Gharpure told them that often the first obstacle is that a Hindu patient would not expect to see a chaplain show up at their room and could be unsure about talking to them.
She also told the students about examples of issues that volunteers of the Jana Raksha program counsel community members on, including all of the following: loneliness and depression; grief due to the death of a loved one; sudden or chronic illness; job loss, transition, or work related stress; physical, emotional or psychological stress; marital discord or divorce; new mothers needing help with errands or emotional support; parents experiencing difficulty with children and teenagers; seniors struggling with loneliness or adjusting to life in America; adult children caring for their elderly parents.
Referrals to professional services including medical, legal, social services and support services are also coordinated through the program. For more information, call Jana Raksha program volunteers at 732-690-9593.
