Fordham Preparatory School - Ramview Ramview Spring 2019 | Page 13

The Prep Chapel
concrete soccer pitch emptied, we gathered for dinners
of rice and lentils and a period of reflection. The nights typically
ended in impromptu musical singalongs or a hotly contested
game of Mafia with our new Ecuadorian friends.
When we ventured beyond the neighborhood, the volunteers led
us to a handful of schools they supported, as well as the Damien
House, a hospital dedicated to those living with Hansen’s disease
(leprosy). With each day, we were mesmerized by the people we
met who, despite the poverty or suffering they faced, found joy
in their lives. When it was time to leave, those who seemed like
strangers on our first day were tearfully hugging us goodbye. It
was a whirlwind eight days, but a time that resonates in our
minds to this day.
As I look back on this trip after sixteen years, I marvel at the
opportunity Mr. Carney and the Prep offered to us at that point
in our lives. Young and naïve like any other seventeen-year-old,
we were thrust into a foreign land thousands of miles away from
the comforts of home. Before this trip, the notion of a cultural
experience was a trip to a museum or an unfamiliar restaurant.
But living among the people of Duran completely flipped that
perspective. There are still things that burn in my memory: the
taste of fresh bread as it was delivered to our door each
morning, the endless laughs when our broken Spanish was lost
in translation, the smiles on a child’s face after teaching him a
new English word, the simplicity of life without televisions,
cellphones or the internet. We found something greater than
ourselves. In Duran, we found happiness where we would have
never expected it.
Learn more about the 25th Anniversary and share your
service immersion reflections at www.fordhamprep.org/fpcsitrips25.
If you have been back to the Prep in the past 18 months and
visited the third floor, you have surely noticed that part of the
East Wing Project has already been completed with the addition
of a new Religious Studies Office, student group work area and
relocation of the chapel. The new chapel is perhaps most
significant as it replaces the old Prep chapel which was removed
during the lobby and Commons renovations in 2014.
The new chapel provides a sacred space for all members of the
community. Its design blends the old with the new - the beautiful
stain glass cross embedded in the original chapel bricks of Shea
Hall is now suspended from the library ceiling behind the altar,
and the old corpus from the original chapel now hangs on a new
crucifix. Wood carved statues of St. Ignatius and St. John the
Baptist from the original chapel now hang on the rear wall of the
new chapel. The chapel is bathed with light as the glass wall
behind the altar overlooks the library and is in full view of the
University Church across from the Prep.
At 7:55 each morning, the inviting space welcomes faculty, staff
and students for daily mass. Each mentor group also attends
mass during the year, providing the opportunity for each group
to strengthen the bonds of community while sharing the
Eucharist together. Students, faculty and staff also spend time in
silent prayer during First Friday Eucharist Adoration each month
and gather in the chapel for special team and club masses
throughout the year. Parents also pray with us as part of our
Wednesday Morning Prayer with St. Ignatius program.
This new chapel is a gift to the entire Prep community and is
made possible through the generosity of so many benefactors.
It is a testament to the commitment of our alumni and parents
to furthering the Prep’s mission of faith development for the
students in our care. We are truly grateful to all who have made
it possible.
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