I hate putting this under the “Faith” category. This is the Chapel That Doesn’t Count. It’s ugly. It’s totally devoid of any feeling of hallowed or sacred ground. I heard one teacher describe it as an airplane hangar.
It’s where they hold graduation and services when there are parents on campus because it’s so big. The only memories about it that make me smile are when Father Ghallager replaced all the regular services with the - and I kid you not – Close Encounters of a Eucharistic Kind program. I liked those only because the music was awesome. He’d put a tape recorder up to the microphone in the pulpit and we’d listen to this folky worship music that really reminds me of the Vineyard music I’d discover almost a decade later.
Most cadets liked him, I think, but the administration – then and to this day – really didn’t think much of him. His biggest contribution: bringing back the civilian clothes General Scott had banned at some point in the two years I was gone. He also allowed a lot of kids back in that Scott had kicked out for various reasons. Neither cadet corps nor administration were happy with that one.
Worst memory in this chapel: Father Morgan telling me – though quite sensitively and carefully – that, basically, my poetry sucked. I saw Father Morgan on one of my visits back a few years ago. I didn’t recognize him at all. He used to have this bushy beard and (relatively) long hair. Now he looks like a graying elder statesman. Actually, he looks exactly like Terence Stamp circa Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. He recognized me, however, and called me by name. I had to ask him who he was and was floored when he told me.
Above: Terence Stamp as Chancellor Valorum in The Phantom Menace and as General Zod in Superman II.
One more good memory: Father Morgan bringing me the cassettes he’d made me. He recorded the entire 5-record set of Bruce Springsteen’s 75-85 Live set which I then listened to constantly while running during Cross Country and Track practice.
