In Harvard's Midst, Chapel Tries To Hold On

The pastor of a small chapel in the heart of Harvard’s property met with University officials yesterday to discuss the future of the church’s land.

Dwarfed by the towering height of William James Hall and the concrete mass of the Graduate School of Design’s Gund Hall, the Swedenborg Chapel stands on a small patch of grass on the corner of Kirkland and Quincy Streets.

The church must raise $2 million by March 30 to remain on the premises—otherwise the property could fall to Harvard, which would have the right to the first chance at purchasing the land.

The pastor of the Cambridge Society of the Church of the New Jerusalem invited Edward Reiss and Carolee Hill from Harvard’s planning office to the meeting to discuss the congregation’s future plans for the property, according to Lars-Erik Wiberg, the president of the Church Council and a member of the congregation for the past 20 years, who also attended the meeting.

With time running out, $277,000 raised thus far and only 35 active members, the congregation is facing a grim future.

But they have begun a new fundraising initiative: the creation of a board of trustees to manage the property in the future. They hope to offer endowed chairs on the board for $500,000 to foundations, institutions and individuals—including Harvard.

“We hope the governing board would have seats for members of the Massachusetts Association of Swedenborg Churches, the church’s pastor, as well as Harvard,” Wiberg said.

The church’s pastor, Reverend Sarah Buteux, said that she hoped Harvard would be interested in endowing a chair.

“An endowed chair is a good investment,” Wiberg added, though she declined to comment on yesterday’s meeting.

At the meeting, Wiberg and Buteux gave Harvard’s representatives a tour of the property and the chapel.

“No one from Harvard had really even looked inside the chapel before,” Wiberg said.

“They familiarized themselves with the property, with what the chapel looked like, its condition, its roof,” he added.

According to Wiberg, he and Buteux also discussed their plans to build on the land—if they raise the $2 million in time—including renovating and separating the addition that is currently attached to the chapel.

But Harvard did not reveal any plans of its own at the meeting—nor disclose whether or not it would purchase the property if it became available in March.

“Harvard isn’t currently interested in purchasing the property,” said Mary H. Power, a senior director of community relations for Harvard, who was not at the yesterday’s meeting. “But as a neighbor, Harvard has an interest in ensuring that the future of the property is compatible with the campus.”

“The Harvard representatives were on a fact-finding meeting—they were not there to make a commitment,” Wiberg said. “But they certainly absorbed what we told them.”

Power said that she had heard of the congregation’s endowed-chair initiative, but that Harvard had not yet formally considered the proposal.

“Our next step is for us and the congregation to work together and discuss their needs,” Power said.

This is not the first time the congregation has faced threats of losing its chapel and the surrounding property.

In the 1960s, in hopes of raising funds, the Swedenborg seminary tried to sell the chapel property—and the possibility arose of selling the land to Harvard and moving the seminary to California.

But the congregation, opposed to the move, halted such attempts by suing the seminary. The suit rose as high as the Supreme Judicial Court—and the court demanded that the seminary preserve the chapel.

But the court also granted Harvard second right to refusal on the chapel property and allowed the seminary to sell its own building—Sparks House, where Plummer Professor of Christian Morals Peter J. Gomes now lives—to Harvard. The seminary moved to Newton, where it remains today.

Crisis struck again for the congregation in 1999, when the seminary tried to sell the chapel property again—and proposed a sale to a developer who planned an 11-story, 50-unit apartment building which would use the chapel as a lobby.

This time, neighbors intervened—drafting a petition and posting “Save The Chapel’’ signs around Cambridge. They succeeded in getting the city to grant the property a downzoning order—which requires any building on the property to be no taller than three stories.

“Thankfully, the downzoning order greatly reduced the attractiveness of the property to the developer,” said Jackie B. Lageson, the current chaplain administrator.

Still, fearful of other buyers, the congregation decided to bring the case to court—arguing that the seminary could only sell the property to the congregation or Harvard, who had first and second right to refusal respectively.

But the court ruled that the seminary could sell the property to whomever it wished—dashing the congregation’s hopes of keeping the chapel property.

“We were in a quite a quandary,” Wiberg said.

Luckily for Wiberg and others, the church ministers proposed a solution: a mortgage contract which allows the congregation to purchase the chapel property, worth more than $4 million, if they raised $2 million in two years.

“We are so grateful to the ministers of the church for convincing the congregation and seminary to solve the problem between themselves, rather than the court,” Wiberg said.

On March 30, 2001, the seminary and the congregation signed the two-year mortgage contract, stating that the congregation would have to pay more than $2 million by March 30, 2003, as well as $200,000 in interest payments to purchase and keep the chapel property.

The congregation began fundraising right away—but Sept. 11 thwarted their efforts, according to Wiberg.

In the new year, the church has added new fundraising initiatives, including the creation of a board of trustees, as well as a website that allows donors to send in money electronically.

The congregation remains hopeful about raising the $2 million on deadline.

“Even the seminary, which has not been supportive in the past, is interested in seeing us make it,” Wiberg added. “A lot of people are pulling in our direction.”

The congregation said they hope to save the chapel property because of its unique historical connection to the site and Harvard.

“It’s such an unusual property and such a wonderful figurehead for our denomination,” Wiberg said. “If you were to itemize churches across the country, our church would be at top in terms of visibility and charm and architectural excellence.”

Being surrounded by Harvard is especially advantageous for Swedenborgs.

“The location is an amazing asset for us,” said Buteux, who graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1998 and interned at the church during that time. “Swedenborgs are intellectual types—we love lectures and being around a university.”

She added that the church hopes to become more involved with Harvard in the future if they remain at their current location.

“We are planning after-school and meditation programs for students from Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School,” Buteux said. “And we’d love for Harvard students to volunteer and help us out.”

Buteux has recently been named a chaplain for the University—and hopes that will facilitate more of a connection with Harvard.

“All religion relates to life, and the life of religion is to do good,” she said, citing a Swedenborg saying.

—Staff writer Lauren A.E. Schuker can be reached at schuker@fas.harvard.edu.