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New Organ for Goodson Chapel

Goodson Chapel is among university priorities benefiting from a $6 million gift by Duke alumni Aubrey and Katie McClendon.

The McClendons’ gift includes $800,000 for a pipe organ in the Goodson Chapel of Duke Divinity School’s new Westbrook Building, which will be dedicated on Oct. 11. Previously, the couple’s giving helped restore the Aeolian organ in Duke Chapel. Katie McClendon was a member of the Chapel Choir during her freshman year, and Aubrey was a volunteer Chapel attendant for several years.

“This gift assures that magnificent music will grace the new Goodson Chapel,” said Duke University President Richard Brodhead. Three-quarters of the McClendon’s gift, or $4.5 million, will support Duke’s new student plaza connecting the main student center (the Joseph M. and Kathleen Price Bryan University Center), as well as surrounding student buildings, with other elements of West Campus. The balance of their gift will provide operating support for the Duke Annual Fund.

The divinity school’s new organ, being built by Richards Fowkes & Co. of Ooltewah, Tenn., will stand 26 feet tall and contain about 1,900 pipes. The company, with a staff of up to nine craftsmen, makes just one organ per year.

“It will be wonderful to have a great organ in the Goodson Chapel, so close to the magnificent organs of Duke Chapel,” said Dean L. Gregory Jones. “We will be able to model beautiful music for our students in worship, helping to prepare them for leadership in the churches they will serve after graduation.”

Art as Evangelism

Art as Evangelism, a series of 14 sermons inspired by art commissioned for the divinity school’s addition, began with the 79th Opening Convocation worship service on Aug. 30 in Duke Chapel.

Dean L. Gregory Jones’ sermon “Practice Resurrection,” was inspired by “Reconciliation,” a bronze sculpture by Margaret Adams Parker, which serves as a visual interpretation of the Parable of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15.

A luncheon reception for Parker and brief service of dedication for the sculpture, recently installed on the Bovender Terrace, was held for the divinity school community on August 30.

Each sermon in the series is inspired by a piece of art connected with the divinity school’s 2005 building addition. Art as Evangelism, which also is open to the public, continues with sermons at 10 a.m. in Goodson Chapel throughout the fall semester.

For information about the full schedule, please call Chaplain Sally Bates, 919-660-3459, or visit the Web site at www.divinity.duke.edu/noteworthy/.