Politics & Government
Amen: Final Services Held At Fort Monmouth Chapel
Final religious services were celebrated at Fort Monmouth's Post Chapel on Sunday.
“The passing of an era,” is how one gentleman leaving Sunday's 9:30 a.m. Catholic mass at Fort Monmouth's Post Chapel described the closing this week of the almost 50-year-old house of worship.
On June 29, the Post Chapel will be officially decommissioned as part of the closing of all of the base's operations by the Sept. 15 deadline, in accordance with the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment.
As Catholic church-goers filed out of the chapel on June 26 and a congregation arrived for the 11 a.m. Protestant service, they dropped prayer books into a a fire buring in the yard.
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“Prayers were incense before the Lord,” explained Linda Rovder, a parishioner. “Burning the Book of Prayers brings them back to their original state.”
Some leaving the mass reflected on their ties to the chapel, which opened in 1962, including Angela Glaspell whose son had received his First Holy Communion there and said she thought the closing was "sad."
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The Bishop McFaul Assembly of the Knights Of Columbus were in attendance at the Catholic mass to lend their support. Church bells intoned “America, The Beautiful” between the two services.
As the Catholic mass filed out onto the sidewalk, the General Protestant service was preparing to be the last service ever to be held at the chapel, drawing attendees from Boston, Maryland and Texas.
While Holy Communion wasn’t scheduled to be distributed during Sunday's service, presiders offered it as part of the final service. Garrison Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Don Campbell reminded the congregation not to be sad but to thank God for having had this place of worship.
"This chapel served the community for many years," said Fort Monmouth Spokesman Henry Kearney. "It is sad to see it closing, but it is necessary because the post is closing.”
One parishioner mumbled as he exited the chapel, “They close one base, you go on to the next.”
Exiting the chapel, churchgoers passed for the final time the stained glass window depicting George Washington in colorful detail. The window is scheduled to be dismantled and taken to the Chaplain School at Fort Jackson in South Carolina following the official decommissioning.
