SPIRIT OF DEVOTION

When Dean Matthews characterized the chapel services as unique in their spirit of devotion, he summarized in that phrase the ideal for which Dean Sperry has been striving for many years. Compared with the compulsory chapel that is found in many other colleges, where everything from religion to the disposal of cigarette stubs is Discussed, Harvard's religious organization is certainly superior; but at the same time it is significant that the spirit which Dean Matthews found was as much due to the brilliance of its distinguished visitor as to characteristics inherent in chapel itself.

Over the long run the scarcity of men of the caliber of Dean Matthews has been only too obvious. In the past few years Dean Sperry has followed two contradictory lines of approach; he has gone far and wide in an endeavor to find really good men, and he has at the same time insisted on giving local pastors a chance to cultivate the Harvard field. While some of these are excellent men, others are invited merely because they have a "stake in the Harvard community," or because such invitations have been extended in the past--and the popularity and high standards of chapel suffer as a result.

Deans and Professors of the University also provide an exceedingly touchy problem. There seems to be an opinion current among some of the older members of the Faculty that any distinguished teacher with an interest in religion has the right to hold forth in morning chapel. But too often aptitude for religious expression and profundity of religious thought do not accompany mere interest in the subject. Approaching the same problem from a different point of view, there are faculty members whose chapel talks are brilliant; Professors Mather, Munn and Hopper are in this category. Because of the supposed necessity for giving time to their less capable colleagues, these men are seldom seen, and the influence they might have in the popularization of chapel is correspondingly weak. But regardless of Faculty etiquette this type, and this type only, should be invited.

To provide the spiritual uplift for which chapel is intended, only the best men from outside and from within the university can be chosen. All cannot be as profound and as stimulating as Dean Matthews, nor as interesting as Professor Hopper. But in proportion as better choices continue to be made, so will the University community, which is always ready to recognize merit as it is to ignore mediocrity, respond with greater chapel attendance.