No, you don’t need to leave the country this summer to visit a remarkable church.
In fact, a family-friendly summer vacation can be planned around a visit to a notable or historically significant place of worship.
Listed in no particular order, the following three chapels are located in destinations that have a lot to do and see beyond the stained glass windows.
Rocky Mountain National Park
Just outside the spectacular Rocky Mountain National Park is the Chapel of Saint Catherine of Siena.
It sits on a rocky outcrop in the shadow of Mount Meeker, which at 13,916 feet is the second highest peak in the national park. The nearest town east parkit is about 20 minutes by car.
Built in the mid-1930s for the spiritual needs of Camp Malo, a Roman Catholic retreat, architect Jacques Benedict designed a traditional cross-shaped chapel heavily influenced by Rustic Revival and Romanesque styles.
The chapel’s claim to fame, at least within Roman Catholic circles, is a 1993 visit by then-Pope (and later Saint) John Paul II.
Chapel of Saint Catherine of Siena It is open for visitors from 10 am to 4 pm Tuesday through Sunday.
milwaukee
A reconstructed Gothic chapel dedicated to Saint Joan of Arc stands on the campus of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The chapel, dating from the early 15th century, originally dedicated to Saint Martin of Seyssuel, was located in the French town of Chasse-sur-Rhône. That changed in 1927, when it was acquired by railroad heiress Gertrude Hill Gavin and moved to her property on Long Island in New York. After the sale of the property in 1962 and the subsequent fire, the chapel was donated to Marquette University.
Deconstructed stone by stone, the 30 tons, for the second time, were shipped to the Rust Belt city of milwaukee and he returned to the Jesuit college.
Despite multiple restorations, reconstructions, and alterations, the Chapel of St. Joan of Arc feels authentically medieval. The 13th century altar with its post-Vatican II orientation is a rare sign of modernity.
He Chapel of Saint Joan of Arc it is free to visit. Office hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 12 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
The Finger Lakes of New York
Perched above Keuka Lake, one of the 11 glacial lakes that make up the Finger Lakes, is the Garrett Memorial Chapel. While it may look medieval, it is not.
Commissioned by Paul and Evelyn Garrett in memory of a son who died of tuberculosis, the granite chapel was designed by architect Mortimer Freehof in a Norman Gothic Revival style and built between 1930 and 1931. The interior features 10 stained glass windows depicting life and Ministry of Christ by Frederick Wilson, the former head of church art at Tiffany Studios.
Garrett Memorial Chapel is open every Tuesday and Thursday in the summer between 1 and 4 pm The 9 am Sunday service, beginning today and ending September 2, features invited Episcopalian, Presbyterian and Lutheran clergy.
Dennis Lennox writes a travel column for The Christian Post.
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