(4) Furnishings. Some OF the furnishings in a room with such a broad
range of uses must be easily moved into convenient storage. Seating shall be
chairs, and kneeling hassocks or bolsters shall be provided. In chapels
seating up to 40 or 50, no platform should be required. Larger capacities will
need a one step elevation. Altar/ table, small pulpit, presider's chair,
credences, and piano or organ are necessary. For Jewish worship, an ark and
bimah are needed. For Islamic worship see the preceding section.
It is appropriate that there be present some nonsectarian and
nonrepresentational work of art or symbolic element that may suggest the
presence of the divine in the world; stained glass is an example.
b.
Chapel of Reservation. To serve the devotional piety of Roman
Catholics while preserving the nonsectarian intentions generally, it is
appropriate to supply a small chapel for the tabernacle and devotional
exercises related to the Reserved Host.
This room should be easily accessible; it must be large enough for the
tabernacle with its lamp and for a few prayer desks. The sense of privacy
should be present, but natural light is desirable. See Facility Plate 24, page
37.06-87.
c.
Reconciliation Rooms. The Roman Catholic Sacrament of Penance
involves a conversation between the penitent and a priest in a private place.
Typically, penitents enter a room and find a prayer desk and perhaps a seat in
front of a visually opaque but aurally transparent screen. Penitents may kneel
or sit to make confession to a priest seated behind the screen, and preserve
anonymity. Or penitents may walk past the screen to find a chair where they
can converse openly with the priest.
Such a room is appropriately close to the Chapel of Reservation, and
adjacent to a place where waiting penitents can sit. Ideally, it opens from
the secondary worship space as does the Chapel of Reservation. The rite is no
normally scheduled for only a few hours a week. Besides the prayer desk,
screen and chairs,, a small table serves as a place for books. Acoustic
privacy is important. A way of signalling that the priest is present is
needed; it may be as simple as a lighted candle at the door.
If there is no reconciliation room in the program or when a second one
may be desirable, requirements make it possible to turn various rooms into
Reconciliation Rooms by supplying portable furniture and proper privacy. See
Facility Plate 18, page 37.06-75.
Previous Page
