In 1880, Endicott Peabody said that his goal for the then-new Groton School was to instill “manly, Christian character” in schoolboys. He adhered to muscular Christianity, an ideal that encompassed athletic prowess, simple living and a suppression of “immoral desires.” A Harvard-trained clergyman, Peabody believed morality to be as significant to a good education as academics.

As the fall semester unfolds, Groton will make several changes that the leadership hopes will enhance the religious experience of the student body.

St. John’s Chapel is one of the most beautiful, historic buildings on the Circle. Built in the Gothic style, the exterior harkens back to an earlier era. Sunday Chapel has sought to embrace that history, while also adapting to the modern pupil.  

Reverend Whiteman is back for his second year.  In his sophomore campaign, he is introducing what he believes will be several solid improvements, plans to have more Eucharist services this year. These services are extremely important to the Christian faith.  At the same time, they inevitably lengthen Sunday chapel services.

The issue of service length always has been a contentious issue among Grotonians. Rev. Whiteman affirmed that the guideline for service length is about 45 minutes.  And while he acknowledged that most chapel services run over an hour,  he said, “This amount

of time is the right standard to create a meaningful spiritual experience that employs some form of ritual and application of our individual traditions to everyday life.”

For 2017-2018, the Reverend also wants to have more students deliver sermons. Drawing on the popularity of the Chapel Talk, student-led sermons will afford students the opportunity to share their own faith experience with others in the community. Lwazi Bululu ‘20, who preached last year as a Third Former, said, “I really liked it. It was probably one of the best experiences I have had — interpreting the scripture in my way and speaking about it was amazing.”

Whiteman also will introduce more special services.  These will include “The Blessing of the Animals”, “A Celebration of Earth Day”, and a visitation from Bishop Gayle E. Harris for MLK, Jr. weekend. These special services promise to offer additional perspectives from beyond the Circle.   

In addition to Reverend Whiteman, Mr. Spierer (head of Jewish Student Life) and Ms. Mohamed (head of Muslim Services) are important new religious leaders on the Circle this year.They too have valuable changes in store for students in 2017-2018. Mr. Spierer said, “Our service follows a traditional Friday night Shabbat. There are Hebrew prayers, responsive readings in English, a lesson from the Torah, and a gathering after with challah and sweets along with a group discussion about our week. We celebrate the Jewish holidays, too. Last Friday we celebrated Rosh Hashanah, and this Friday we’ll be observing Kol Nidre, the service the evening prior to Yom Kippur, which is this Saturday. We will celebrate Hannukkah, Passover, and other holidays, too.”

Ms. Mohamed offered enthusiastic details about her plans.  

Mohamed started by framing her overall approach.  She intends to have students pray together, explore important learnings and lessons in the Quran and “discuss how to lead moral/ethical and joyous lives as Muslims in America.”  

In addition, Muslim service leader Magda Mohamed also plans to address some of the challenges that religious minorities. As Ms. Mohamed noted, these topics are important to address, particularly when “these identities are under constant attack and scrutiny.”  Ms. Mohamed brings passion and prospective ideas to the Muslim services.   

Finally, one of the fastest-growing services on the Groton campus is the Buddhist/Hindu Sangha.  This religious offering has seen a sizable increase in participation in the past two years. Ani Gogineni ‘20, who was raised neither Buddhist nor Hindu, attends Buddhist/Hindu Sangha because of its shorter length and more relaxed atmosphere. He said, “I’m not religious; therefore, I enjoy the Buddhist Sangha and its focus on meditation over scripture.”

Cui Servire Est Regnare, the Groton School motto, is taken from the Book of Common Prayer, the core foundation of worship in the Episcopal Church. As the Groton describes on its official website, the original phrase was about service to God.. However, the “motto has [now] been accepted more broadly to connote service to the community and to the world.”  

The innovation reflected in the 2017-2018 religious commitments, coupled with maintaining the services themselves, captures this broader framing of service quite well as students look for time away from the classroom. These services allow students to reflect on how to make a difference around the world. It is an aspiration for positive impact that Endicott Peabody would have welcomed.