The Chapel of the Snows

In 1956, while the Navy SeaBees where building McMurdo Station, there were no plans for a chapel.  Chapel services were to be held in the mess hall.  But quietly, and on their own time, the navy chaplain and off duty SeaBees built a little chapel at a high point in the camp and named it The Chapel of the Snows.  It had the distinction of being the southernmost house of worship in the world.

In 1978 a fire destroyed the original building, and a temporary chapel was constructed.  On Sunday, January of 1989, a group of 80 people gathered to dedicate the current Chapel of the Snows, perched on a little knoll, overlooking McMurdo Sound.  Just 840 miles from the South Pole, it is still the only house dedicated specifically for worship on the Antarctic continent.

Originally a Navy mission, Operation Deep Freeze is now a joint force effort.  During the spring and early summer, while the ice is too thick for ships to enter, most of the airlift into and out of McMurdo Station is accomplished by the U.S. Air Force, and the New York Air National Guard.  Each summer, 3 Air National Guard chaplains from across the country augment the 109^th Air Lift Wing and rotate through McMurdo to provide Protestant chaplain support for McMurdo and the South Pole Station.  Catholic support has been, for many years, provided by a series of “Kiwi” priests from New Zealand.  (New Zealanders are proud to call themselves “Kiwis,” as Australians are called “Ausies.”)

Each Sunday, the chaplains provide Protestant and Catholic services, daily Mass, Morning Prayer, and twice-weekly Bible studies for the entire McMurdo station, and sometimes the nearby Scott Base Kiwis.  AA has a weekly meeting at the Chapel, as does a Ba’hai group.  Yoga classes are offered 3 times a week and well attended.  Other than that, individuals often come for silence and meditation, or to play musical instruments. 

Most of the worship services involve volunteers who provide a variety of music and other enhancements to worship.  Above the altar of the chapel is a window look out on a part of the Trans Antarctic Mountain rage across the McMurdo Sound.  Above the window is a beautiful stained glass window with a distinctive Antarctic theme.  All of this makes the Chapel of the Snows one of the most peaceful and attractive buildings in an environment where at least man-made beauty is not prevalent.