A new Marriott Hotel in Maryland made from a repurposed all-girls Catholic school has drawn controversy for turning the chapel area into a bar. The move has led alumnae of the former school to launch a petition that has garnered 3,000 signatures.
Called the Wye Oak Tavern – part of the Visitation Hotel in Frederick, Maryland – the room that was once a place of worship now features tabled seating around the nave while the main altar area is now the bar. The horseshoe bar surrounds the altar which is adorned with a three-tier shelf of alcohol bottles while stained glass featuring images of the saints remains on either side of the chapel’s beautiful main fresco. A view of the renovated chapel can be seen in an Instagram post.
According to Fox News, the chapel had previously served the students of Visitation Convent and Academy. It closed as a school in 2016 and its sale was formalized in 2017. The renovations took nearly seven years to complete, at a cost estimated in the millions, before it could reopen as a Marriott hotel on December 19, 2024.
The petition was started by Elyssa Koren, a mother and lawyer who graduated from Visitation Academy in 2000. On the Change.org petition page, she wrote that its purpose is to “restore dignity” to the chapel and request that the hotel relocate the bar.
While the page does acknowledge that the chapel has been deconsecrated, she called the bar a “painful misuse of the space.”
"We, Visitation Academy alumnae, concerned citizens of Frederick, Maryland, and others dismayed by the use of this space, request you to make the necessary changes as soon as possible to restore its dignity and respect its holy heritage -- either by removing the altar and tabernacle or relocating the bar to another location," the petition requests.
"Church aesthetic"
Koren went on to argue that the bar could have been put anywhere, and its current location suggests a certain “disregard for the holy heritage of the space.” Furthermore, she argued that the bar still maintains the former church aesthetic that has “caused many to express serious discomfort,” with some considering avoiding Marriott hotels until a change is made.
For his part, Jim O’Hare, co-developer of the Visitation Hotel, has stated that the developers acquiesced to all of the archdiocese’s requirements for the sale and reuse of the space. He noted that the initial sale of the building sent $2.75 million to the archdiocese and the site has been thoroughly deconsecrated. Furthermore, the relics within the altar and tabernacles were returned to the Church.
"We removed the post-Vatican II altar which was used for Mass and sacraments. We donated stations of the cross and crucifixes to local churches,” O’Hare told Fox. “We moved statues of Virgin Mary and Joseph to our courtyard garden. And, we very purposely have constructed the bar to be separate from the historic altar."
O’Hare made no indication that the petition would influence the hotel to make any changes. Read more at Fox News.
