Gomes—a leader of the University-wide umbrella religious network, the United Ministry—says that he thinks that buying a chair might be a “reasonable, attractive proposition,” for the United Ministry, although the group hasn’t yet discussed the matter.

“It might address a space problem which the United Ministry has been facing,” Gomes added.

The University technically has right to first refusal on the property, but Harvard has not expressed interest in acquiring it, according to Dole.

“If anyone wanted to buy the chapel, Harvard could step in and buy it for the same price…but they say they aren’t interested in the land right now,” Dole says.

Mary H. Power, Harvard’s senior director of community relations, stressed the University’s hope that the congregation will raise the money.

“We recognized that the congregation has been a good neighbor to Harvard and the community,” Power says. “Harvard’s interest is in seeing the congregation continue at the chapel.”

The Rev. Buteux, who graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1998, praised the University for its aid.

“The Harvard representatives we’ve been working with have offered their support…The conversations we’ve had have been very positive,” Buteux says.

So Happy Together

Swedenborgianism and Harvard have long been intertwined.

The denomination was brought to Boston in the early 19th century by friends of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Class of 1821, according to Eugene I. Taylor, Jr., a member of the congregation and a lecturer on psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

“The first Swedenborgian society to be convened in Boston grew out of a group of Swedenborgian ministers who were all waiting tables with Emerson back in the eighteen-teens,” Taylor says.

The small Christian sect has about 30,000 to 50,000 followers worldwide, according to Buteux. While they believe that any religion can bring salvation, rigorous intellectual analysis of the Scripture is at the core of their practice.

“One reason the church is so small is that there’s a great emphasis on personal responsibility,” she says. “It’s not instant-gratification salvation.”

Swedenborgians believe that all religions are equally valid paths to salvation, says Buteux.