A chapel has been added to the Bears' refurbished Halas Hall, and it is "believed to be the only one in an NFL facility," according to Dan Pompei of THE ATHLETIC. Bears Owner Virginia McCaskey, a "devout Catholic, jumped at the opportunity" to add the space to the team's facility. She said, "God has been very good to our family. It seems a way to say thank you." The chapel room "mostly is a tribute to a higher power," but it also is a "tribute to the matriarch of the Bears." As team Chair George McCaskey saw it, the chapel was an "opportunity for his mother to leave a footprint on the team her father founded." Virginia McCaskey has been "working on designing it since last winter." George McCaskey said of the space, "One of the things we're mindful of is we don't want to be seen by members of the Bears family as foisting our religion on them. So it has Catholic elements, but it was designed so those can be obscured if somebody doesn't want to look at them. This is a worship space. It's much like a non-denominational chapel you might see in a hospital." Virginia McCaskey: "We realized we needed to do things that were acceptable to everyone and comfortable for everyone" (THEATHLETIC.com, 12/8).
