Editing Chapel (section)

==Modern usage==
[[File:Capel Salem, Pwllheli.jpg|thumb|[[Capel Salem, Pwllheli|Capel Salem]], a nonconformist chapel in [[Pwllheli]], Wales. Unlike earlier types of chapel, this chapel is not attached to a larger place of worship.]]
While the word ''chapel'' is not exclusively limited to [[Christianity|Christian]] terminology, it is most often found in that context. Nonetheless, the word's meaning can vary by denomination, and non-denominational chapels (sometimes called "meditation rooms") can be found in many hospitals, airports, and even the [[United Nations headquarters]]. Chapels can also be found for worship in [[Judaism]].

"Chapel" is in particularly common usage in the [[United Kingdom]], and especially in [[Wales]], for [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)| Nonconformist]] places of worship;<ref>Also known, perhaps disparagingly, as ''Ebenezers'' – {{oed | Ebenezer}}</ref> and in [[Scotland]] and [[Ireland]] for [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] churches. In [[England]] and Wales, due to the rise in Nonconformist chapels during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, by the time of the [[1851 United Kingdom census|1851 census]], more people attended the independent chapels than attended the state religion's Anglican churches.<ref>{{cite book |first=Owen |last=Chadwick |author-link=Owen Chadwick |title=The Victorian Church, Part One: 1829–1859 |location=London |publisher=Black |year=1966 |pages=363–69 }}</ref><ref>Mann 1854.</ref> (The Anglican Church does not function as the established church in Scotland.)

In Roman Catholic Church canon law, a chapel, technically called an "[[oratory (worship)|oratory]]", is a building or part thereof dedicated to the celebration of services, particularly the Mass, which is not a parish church. This may be a private chapel, for the use of one person or a select group (a bishop's private chapel, or the chapel of a convent, for instance); a semi-public oratory, which is partially available to the general public (a seminary chapel that welcomes visitors to services, for instance); or a public oratory (for instance, a hospital or university chapel).

Chapels that are built as part of a larger church are holy areas set aside for some specific use or purpose: for instance, many cathedrals and large churches have a "[[Lady chapel]]" in the apse, dedicated to the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)| Virgin Mary]]; parish churches may have such a Lady chapel in a side aisle or a "chapel of Reservation" or "[[Blessed Sacrament]] chapel" where the consecrated bread of the [[Reserved sacrament|Eucharist is kept in reserve]] between services, for the purpose of taking Holy Communion to the sick and housebound and, in some Christian traditions, for devotional purposes.