DIXON—“A great celebration” is how Bishop David Malloy described the opening of the St. John Paul II Perpetual Adoration Chapel at St. Patrick Church here during the morning Mass, Dec 4. The Mass was attended by many parishioners and students from the parish school.

 

Christ in the Eucharist is a great gift, the bishop said, and reminded the congregation that the Blessed Sacrament is truly the body and blood of Jesus. 

 

“Before He died He said, ‘I am going to leave myself with you always,’ ” the bishop said.

 

“He has given us His body and He said, ‘This is my body, this is my blood.’ It is not merely a memory or symbolic. He is at the heart of our celebration,” Bishop Malloy said.

 

Those who visit the chapel can be  “like the shepherds and like the Wise Men who knelt before the presence of Christ,” he told the packed church. “We can feed our souls by being with Him.”

 

Father Keith Romke, pastor, and Deacon Terry Wagner joined Bishop Malloy in a blessing of the chapel prior to the Mass and participated in the adoration and prayer service before the exposed Eucharist immediately after the Mass. Some of the congregation also attended, filling the chapel to overflowing.

 

“I am beyond excited because I know that this moment will transform our parish and the lives of so many people,” Father Romke said. “It was amazing how quickly it all came together. Any time there was a need, someone came out of the woodwork to help.

 

“Believe me when I say that the faith of our parish is about to deepen to a whole new level — because we will be adoring Jesus, God Himself, 24 hours a day, six days a week. Our parish and our city will never be the same,” he added.

 

Reaching the chapel

 

The chapel, connected to the church building, can be accessed via the office entrance where people can sign up for adoration, said Father Romke, who has promoted the project since its inception.

 

“We named it after St. John Paul II because of his deep, deep love of Jesus and his faith in the real presence in the Eucharist,” Father Romke said. “We love him because of his incredibly tangible witness to joy, hope, and the fact that he lovingly encouraged us to ‘Be not afraid’ in the midst of the contemporary struggles of our own time.”

 

The new chapel is the result of several months of planning, prayer and donations, said Jennifer Sagel, coordinator of parish evangelization. It all came together quite quickly, she said.

 

Because St. John Paul II was so devoted to Our Lady, a statue of Our Lady of Fatima stands in a niche next to the tabernacle, Sagel said. 

 

Since this is a renovation project not a new construction, the cost was minimal, she added. “I just felt like anytime we had a need, somebody came forward,” she said.

 

About 150 students and many teachers from St. Mary School at the parish also participated in the Mass prior to the opening of the chapel, and the St. Mary choir sang advent hymns.

 

The chapel will also benefit the students attending the nearby school. Each class will come to spend some time in the chapel once a week, Father Romke said.

 

The adoration chapel will be closed only between the hours of 4 p.m. on Saturdays to 11:30 a.m. on Sundays.