My Priest is getting rid of our Adoration Chapel

[Don_Ruggero]

It’s not a question of perpetual adoration, the plan is to remove the Adoration Chapel completely. There would be no more chapel.

We pray the rosary in this chapel before Mass, we have a Communion Service once a week there as well. The tabernacle has doors that you can open and close to do adoration whenever you wish.

Without the chapel their will be no adoration at all except the 40 hours we do once a year.

I am sorry…but with each of your posts, the situation becomes more confused instead of more clear.

You refer to an adoration chapel…but “adoration chapel” is a phrase used to indicate a space where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed.

What you now describe is more a Blessed Sacrament/Daily Mass chapel. So I have no idea what it is you actually have in this parish, based on your descriptions.

Some places today are moving away from these, placing the tabernacle instead in the body of the church. Is this what your new parish priest is perhaps doing?

I am even less keen on the scenario of people walking up to the tabernacle to make the Sacrament viewable, which you describe. That indeed may be one of the concerns of the new parish priest…with justification.

As I said earlier, the Sacrament reserved in the tabernacle is as “visitable” as the Sacrament exposed. If anything, I think an over emphasis on exposition has introduced an unhealthy imbalance…one can visit the Blessed Sacrament in one’s own parish, reserved in the tabernacle, without having to seek out an adoration chapel, simply because the Sacrament there is exposed.

As for your last remark, that makes no sense to me at all. Are you saying the Blessed Sacrament is not to be reserved at all? Or are you saying that the church will be open for Masses only and then immediately locked? Because adoration of the Blessed Sacrament may be done by anyone at any time, simply by coming where the tabernacle, containing the reserved Sacrament, is located and spending time there. Without any ceremony.

 

[pnewton]

As for your last remark, that makes no sense to me at all. Are you saying the Blessed Sacrament is not to be reserved at all? Or are you saying that the church will be open for Masses only and then immediately locked? Because adoration of the Blessed Sacrament may be done by anyone at any time, simply by coming where the tabernacle, containing the reserved Sacrament, is located and spending time there. Without any ceremony.

One thought I had is that in the United States, churches are often locked most of the time to prevent theft and vandalism. However, I would bet that there are many people that have a key, or one could be made available, to anyone who wanted to spend some time with the Lord. It is such a simple and reasonable request that it might be the easiest way to have a private time of adoration, or a time when the Church can safely be unlocked for a while to allow anyone to go and pray.

The best step would be to ask the priest for a solution that satisfies both of you. After all, it is not the chapel one adores but he Lord present there.

 

[zab]

One thought I had is that in the United States, churches are often locked most of the time to prevent theft and vandalism. However, I would bet that there are many people that have a key, or one could be made available, to anyone who wanted to spend some time with the Lord. It is such a simple and reasonable request that it might be the easiest way to have a private time of adoration, or a time when the Church can safely be unlocked for a while to allow anyone to go and pray.

The best step would be to ask the priest for a solution that satisfies both of you. After all, it is not the chapel one adores but he Lord present there.

When our parish began our 24 hour Perpetual Adoration program 35 years ago, our doors remained unlocked for 24 hours. However, since there has been occasional thefts and some disruptions, due to the fact that we have an increasing number of homeless and mentally ill people in our area, our church was eventually locked in the evenings with a special key pad installed on one of the doors and a code given to the adorers who were assigned the evening and night hours to get in. Now, I should specify that our adoration program consists of adoring Jesus reserved in the closed tabernacle. I have occasionally heard and read of people who believe or seem to have the understanding that Perpetual Adoration refers to adoring the Eucharist exposed in the monstrance. We do have scheduled times, for example, First Fridays, when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for 24 hours in the monstrance, as well as other times for Benediction. Perhaps it is a matter of understanding the exact meaning of the word “adore”, but I do believe that we can still adore Jesus hidden in the tabernacle.