Perpetual Adoration during Lent and security needs

[maryj]

Do you have Perpetual Adoration during Lent at your parish, and if you do is there any ways in which you address security issues for those adorers during the overnight hours. ie security cameras out side of the doors, keyless entry’s etc. We had a recent break in at our attached rectory and we believe it is causing some issues with lack of adorers in the overnight hours, especially with the women of our parish being a bit nervous about not only entering the chapel from the street but being at the chapel alone. I have been asked to take a 4 a.m. shift in addition to my regular hour and have discussed with my husband maybe purchasing a keyless entry system, with code for the chapel. There are three doors to enter the chapel, one from the main body of the church, one from the street and one from the backside of the rectory which is also open to the public. Two doors could be locked from the inside of the chapel with a coded keyless entry for the street access. Overnight Adorers would have the code to enter. Does anyone have this system in place in their Adoration chapels and how does it work out?

 

[Trishie]

Our ‘security’ is to have a roster for each hour so that at all times someone is praying in the church.

 

[CB_Catholic]

We don’t have Perpetual Adoration at my church, but we do have Exposition it from 9AM Fri. to 9 AM Sat. Those who are signed up for hours from 9PM to 6AM are given a key to the church. A record is kept of who has a key to the church.

 

[maryj]

We don’t have Perpetual Adoration at my church, but we do have Exposition it from 9AM Fri. to 9 AM Sat. Those who are signed up for hours from 9PM to 6AM are given a key to the church. A record is kept of who has a key to the church.

We would need a whole lot of keys for just one night, not to mention the other six. That’s why I thought keyless would be an option. But I’ll mark you as 1 who locks doors during nighttime hours.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

We have Adoration from 9AM Friday to 9AM Saturday also; as well as 6:30 AM on the 4th to 6:30 AM on the 5th. We keep one door open; it’s a quiet peaceful area. There are always at least two people present and the KofC has at least one man present for the night time hours.

We also have an extension phone in the Church.

 

[centurionguard]

We would need a whole lot of keys for just one night, not to mention the other six. That’s why I thought keyless would be an option. But I’ll mark you as 1 who locks doors during nighttime hours.

I can remember a time many many decades ago when the Faithful could walk into almost any Catholic Church around the world during daytime and early evening hours to partake in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or make Adoration in the Perpetual Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Those days are few and far between and sparse Church’s at that. It’s regrettable; but, I can understand the need to side with caution with regard to security issues in the Church. Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City that was once home to the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen has for number of many years had Perpetual Adoration 364 days a year 24 hours a day (with the exception of Good Friday). The Alter I speak about in St. Patrick’s where Our Lord is present in the Monstrance is completely surrounded by high grade bullet proof glass. Perhaps it might seem a strange and an extreme measure. But considering today’s unscrupulous culture and St Patrick’s downtown vicinity it’s completely understandable.

 

[maryj]

We have Adoration from 9AM Friday to 9AM Saturday also; as well as 6:30 AM on the 4th to 6:30 AM on the 5th. We keep one door open; it’s a quiet peaceful area. There are always at least two people present and the KofC has at least one man present for the night time hours.

We also have an extension phone in the Church.

KofC, the guardians of the Eucharist…hmmm now that’s an idea worth looking into also. I called a man that’s in the Kofc and asked if he’d help me with the 4a.m. shift and he of course answered “of course”. I do know that a large portion of our local knights are elderly, but definately worth asking them. Thanks for the idea. We try to have two people in the overnight times but we are so having issues with that this year. We have year round Adoration from Thursday 8a.m. to Friday 8a.m. with no problems finding two people for each hour, but forty days is a lot more than 24 hours.

 

[Walden]

Our parish has a 24/364 chapel. At night, anyone wishing to enter must be “buzzed in” by the person already there. No keys except for the pastor. Since there is always someone there, you don’t need codes.

 

[kage_ar]

We have perpetual adoration in a chapel, it has one well lit entrance with a keyless entry.

 

[Corki]

There are two perpetual adoration chapels at parishes near me. Both have keyless locks on the doors. I have never been to the one at night but was given the code to the other by calling the office.

Oddly, one chapel insists on two adorers at night but the other only schedules one at night and two during the day.

 

[1ke]

My old parish had truly perpetual adoration in a dedicated chapel. They had a keyless entry systemwith a code to get in after the church offices closed at 5 pm.

 

[maryj]

Thank you for all the replies. Have any of you heard of any regular problems with keyless entries? I’ll be bringing this up with our Pastor this afternoon.

 

[nicolep]

We have a perpetual adoration chapel all year as well. We have the keyless card entry that works on two doors. The chapel is inside the first set of doors. The next set of doors that lead into the narthex are locked at 8 pm (automatically). We have not had any issues with the keyless entry.

It’s not an inexpensive answer though.

 

[acadian]

The Adoration chapel that I sometimes frequent does not have keyless entry. I have been there, though, with one other person in the evening (say 8), and when I got up and left, I heard her lock the door behind me. So I guess someone stopping in would at least have to knock.

 

[kage_ar]

Thank you for all the replies. Have any of you heard of any regular problems with keyless entries? I’ll be bringing this up with our Pastor this afternoon.

Only during an ice storm when the door froze shut That would’ve happened with any kind of lock.

 

[zab]

We’ve had a keyless entry for over 10 years and have had no problems. Now we have a keyless entry at the front door, too. The key pad is not on the front door. It is on the side of the arch going up to the door (hidden from a direct frontal view). So people in a wheel chair can punch their numbers and the door automatically opens. It works great and looks nice too.

We have had a phone available for emergency use for about 20 years. It is not visible to everyone, but the adorers know where it is located. Many people have cell phones now, so it hasn’t been used in a while, but the phone is still there.

We have recently had security cameras installed during the renovation. It has been three months and the cameras are still not hooked up to the recording device.

Women are discouraged from taking a late night hour alone. They seek to get the men to fill those hours. But some women prefer late night hours.

 

[maryj]

We have a perpetual adoration chapel all year as well. We have the keyless card entry that works on two doors. The chapel is inside the first set of doors. The next set of doors that lead into the narthex are locked at 8 pm (automatically). We have not had any issues with the keyless entry.

It’s not an inexpensive answer though.

I guess I’d consider that a keyed entrance, even though it’s not a key in the key sense. We have the exact opposite of yours. You come through the streetside door into the narthex, and then through another door to the chapel. That would be the door with the keyless coded lock. That way even if you don’t have a card to swipe you can still get in with a code, and no icing problems since the door is inside the building. Thank you all for your responses.

 

[jmcrae]

Do you have Perpetual Adoration during Lent at your parish, and if you do is there any ways in which you address security issues for those adorers during the overnight hours. ie security cameras out side of the doors, keyless entry’s etc. We had a recent break in at our attached rectory and we believe it is causing some issues with lack of adorers in the overnight hours, especially with the women of our parish being a bit nervous about not only entering the chapel from the street but being at the chapel alone. I have been asked to take a 4 a.m. shift in addition to my regular hour and have discussed with my husband maybe purchasing a keyless entry system, with code for the chapel. There are three doors to enter the chapel, one from the main body of the church, one from the street and one from the backside of the rectory which is also open to the public. Two doors could be locked from the inside of the chapel with a coded keyless entry for the street access. Overnight Adorers would have the code to enter. Does anyone have this system in place in their Adoration chapels and how does it work out?

We have a perpetual adoration chapel here in town where access is restricted to Church members only from 11:00 pm to 8:00 am. It’s a coded keyless entry pad, where the code is something easy for Church members to remember (to prevent some idiot from writing the code on the door, as we have seen happen in other situations), but difficult for other people to guess. In addition, a minimum of two people are required to be present at all times, so that if someone is followed in, they would not be alone in there. (The protocol is that you don’t leave if there is only one other person there; you wait for someone else to arrive, before leaving. The regular adorers have their phone numbers on a sheet, so if someone is late or appears to have forgotten to come, you can phone them to remind them.)

 

[jc-servant]

My parish has had PEA since 2005 in a burb of a major metro area. We have never had any major issues with security, but we have learned a few things over time.

First, our pastor does not permit women to sign up for the hours 10pm-6am as committed adorers. Married women may accompany their husbands during those hours, but at least 2 men must be signed up for that hour or a sub called in.

Next, we have always had an electronic keypad on the outer door for entry after 10pm on weekdays. I’m not sure, but I believe on weekends the door is locked earlier. All committed adorers know the code. If other people want the code to adore (not on the schedule but on their own) during the “locked” hours, then they must get if from the office in advance.

We have panic buttons inside for adorers just in case of problems.

We have let the city police know about our chapel and that people are always in there or coming or going. They swing through that part of our church’s complex of buildings and parking lots during the evenings fairly often and sometimes sit in their cars in that parking area to do paperwork.

We have a phone with the full book of names and numbers on the schedule for the adorers and subs and team leaders for every day of the week and every hour on the day just in case one of the people for the next hour fails to show up. We also have a parishioner coordinator who is in charge of the whole shebang. Every committed adorer also gets a list of the other people in case they need to find someone to sub for them during vacation or illness, etc.

Finally, most of the people I know have their own cell phone with them during adoration in case everything else fails to work.

We have only had one instance that I know of when some adorers were uncomfortable with a man who came in one weekend a few years ago. He asked them for money and then left, but there were only 2 women at that time and we did not have the panic buttons yet. The chapel used to have something outside the outer door that identified it, but now we have moved the location so that access is not facing the public road and people have to be told what is behind that solid wooden door.

 

[txangel]

Do you have Perpetual Adoration during Lent at your parish, and if you do is there any ways in which you address security issues for those adorers during the overnight hours. ie security cameras out side of the doors, keyless entry’s etc. We had a recent break in at our attached rectory and we believe it is causing some issues with lack of adorers in the overnight hours, especially with the women of our parish being a bit nervous about not only entering the chapel from the street but being at the chapel alone. I have been asked to take a 4 a.m. shift in addition to my regular hour and have discussed with my husband maybe purchasing a keyless entry system, with code for the chapel. There are three doors to enter the chapel, one from the main body of the church, one from the street and one from the backside of the rectory which is also open to the public. Two doors could be locked from the inside of the chapel with a coded keyless entry for the street access. Overnight Adorers would have the code to enter. Does anyone have this system in place in their Adoration chapels and how does it work out?

We have Perpetual Adoration, 24-7, 364 days a year. Those who have hours starting at 9PM to 6AM must have an access code to enter the chapel. We’ve been doing this for 6 years now and so far there have not been any instances of violence or anyone trying to get in that shouldn’t be there. Of course, sadly enough, the fact remains that if someone wanting to do harm, wanted in badly enough, he/she could always find a way. However, even though it may be a bit eerie in the chapel at those hours, I trust in Jesus to keep His adorers safe in His Presence.

Good luck in finding the security for your purposes.