The CATHOLIC DIOCESE of DODGE CITY

Serving the People of Southwest Kansas

Cathedral becomes fourth site in diocese for Perpetual Adoration

Father Ted Skalsky prays as Perpetual Adoration begins at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Dodge City.

 

 

The admirable practice of gathering in prayer before the tabernacle, to adore Christ truly present therein, was born of the need to reserve the Lord’s Sacred Body for Communion for the sick and infirm. Recommended by the Church to her Pastors and her faithful, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is highly expressive of the bond between the celebration of the Lord’s Sacrifice and his permanent presence in the consecrated Host (cf. De sacra communione, 79-100; Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 25; Mysterium fidei; Redemptionis Sacramentum, 129-141).

By remaining in prayer before the Lord Jesus, truly living in the Blessed Sacrament, not only is our union with him matured, but we are better disposed to more fruitfully celebrate it and to prolong those existential and reverential attitudes raised by it. These are expressed by the Church’s tradition in different ways:

-- Simple visits to the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the tabernacle: a brief encounter with Christ spurred on by faith in his true presence, and characterized by silent prayer;

-- Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, exposed, as per liturgical norms, in the monstrance or pix, be it for shorter or longer durations of time;

-- Perpetual adoration, the Quarant’Ore Devotion or other such forms which gather together an entire religious community, Eucharistic association or parish community, and which furnish the occasion for numerous expressions of Eucharistic piety (cf. Directory of Popular Piety, 165).

 

 

 

By Tim Wenzl

Diocesan Archivist

After 7 p.m. Benediction and a Holy Hour on Nov. 7, Father Ted Skalsky processed to the adoration chapel with the monstrance holding the Holy Eucharist. He was followed by Father Wesley Schawe and a spontaneous procession of nearly 300 faithful through the ambulatory. After Father Skalsky placed the monstrance on the chapel altar, reverenced the Blessed Sacrament with incense, and knelt in silent prayer, perpetual adoration began at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

By coincidence, Perpetual Adoration was initiated in the see city less than a month after Pope John Paul opened the Year of the Eucharist on Oct. 17. The Holy Father has called on the faithful to "be frequent adorers of the most holy Eucharist."

Perpetual adoration was a topic of conversation during the planning process for the new Cathedral. Robert Habiger, the architect, designed space for the adoration chapel, but it was not constructed at the same time as the cathedral.

"The momentum for perpetual adoration already existed in the design phase of construction," said Father Skalsky. "The chapel was not built because we were not totally comfortable with the original design and because there were not funds. Once we received a donation to build the chapel, we began in earnest to make plans for the chapel and its construction."

Father Jacob Dreher, who died on Jan. 11, contributed a gift in the name of the Philip and Mary (Rohr) Dreher family for the construction of the adoration chapel. Bishop Ronald M. Gilmore blessed and dedicated the chapel on May 2.

Father Jerry Beat and two lay witnesses from the Wichita diocese spoke about perpetual adoration at all the Masses in the cathedral the weekend of Oct. 16 and 17. More than 530 people are now participating in this parish ministry. Donna Schawe and Estel Valverde are the parish coordinators.

Father Skalsky shared his view of the value of Perpetual Adoration for the individual, parish and diocese. "There is the value of silence in the Lord’s presence. There is the value of prayer of petition for the individual, for the parish, the diocese and the whole Church. There is the value of praise and worship of Christ made present in the mystery of the Eucharist. In this time of prayer, faith will be strengthened and love for God and neighbor will be deepened.

"I am confident that there will be many blessings to the Church and to individual parishioners as a result of adoration. Some of those blessings will be known. Others will remain known to God alone.

"I invite people who have not signed up for adoration to stop by the chapel when they can. At first, they may find that they see no benefit to this time of prayer, but, in time, I trust they will begin to experience very subtle blessings coming into their lives."

There are now four sites in the diocese with perpetual adoration. The others are St. Catherine Hospital in Garden City, Central Kansas Medical Center in Great Bend, and St. Anthony Church in Liberal.