Children from St. Mel School and faith formation classes, many in first Communion attire, participate in a candlelight procession to celebrate 20 years of perpetual adoration at the parish in Fair Oaks. Cathy Joyce/Herald photo

It was a joyful celebration of transformed lives and spiritual growth when hundreds of parishioners and friends of St. Mel Parish in Fair Oaks marked 20 years of adoring Jesus in their perpetual adoration chapel of the Blessed Sacrament on Feb. 11, the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes.

“Eucharistic adoration is the summit of our faith,” said Father Liam McSweeney, pastor of St. Mel. “It’s the very presence of Christ in its fullness: the body, blood, soul and divinity. It is the core of our Catholic faith. To have it venerated 24 hours a day for 20 years is wonderful.”

The joyful, yet solemn event began with a holy hour of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, followed by a solemn candlelight public procession and benediction.

Bishop Emeritus Francis A. Quinn presided at a candlelight procession that was similar to those held at Lourdes, France. Priests and religious, including the Sisters of Mercy, the Missionaries of Charity and the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist, followed the tall canopy that sheltered the monstrance containing the Eucharist.

Children from St. Mel School and faith formation classes, many in first Communion attire, participated. Every organization in the parish followed after them, including the Knights of Columbus and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and the parish at large.

The similarities to Lourdes processions were intentional, said Father George Snyder, Jr., parochial vicar of St. Mel, who coordinated the event.

“Eucharistic adoration is at the very heart of Lourdes,” he noted. “To have this celebration coincide with the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes is appropriate.

Mary and Jesus are inseparable. When there is the king (Jesus present in the Eucharist), there is the queen.”

Perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament began in 1988 at St. Mel when two parishioners, Nick and Mary Murphy, approached Father Richard Doheny, then pastor of St. Mel, about starting a chapel.

Perpetual adoration is the practice of exposing the Eucharist 24 hours a day in a chapel for continuous adoration by members of the parish community. Communities that establish perpetual adoration are expected to assure that there are always some members present in prayer before the Eucharist.

Father Doheny “dove right in,” recalled Marge Della Villa, who has coordinated adorers at St. Mel for the past 18 years. “The Murphys coordinated the first schedules, and it took off from there.

“For the past 20 years, every hour has been covered. We have more than 200 committed adorers and 100 substitutes. If someone can’t make it to their hour with Jesus — even for five minutes — we have people who will come to fill in. The people are very devoted. Some even spend more than one hour with the Lord.”

“The families are fantastic,” added Mercy Sister Kathleen O’Dwyer, assistant coordinator of religious education and a retired educator from St. Mel School. “Without the families you couldn’t have this. It is wonderful to be able to come here to spend time with Jesus.”

Adoration began in the parish’s small candle room at first.

“It was very small, very warm, but people still came,” Della Villa said. “They never stopped.”

In 1992, construction of the adoration chapel began. Furnishings were lovingly done over a period of time. One year, Father Doheny, who served as pastor of St. Mel for 30 years until his death in March 2006, personally carried a statue of Our Lady of Fatima from Portugal all the way back to Fair Oaks for the chapel. He did the same with a statue of the Infant of Prague.

Jim Wagner “made the altar, the wood frames for the pictures and all the wood furnishings,” Della Villa noted. “He was very particular and a perfectionist. His wife, Joanne, made the coverings for the seats.”

The bookshelves outside the chapel are filled with books available for adorers to read during their hour with Jesus. Each book is centered on Christ.

The chapel is a silent, prayerful place where people can come to sit with Jesus, pour their hearts out to him in prayer and listen to him.

“The silence is important,” Della Villa said. “Because that is when you can hear Jesus.”
Father Doheny said he noticed an increase in individual confession as a result of eucharistic adoration.

He told Franciscan Father Benedict Groeschel, in his book, “In the Presence of Our Lord,” he “found that it transformed the spiritual life of the parish and brought parishioners much closer together…they came together joyfully and without hesitation in making perpetual eucharistic adoration an important part of their parish life.”

Each priest at St. Mel today is convinced that perpetual adoration has made a significant difference in the parish.

Father McSweeney credits the adoration chapel with being “the powerhouse that provides the energy for every organization in the parish.”

“People are so energized and happy here,” according to Father Snyder. “As a visiting seminarian, I spent hours praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament here with fellow seminarian, Father Derek LaBranch. He grew up in the parish. The spirituality of Father Doheny, who spent hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament, had a profound influence on his life. Father LaBranch is the first parishioner to be ordained to the priesthood from this parish.”

The 174,000 hours of perpetual adoration at St. Mel have brought forth other vocations also, including three laymen to be ordained as permanent deacons this June and a number of potential vocations to the priesthood.

Father McSweeney said eucharistic adoration is especially important in the 21st century.

“People have a need, more than ever, to get away from the hectic pace of life,” he said. “They are looking for a place where they can find peace, silence and solitude in order to resolve the issues they are dealing with. It’s a place to find space to readjust and heal. People who have been hurt find healing here.”

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