We, the Family of
the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary wish to share with you our
joy as we participated in the solemn dedication of the new St.
Robert Bellarmine Chapel at the John Paul II Newman Center.
Mother Adela, Sr. Ana Margarita (our Vicar General), the sisters, and some members of our
spiritual family traveled to Peoria to take part in this great
celebration. The long awaited completion of the Newman
Center and Chapel was crowned by a beautiful liturgical
celebration that was presided by Bishop Daniel Jenky, CSC,
bishop of the Diocese of Peoria, and was attended by priests,
students, family, and alumni who filled the chapel and
overflowed into the center. The ceremony was followed by
tours of the new center and a play by the students.
Our joy at being
present for such a blessed event was magnified with the surprise
announcement by Bishop Daniel Jenky that the new center would be
named after our spiritual father, John Paul II. In his words
at a private gathering with the Family of the Pierced Hearts the day
before the dedication, he expressed that the decision to rename the
Center was made as a gift to our Mother Foundress for her 25th
anniversary of vows and because he knew of her great love for and
the call of the Family to be a living legacy of the Petrine heart of John Paul II. He desired that the Newman Center would enflesh the work, spirit and love of the young Fr. Karol Wojtyla
(the future Pope John Paul II) in its ministry to university
students. He gave the center a pectoral cross he received from the
hands of Venerable John Paul the II during an ad limina visit.
This relic is permanently housed in the Center.
He expressed
gratitude to the community for sending Sr. Silvia Maria (Director)
and Sr. Sara Marie (Assistant Director) to be the Marian hearts that
would responsibly carry out this work of love for the students,
building for them "a
Home for many hearts to know the depth of God's love and
a School to form authentic witnesses to love, truth and life”. (
Mother Adela, Foundress, FPH).
Read news
articles on these events:
--
Newman chapel dedicated; center renamed for
Pope John Paul II
--
Chapel at ISU dedicated; Newman Center renamed
--
ISU and IWU dedicate
renovated Newman Center
--
New Chapel at Illinois State University
See also:
Address of Bishop Jenky, CSC, to Mother Adela on the occasion of
the Naming of the New Center
Consecration of Nazareth House Retreat Center to the Pierced Hearts
