Open for perpetual adoration:
St. Francis de Sales Chapel
By Christie L. Chicoine
CS&T Staff Writer
Perpetual adoration began in mid-February at the chapel of St. Francis de Sales Church in Southwest Philadelphia. According to the head adoration chapel coordinator, 68-year-old Katie Keil, “business is good.”
“It’s a blessing to be able to spend time with the Blessed Sacrament any time that you choose,” Keil said.
Previously, adoration was celebrated for two hours on Saturday mornings at St. Francis de Sales Church, 47th Street and Springfield Avenue.
The devotion is particularly close to Keil’s heart. After a fire damaged her family home in 1992, she frequented the adoration chapel at the Convent of Divine Love, 2212 Greene St. in Philadelphia. It is sponsored by the Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration, also known as the Pink Sisters, in reference to their rose-colored habits.
“I spent a lot of time at the Pink Sisters’ with the Blessed Sacrament,” Keil said. “That’s when my devotion really started, and grew.”
She and her husband, Houston, moved back into their house a year and a half after the fire; six months after that, he died of complications from liver cancer.
The peace and quiet that surrounded Keil at the adoration chapel were calming, she said. “I was down, but being there before the Blessed Sacrament — the peace that came, spending time daily, praying the rosary and other prayers — was just a great source of support.”
And she never forgot the graces she received before the Blessed Sacrament at the Convent of Divine Love. When it was decided that St. Francis de Sales Parish would begin perpetual adoration, Keil contacted the Pink Sisters and asked them to pray for the undertaking, as well as for the pastor and the adoration chapel coordinators.
What should one bring to an adoration chapel? “Cares, concerns, wants, needs, thanksgiving,” Keil said.
To those who grow restless during adoration, Keil advises patience. “They need to trust. If you go to adoration and are unsure, sit there quietly. It will come.”
The peace, calm and serenity are transforming, she said. “There is a change in the way you think, live and care about others. You’re more conscious of the needs of others. You respond to them differently.”
Keil is also a member of her parish’s bereavement committee, an extraordinary minister of holy Communion, a Mass coordinator and a member of the Legion of Mary.
In addition to the Blessed Sacrament, Keil has a deep devotion to the Blessed Mother. She is the mother of two grown children, and the grandmother of one grandson.
She also considers the community of St. Francis de Sales part of her extended family.
Collectively, “they’re a blessing from God,” she said of her children and church family. “We have a close relationship.”
St. Francis’ perpetual adoration chapel was blessed and officially opened by the pastor, Father Zachary W. Navit, on Saturday, Feb. 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, to whom he has a great devotion.
“My hope is that this will be a blessing for the individuals and their families from our parish, but also for our community,” including Most Blessed Sacrament Parish, with whom St. Francis de Sales Parish is twinned. [Twinning is defined as one pastor serving two parishes, each of which retains its own parochial and canonical identities.]
Young adult parishioners who attend the University of Pennsylvania and the University of the Sciences are also spending time in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, as well as helping with cleaning and set-up duties, Father Navit said.
“Our parish has always been an anchor here in the community — spiritually, socially, welcoming different groups of immigrants,” the pastor added. “The adoration chapel, in a sense, grounds that anchor in Jesus, and will only strengthen and help and increase the many good things we’re able to do in His name here.”
Concluded Keil: “I hope it will continue to make us a caring community, concerned for others, and to go out and evangelize, and bring others to be a part of us. We have something good, and we want to share it.”
For more information, contact St. Francis de Sales Parish at (215) 222-5819.
CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine can be reached at (215) 587-2468 or cchicoin@adphila.org.