From a gray fog rises Silvis Adoration Chapel

by Claudia Loucks, correspondent@qconline.com

Silvis - Gray smoke fogged up Rachel Adell's glasses until she couldn't see, yet she had a clear vision.

She knew people at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Silvis would support a Perpetual Adoration Chapel. Her prayers for enough volunteer adorers to use the always-open chapel also were miraculously answered to lay the groundwork for the project.

A former parish office was converted into the chapel in November 2002.

It was furnished by donations, said parish priest the Rev. J.M. Logan.

"People have been very generous with their cash, time, energy, and creative skills," he said. "One of our parishioners crafted the altar from wood and another donated the monstrance, which is the vessel in which the Host is displayed."

The chapel is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Many people accept assigned times to be in prayer in the chapel so that there is always someone there, Rev. Logan said. The chapel contains 10 chairs and nine kneelers to accommodate visitors. Mrs. Adell arranges the volunteer schedule.

Mrs. Adell recalls a time when she was alone at adoration time when it was instead held in the church sanctuary at specific times.

"I was not able to concentrate on my prayers," she said. "It seemed like everything else was on my mind. I asked the Holy Spirit to help me concentrate on my prayers.

"As soon as I asked that, around the monstrance a gray smoke appeared and it fogged up my glasses," she said. "I was not able to see anything. I knew it meant something holy, but I did not understand it. I was in tears. It was so moving."

She learned two weeks later what the sign meant.

"We were in a Bible study with Rev. Logan, and he was telling us in the Old Testament how the Israelites would carry the arc of the covenant and always there was this gray smoke around it which represents the presence of God," Mrs. Adell said. "I knew I had received a special gift from God."

A few weeks later, church leaders wondered if they should continue having adoration chapel hours in the main church because of low attendance. Rev. Logan told Mrs. Adell it could remain open if she could fill the hours.

"I asked God if he wanted the chapel to be open, he would need to melt the hearts of the people I was going to call and ask them to commit to one hour a day in the chapel," Mrs. Adell said.

Chapel hours were filled 4 1/2 hours later. "That was the beginning of the groundwork for our own Perpetual Adoration Chapel," she said.

Some members of the Silvis church had started visiting a chapel at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Rock Island.

"The idea came to us to have our own Perpetual Adoration Chapel in our church," Rev. Logan said.

Before converting the former parish office, chapel hours varied and expanded during specific church seasons.

"Now, the chapel door is always open," Rev. Logan said. "The doors to the main sanctuary may be locked, but the chapel door remains unlocked. That is a real blessing, having the chapel doors open in this day and age in which we are living when most churches are locked.

"You can always go to the chapel to pray, even if you are not Catholic and even if this is not your church," he said.

It makes the church a little more "user-friendly," Rev. Logan said.

Candy Miller, office manager at J.D. Darnall High School in Geneseo, has started spending more time weekly visiting the chapel, saying it gives her a quiet, peaceful retreat from the activities of everyday life.

"Anyone who is seeking a deeper, more personal relationship with Jesus Christ would benefit from spending time there," she said. "I find that the more often I go, the more I crave my time spent there. That time helps me to regroup and refocus."

Rev. Logan also finds it amazing to learn about the extent of sorrow, suffering and worries in people's lives. Many people, he said, write about how comforting, empowering and uplifting it is to come to the chapel and be in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist.