New Eucharistic chapel opens at St. Anne in Warren; plans under way for chapels in West Bloomfield, Carleton and Eastpointe
DETROIT — Next week, thousands of Catholics from across the United States will converge on Indianapolis, Ind., for the National Eucharistic Congress, the highpoint of the U.S. bishops' multi-year National Eucharistic Revival.
The revival, sparked in part by concerning statistics showing a lack of belief in Jesus' real presence in the Eucharist among Catholics, aims to re-invigorate passion and devotion by instilling a renewed enthusiasm for the Blessed Sacrament.
The effort has spurred an outpouring of initiatives and projects nationwide encouraging Catholics to return to the "source and summit" of their faith, both through Mass and Eucharistic adoration. In the Archdiocese of Detroit, those efforts have included I AM HERE, a media initiative that shared testimonials of Catholics who attend Eucharistic adoration through stories, podcasts, videos and more.
Inspired by the fruits of the revival, several Detroit-area parishes have increased opportunities for Eucharistic adoration, and at least a handful of local communities, such as St. Mary of Redford Parish in Detroit, have begun the process of building new permanent adoration chapels.
At least four other new adoration chapels are taking shape in Warren, West Bloomfield, Carleton and Eastpointe, each one in a different stage from blueprints to completion.
St. Anne Parish, Warren
An emotional Mass on June 30 marked both the debut of St. Anne Parish's new adoration chapel and the departure of the priest who helped make it happen.
The 11 a.m. Mass commemorated the opening of the new chapel at the Warren parish to parishioners and visitors, and also marked the last official day at the parish for Fr. John Kopson, who began his new assignment as a faculty member at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit on July 1.
“This chapel is a long time coming. When Fr. John announced it at Mass, people clapped and got emotional,” said Christine Renner, who grew up at St. Anne, where she attended school and received her sacraments. “It is such a gift for Fr. John to leave this chapel for us. It’s been amazing to see it come together.”
The chapel was originally installed as a side chapel in the parish, which opened its doors in the 1960s, but the chapel's design inspired Fr. Kopson to prayerfully discern a more intentional use for the space.
For instance, three stained-glass windows in the chapel depicted Eucharistic themes: a chalice with the Eucharist, wheat and grapes. A painting on the ceiling illustrates Jesus holding up bread and wine. But the most obvious sign Fr. Kopson saw when he came to the parish in 2020 was an empty tabernacle that had sat in the space for years.
Inspired by the book "The Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle: Saint Manuel Gonzalez Garcia," by Victoria Schneider, Fr. Kopson felt convicted by the Holy Spirit to create an adoration chapel that would be accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. An iron gate would have to be installed to separate the tabernacle and protect the Eucharist, and the parish would have to find a way to make the chapel accessible when the church sanctuary was not open.
Fr. Kopson needed funding to make it happen, but instead of kicking off a fundraising campaign, he began preaching about the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist and offered a monthly holy hour at the parish to build a culture of adoration. Soon, several donors came forward to fund the project.
Master electricians, IT specialists, and other members of the parish with skills to offer stepped up, sacrificing their evenings and weekends. Fr. Kopson’s mother, sister, nieces and nephews cleaned the chapel and installed furniture for people to sit or kneel to adore the Lord.
Parishioners were overjoyed when Fr. Kopson placed Jesus in the tabernacle for the first time, Renner said.
St. Thomas Chaldean Catholic Church, West Bloomfield
While the adoration chapel at St. Anne is the first of the four to open, others are in the works.
At St. Thomas Chaldean Catholic Church in West Bloomfield, an existing grotto is being expanded into a large stone adoration chapel. The original grotto became especially popular during the pandemic in 2020, when people positioned their cars in front of it and prayed in adoration.
“The St. Thomas community is very inspired by the Eucharist, and because so many more people want access to it, we are expanding the grotto,” said Chris Abbo, a parishioner in construction management who oversees the endeavor. “We’ve been blessed with the ability to start the project with funds we had on hand for property improvement, as well as a donor program with brick pavers and benches.”
Fr. Pierre Konja, pastor at St. Thomas, enlisted Abbo’s help with the project, the design for which was inspired by the grotto at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. Barring any setbacks, Abbo expects the grotto and the adoration chapel will be completed by the end of the year.
St. Patrick School, Carleton
At St. Patrick School in Carleton, construction crews will break ground on a new adoration chapel in the fall. Once completed, preschool through eighth-grade students at the classical Catholic school will be able to visit Jesus in the adoration chapel any time.
Aaron Jones and his wife began the St. Patrick School Foundation in 2017 to provide for needs and amenities beyond the scope of the school’s annual operating budget. With the help of generous donors, the 700-square-foot adoration chapel will be available not only to students and faculty, but to anyone in the Three Rivers Family of Parishes.
“As a school community, we’re always looking for ways to bring the truth more and more present in the lives of our students,” Jones told Detroit Catholic. “Only good things can come out of this. I’m hoping this will help bring young men to the priesthood and women to religious life through this Eucharistic presence and the Eucharistic Revival.”
St. Basil the Great Parish, Eastpointe
Parishioners at St. Basil the Great Parish in Eastpointe asked their priest, Fr. Eric Fedewa, about the possibility of building an adoration chapel as part of a construction project replacing the roof on the former school building. A fundraising campaign for both projects has already yielded $480,000 of a goal of $600,000.
“Our goal from the very beginning will be to offer perpetual adoration and get people not just from St. Basil, but from all over, to sign up,” Fr. Fedewa said. “There’s definitely a desire for the Eucharist here.”
Although the chapel likely won’t be completed for two years, Fr. Fedewa said a monstrance, statues and stained-glass windows have already been given to the parish in anticipation of the adoration space opening in the future.
Members of all four communities say they look forward to the graces they’ll receive when Jesus is available to them every hour of the day.
“Having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the single most important thing in anybody’s life, and the only way you can have a relationship with him is through a life of prayer,” Fr. Kopson told Detroit Catholic. “It only makes sense that you give people the opportunity to be together with Jesus any time, any day. Jesus is going to call people to himself, and now they have access to him.”
Copy Permalink
