Faith & Life

CHAPEL DEDICATION

By JOAN PATTEN, AO     5/28/2024

“Today is the end of a long journey, and the beginning of another. It is the conclusion of the journey that brought our community from Alhambra to Santa Ana, to establish this convent and this chapel, from where Jesus in the Eucharist is longing to pour His love into many thirsting hearts, and from where He Himself longs to have His children quench His thirst for their love.”

ON MAY 21, the local superior of the Missionaries of Charity Contemplative branch greeted Bishop Kevin Vann and fifty others crowded in the small space with these words after the blessing of their new chapel in Santa Ana.

The journey began in the summer of 2020.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic limitations stunted most activities, a small team from the Diocese of Orange met outside with the Missionaries of Charity at their residence in Alhambra.

The sisters expressed their desire to relocate from Alhambra into a neighborhood more suitable for their ministry of praying among the poor.

Bishop Vann, who personally met Mother Teresa during his graduate studies in Rome, gave the team his blessing for discerning the proposed relocation of the community. The sisters had several supporters in the Diocese who immediately began the search for suitable property. The specific needs of the contemplative sisters included a house that could accommodate up to six sisters and an appropriate space for an accessible chapel in a poor area (but not dangerous) within walking distance of a church, pharmacy, and grocery store. Generous real estate agents joined the team, and suitable property was found and secured by the end of 2020.

The Missionaries of Charity, with their unwavering faith in God’s Providence, embarked on the project with the support of the community.

Construction began, and by May of 2021, the property was ready for the sisters to inhabit. A temporary chapel was set up in a small apartment on the property, and the sisters began their vital work of intercessory prayer for the Diocese and the world. They were warmly embraced and supported by their neighbors and the parishioners of the nearby Our Lady of Guadalupe (Delhi) Church.

In 2022, the sisters and their benefactors began planning to build a proper chapel, sacristy, parlor and restroom to accommodate their guests and ministry.

Construction for this phase of the project started in January 2024 and was completed in May 2024. The chapel is open for adoration on most days throughout the week. More information about the Missionaries of Charity can be obtained from the Office of Consecrated Life for the Diocese of Orange at rcbo.org/ocvocations.

In his homily during the blessing of the new chapel, Bishop Vann recalled the joy of dedicating Christ Cathedral five years previously. He thanked God for establishing this “house of prayer” in Santa Ana and marveled at how God brought the sisters into his life throughout his priesthood and various assignments leading up to their presence in Santa Ana.

The local superior of the Missionaries of Charity Contemplative branch (it is customary for the Contemplative order to remain anonymous) concluded her expression of gratitude with Mother Teresa’s words:

“Thank you for doing something beautiful for God and please pray for us, that we may be docile instrument in His hands and may never spoil His work.”