Students, alumni, CSJs, faculty, staff, and friends packed Our Lady of Victory Chapel to celebrate its 100th anniversary with a special Mass. Photo by Tara Sloane.
As the Centennial Mass celebrating the 100th anniversary of Our Lady of Victory Chapel got underway on October 6, the sun came out.
Light poured through the Chapels high windows, and what had been a cloudy, blustery Sunday morning turned warm and welcoming as the University community marked the re-opening of the Chapel after extensive preservation efforts. It was the beginning of a multi-day celebration that included social gatherings, art-making, a choral concert, and even a trivia contest.
President Marcheta P. Evans, PhD, welcomed the Mass attendees, who filled the nave to capacity, with an invocation of the Chapels history and meaning.
Mother Antonia McHugh, St. Kate's first president, envisioned a chapel that was filled with a community of faith and love, Evans said. If she could be here, 100 years later, to see all of you and hear the stories of how the sacred space has fulfilled that vision, she would be both proud and humbled by her legacy. This is brought to life by all of us who are present today.
President Evans reflected on the history and meaning of the Chapel. Photo by Tara Sloane.
In his homily, Archbishop Bernard Hebda reflected on the deeper meaning of the words Our Lady of Victory. I love that this Chapel is dedicated to Mary, he said, who reminds us always of the importance of women in this church. And for so many decades, this University has reminded us of that as well.
In our first reading, the Archbishop continued, we hear Solomon asking that God would always look favorably upon his temple. That could be our prayer today as well: that this might always be a place on which God looks with favor, where He hears the prayers of the students, the faculty, the staff, and the neighbors who come here to experience the quiet, the beauty of this place.
St. Kate's choirs and community members lifted their voice in song during the Mass. Photo by Tara Sloane.
The liturgy continued with the Eucharist and concluded with the Hymn to St. 做厙輦⑹, and then the congregation filed out and headed downhill to the lawn, where canopy-covered tables were piled with sandwiches, fruit, and salads.
As attendees mingled, Kathleen Hartmann 62, called the Mass very powerful. The music was outstanding. It just made me happy to be here. She particularly appreciated the cleaning that the Chapels stone walls had undergone. The Chapel looked gorgeous, she said. For many of us who worshipped at Our Lady of Victory, it was a dark place, but now, it was so light! We could see color on the walls.
For Natalia Duque 27, a sophomore nursing student, the buildings reopening meant a reconnection with the Chapel. I was only able to see it once before the construction happened, she said. The Mass was awesome I hadnt been to a Catholic Mass since I was a kid, and it was really cool to attend one again.
And for the Center for Spirituality and Social Justice (CSSJ) team, who led the preparations, there was a sense of satisfaction and gratitude for a major cooperative effort.
There are so many important offices involved in bringing something like this to fruition, said CSSJ director Sharon Howell, CSJ, including university events, archives, the communications office, the president's office, alumni relations, and more. I was just very impressed with how we all worked together to make this happen.
I genuinely do not think the Mass could have gone much better than it did, added liturgist Katie Jonza. There was the perfect length of music for the Sprinkling Rite and the perfect length of music for the opening, and so on. I was shocked at how it seemed like the Holy Spirit just kind of swooped in and said, I'm going to make this work for you!
Photo by Tara Sloane.
President Evans (second from right) poses with Center for Spirituality and Social Justice team members (left to right): liturgist Katie Jonza, coordinator Claire Foegen Frederick 17, and director Sharon Howell, CSJ.
Photo by Tara Sloane.
From left to right: President Evans, Archbishop Hebda, President Emerita Anita Pampusch 60, PhD, and President Emerita ReBecca Koenig Roloff 76.
Photo by Tara Sloane.
Community members enjoyed a picnic following the Mass.
Photo by Tara Sloane.
Photo by Tara Sloane.
Students got creative at the centennial-themed Paint and Sip event on October 7.
Photo by Tessa Schoenecker 25.
Photo by Tessa Schoenecker 25.
On October 7, the Spirit Song Choir performed their concert titled "Love Makes All Things New."
Photo by Rebecca Zenefski Slater 10.
Photo by Rebecca Zenefski Slater 10.
The celebration continued on Monday with a noontime gathering on the lawn called Paint and Sip: guided art-making with refreshments. Self-guided campus tours followed. That night, the , a St. Paulbased ecumenical community vocal ensemble, once again made the Chapel reverberate with music. They performed a concert tribute entitled Love Makes All Things New, a reference to the Biblical inscription on the Chapel altar: Behold I Make All Things New.
On Thursday, the Social Events and Experience for Katies (SEEK) team sponsored a trivia contest in The Pulse in Coeur de 做厙輦⑹, in which attendees could test their knowledge of the beloved church and its 100 years as a place of prayer and a symbol of St. Kates.