home

churches

art & furnishings

web & graphics

video

contact

The knowledgeable participation in the church's renewed liturgical life has been one of the abiding gifts in the congregation. Already in the 1940's that gift was being nurtured as part of novitiate formation through community musicians, Sisters Madonna Mueller and Georgia Kilburg. In 1980, the congregation's first officially designated liturgist was appointed, S. Liz Hilvers. Based on decades of meaningful celebrations, Dubuque Franciscans know that good liturgy is a powerful force for conversion.

It is understandable, then, that a major renovation of the Mount St. Francis chapel would, in time, be part of the congregation's faith response to liturgical renewal. Sacred space helps shape one's faith response. On three occasions between 1956 and 1980, modest chapel refurbishments had been made - redecorating, removal of the altar canopy, new altar of sacrifice, simpler communion stations. Recurringly, renovation committees recommended community-wide study of the theology of worship and the emphasis on public worship before initiating renovation. Through education, it was hoped that discussion of church guidelines on providing a suitable space for reservation of the Eucharist apart from the space for public worship could be engaged in with less fear and anxiety. The long-standing accommodation of perpetual adoration in the same chapel where daily Mass was celebrated was a treasured experience for many in the congregation.

In 1974, a 1O-member committee offered a six-point major chapel renovation proposal. Provide "for an adoration chapel separate from the sacred space for liturgical celebration." In the main chapel, "position the altar centrally along the north or south wall as a way of unifying the community at worship." Keep "a Franciscan tone." Emphasize "a feminine environment." Undertake the renovation "with reasonable promptness." "Educate the community" as part of the planning process. Those recommendation were not fully realized for another 20 years.

Between 1980 and 1991, as mentioned previously, a series of committees successively initiated some form of liturgical education in the community. The groups serving between 1984 and 1988 repeatedly recommended the south sacristy as an adoration space so that the main chapel could be "a place of action rather than a place of reservation." The ninth committee in that series of servant groups recommended once more that consideration of the adoration chapel issue be put on hold to allow for an in-depth three-year program of community education on Eucharistic theology. That program was concluded in 1991.

In January 1992, a six-member task force was appointed "to implement the project for a Eucharistic reservation and adoration chapel." The Task Force's appointment was for the 1992 calendar year based on the hope that the project could be completed within that 12-month period. By January 1993, it was evident that the scope and time frame for the project had to be changed. During 1992, months had been spent again listening to community members on a preferred site for a reservation chapel. Of the three sites researched, the Task Force concluded that the MSF chapel sanctuary was the most acceptable to the community. Renovation of the sanctuary could not be done appropriately without redesigning the remainder of chapel in accord with church guidelines on liturgical environment. The Governing Board directed the Task Force to begin planning for a total renovation. Joy, pain, blessing and risk were the faith experiences for Dubuque Franciscans during the subsequent three years of walking with the renovation project. The chapel renovation was the second major change during the past quarter-century which tested and fostered the sisters' spirituality as being deeply relational.

The congregation engaged the services of Marchita Mauck, nationally recognized liturgical consultant, as advisor on the chapel project. Early in her conferences with the Task Force, Marchita recommended that ongoing education for the community be through rituals rather than more intellectual input. Rituals reach the heart. The Task Force heeded that advice. Throughout the remaining years of planning and construction, every major step in the process was ritualized.

The first of those "awesome" rituals was experienced on December 8, 1992. The congregation gathered for solemn vespers in a setting where half of the chapel pews had been rearranged to enable the sisters to face one another. Festive bells, harp, violin, cello and recorder accompanied the singing. The psalms were cantored. The Gospel account of Gabriel's announcement to Mary was proclaimed from memory. The community's centennial bowl served as the monstrance for the Eucharist which was brought into the assembly for adoration. "The intercessions were offered from different areas within the assembly. The congregation responded, "Come and set us free."

Following that first ritual, five debriefing sessions were held in which community members were invited to name their experiences of the prayer environment for the vesper service. More than 60 sisters participated in those debriefing breakfasts. The Task Force heard honest expressions of joy and pain. Thereafter, debriefing sessions in small groups became a regular pattern of communication between the Task Force and sisters in residence at the Mount St. Francis Center.

From 1993 through the completion of the chapel project in April 1995, every phase of the project was begun with ritual. For the community, the renovation of chapel was a faith journey, not simply a construction project. On Ash Wednesday, 1993, at evening prayer, the congregation ritualized the official beginning of renovation planning, focused on the theme "Journeys Ended, Journeys Begun." A temporary screen was erected at the entrance to the sanctuary to create a reservation chapel. The altar of sacrifice was positioned in the center of chapel.

By November 1993, John C. Voosen Architects, Chicago, Illinois, was selected as the architect for the project. On April 8, 1994, 175 members of the community spent an evening of reflection, dialoguing with the architect on the seventh revision of chapel plans. In the prayer of preparation in chapel, the sisters prayed, "God of mystery, we place our trust in you.... Teach us to be patient with transformation and to be open to the change that lies before us.... God of the Exodus, bless our pilgrim hearts."

Possibly the most moving of the rituals was the Prayer Service of Transition on August 25, 1994. At that time, the sisters dismantled chapel of its furnishings in preparation for construction and the move to the auditorium, the congregation's temporary chapel for seven months. During the prayer service, sisters experienced a whole range of emotions: gratitude for abundant blessings, the grieving and stripping which is always part of letting go of what has been treasured, and trustful anticipation of what is to be newly received. Intermittently during the ceremonies, the community sang the refrain of the hymn of praise, "Surely the presence of our God is in this place." As the reserved Eucharist was carried in procession to the auditorium, "Ubi Caritas" was the mantra sung. Again, in the auditorium, the room and assembly were blessed. The objects for liturgical service were put in place. The evening concluded with an extended period of adoration after which the reserved Eucharist was transferred to a temporary reservation chapel.

During the months of construction, Friday afternoon inspection tours offered sisters an ownership of what was being newly reshaped. The tours eased anxieties about the transformation process. On March 8, 1995, as the project was nearing completion, the community gathered for an evening of reflection centering on the theme "Renovation: A Life Process." In preparation for that ritual, sisters walked with questions. "How ready are we, in spirit, to return to chapel?" "How have the years of preparation and renovation been a time of conversion? of birth? of pain? of walking trustfully with one another?" During the ritual, there was a retelling of the years of discernment (1941-95) given to reshaping chapel as sacred space. The community named the pain, the blessings experienced during renovation. The ritual concluded with song, followed by quiet time to stay and pray.

On April 12, 1995, the community returned to chapel. In the ritual of returning, the sisters joyously carried back into chapel furnishings and artifacts removed during the August 1994 ritual. In the opening prayer, the community rejoiced: "Our faithful God, who abides always among us, we return again to this sacred space which holds generations of blessings for this community." On April 22, 1995, the Mount St. Francis chapel was rededicated. The Eucharistic Liturgy was celebrated with Archbishop Jerome Hanus as presider. The months and years of communication, dialogue, and ritual during renovation enabled Dubuque Franciscans to sister one another. In one another, they witnessed struggle, compassion, respect, patience, and support. The chapel newly-designed mirrors what, as the commercial photographer implied, the community has become through faithfulness to conversion and renewal. Along with memories of the pain and tension which are part of the human response to change, the redesigned chapel is considered by many in the community as one of the significant renewal experiences of recent decades.