Notre Dame opened three new residence hall chapels over the summer, the chapels of the recently constructed Coyle and Grojean Halls, and the renovated chapel of Pasquerilla West Hall. During the first two weeks of classes, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend celebrated dedication Masses attended by students, faculty, and donors.
Bp. Rhoades dedicated the chapel of St. Theodore Guerin in Grojean Hall on August 26. Students, hall staff, and the Grojean family knelt as Bp. Rhoades incensed the altar and anointed it with holy chrism.
“Here, you will receive the grace and strength you need for your lives here at Notre Dame,” Bp. Rhoades said in his homily. He exhorted the women of Grojean, former residents of Howard Hall, to use the chapel as a space to grow in sisterhood with each other and in friendship with Christ. At the conclusion of the Mass, Bp. Rhoades presented the Grojean community with a relic of St. Theodore Guerin.
Juniors Meredith Kononchek and Isabel O’Brien, who both serve as faith commissioners in Grojean Hall, commented on the chapel dedication in interviews with the Rover.
“The Grojean chapel is so different from the Howard chapel,” Kononchek told the Rover. “While I absolutely love both of them, Grojean’s feels more like an actual church. … Hopefully this bigger chapel allows for more people to attend Mass.” In addition to their Sunday Mass, the women of Grojean will host a weekly smoothie bowl Mass at 8:30 p.m. on Thursdays.
Although Grojean does not have a priest in residence, University President Emeritus Reverend John Jenkins, C.S.C. is assigned to minister to the dorm.
“While Fr. Jenkins will not be living in Grojean Hall, many of us are very excited to have a priest designated to our dorm,” O’Brien told the Rover. “The consistency will allow Fr. Jenkins to become a familiar face for Grojean residents and improve their ability to connect with and get to know a priest on campus. It will also make it much easier for commissioners like myself to coordinate Eucharistic Adoration and Confession in the hall.”
Days after dedicating Grojean’s chapel, Bp. Rhoades dedicated the chapel of St. Paul in the newly constructed Coyle Hall. “The increased capacity and grandeur of the space is just an indication of how much we take [our faith] seriously,” Coyle Rector Joey Quinones told the Rover. “That being said, we need to carry the weight of such a chapel, which can only be done by everyone’s individual and collective spiritual life.”
Unlike many other residence hall chapels, the chapels of St. Theodore Guerin and St. Paul feature lofty ceilings, reminiscent of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Furthermore, increased seating capacity promises to harbor a greater number of Mass attendees, as indicated by the first Coyle Hall Ice Cream Mass. Building on a beloved tradition, the inaugural Mass and ice cream social on the Wednesday following the dedication was attended by 179 students.
Following the St. Paul chapel dedication, the chapel of St. Clare of Assisi in Pasquerilla West Hall was dedicated on September 1. Over the summer, the chapel was fully remodeled: tiles replaced carpet, pews were added to the expanded congregational seating, and the walls were redone in pink and white. The chapel was renovated in the style of the Basilica of St. Clare in Assisi, Italy.
Pasquerilla West senior and resident assistant Anna Buckler described the chapel in an interview with the Rover. “The renovations have really elevated the chapel’s look and feel. … I love the openness, light, colors, and the addition of elements that point to St. Clare,” she said.
Annabelle Clark, a junior living in Pasquerilla West, echoed Buckler’s sentiments. “We feel [the chapel] perfectly encapsulates our faith and femininity,” she told the Rover. “It’s a beautiful expression of what [Pasquerilla West] spirituality means to us, while preserving the history and legacy of our chapel that we hold so dear.”
“We continue to pray for a shepherd to help guide us, a priest in residence,” Clark added.
Pasquerilla West will offer Muffin Mass on Mondays at 9 p.m., with rotating flavors of homemade muffins.
The presence of chapels offering Sunday and weekday Mass is a unique aspect of Notre Dame’s identity. Bartosz Karol Chramiec, a resident assistant in Coyle, reflected on the significance of living under the same roof as the Eucharist.
“Our chapel … gives people of all backgrounds, even those without any experience with faith at all, the opportunity (and not just one!) to encounter the Living God,” he told the Rover. “The red lamp tells all that the Word-made-Flesh resides in the chapel. Having Christ in the tabernacle in a college dorm is the first step in growing spiritually. The traveler just has to accept His invitation.”
Sunday and weekday Mass times for the new chapels can be found online at unifynd.org.
Madeline Page is a junior studying biology. As a proud PW Purple Weasel, she is thrilled to have such a beautiful dwelling place for the Lord within her home. Now, if only PW could get a priest in residence…if you are a priest, contact mpage4@nd.edu for all the reasons why you should move to the Purple Palace.