Perpetual Graces

How five parishes made 24/7 Adoration a priority

By Christina Gray

Of the more than 90 parishes in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, five offer perpetual adoration, which is availability of the exposed Blessed Sacrament to the faithful 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

Catholic San Francisco visited each of these parishes to learn how and why perpetual adoration became a parish priority, what it takes operationally and its fruits.

Each parish setting, staff and culture is different. All credit adoration for transforming the parish into a “Eucharistic community” marked by greater Mass attendance, heightened stewardship, unexpected conversions, saved marriages, medical miracles and new vocations.

Church of the Nativity, Menlo Park

Mary Ellen Peloso, a parishioner at Church of the Nativity Parish in Menlo Park for 42 years, helped start perpetual adoration at the parish in 1996.

“We really wanted a parish that was spiritually alive,” said Peloso, whose husband Dominick, a deacon at Nativity, was also instrumental in starting perpetual adoration.

At the time, their own adoration practice was limited mostly by availability to nearby Our Lady of Peace Parish, she said. The Santa Clara parish has offered perpetual adoration since 1976.

As Mary Ellen tells it, a movement of the Holy Spirit inspired her to approach then-pastor Father Clement Davenport in 1993 with a request for the parish to offer 24-hour adoration. Father Davenport not only said “yes,” he came in at midnight on First Fridays to begin the 24 hours with the celebration of Mass. Three years later in 1996, the parish had worked itself up in increments to offering adoration 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

Msgr. Steven Otellini, who retired this past summer after 21 years as Nativity pastor, has also been extremely supportive. He did a 4 am holy hour every Thursday.

“It has to be parishioner-run and pastor-supported,” said Mary Ellen. “This is not something that a priest would have the time to coordinate himself.”

At Nativity, the Blessed Sacrament is exposed on the main altar, not in a dedicated chapel. Despite the open-door policy, there have been few security issues according to Dcn. Dominick, who retired after a long career with the Menlo Park Police Department.

An armoire at the side entrance of the church, which remains unlocked at all times, holds the weekly schedule, a sign-in log, prayer cards, books and devotion materials.

Decades into her role, Mary Ellen is still happily in charge of finding parishioners to pray before the Blessed Sacrament in one-hour increments around the clock.

“We do have lulls and spikes,” she said. Occasionally, she gets a late-night phone call from someone who cannot fill their hour, “but after more than 30 years, it now basically runs itself.”

“It really changes your parish,” she said. “It makes it much more prayerful.” She said that Mass attendance has definitely increased, and many different devotions and novenas have sprung up.

Some people can feel uneasy being in front of the monstrance at first, according to Dcn. Dominick.

“Don’t know what to do? Fine, just be there,” he said. “I always tell people it’s like when you go to the beach. It doesn’t make any difference whether you’re swimming, walking, or lying down reading, you’re still going to get sunburned. Just come and let God do His work.”

Star of the Sea Parish, San Francisco

Father Joseph Illo, pastor of Star of the Sea Parish, inherited a historic chapel inside the San Francisco church when he was first made administrator more than a decade ago.

The St. Joseph Chapel, located off the west entrance to the church, had aged poorly and in Father Illo’s words, was “no longer an inspiring place.” In 2018, the parish raised $250,000 to renovate it into an Adoration Chapel.

“It’s now a magnet,” he said.

When he was pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Modesto, Father Illo had seen vocations spring from 24/7 adoration.

What he didn’t expect was a doubling of Mass attendance, more marriages, more saved marriages, a strong youth group, stories of healing and a doubling of parish income.

“When I came to this parish, I told myself that’s what I needed to do here,” he said.

The parish has a hybrid model: the Blessed Sacrament is exposed in the main church until after the last Mass of the day. The Blessed Sacrament is then taken to the Adoration Chapel overnight. The Blessed Sacrament is returned to the tabernacle before the morning Mass.

The parish moved to an online sign-up software, AdorationPro.com, whereby parishioners could log in on their phones or computers to register for an hour time slot.

Since the parish installed a coded side door, registrants now receive a code for entry to the Adoration Chapel after the church closes its doors for the day.

“We added on a day at a time until we got to seven days per week,” said Father Illo.

Making adoration a “central part of your parish” is most natural when adoration is central to the pastor himself, he said.

“I’ve been 33 years a priest, but there have been some really rough patches,” he said. “I wouldn’t be a priest today if it weren’t for my daily holy hour.”

Two or three weekends per year, Father Illo preaches on adoration at all Masses. He includes the fundamentals of adoration, including what it is, why we do it and how to do it.

An Adoration Committee of about a half-dozen parishioners plan Adoration Awareness Weekends and hospitality events after Mass and meet regularly with Father Illo.

There are so many good things that come from adoration, he said. Stewardship is one of them.

“With adoration, people begin to become stewards of their parish instead of stepping in and stepping out,” Father Illo said.

Our Lady of Loretto, Novato

Father Tony Vallecillo has been at Our Lady of Loretto Parish in Novato since 2019, first as administrator, and now as pastor. On Easter Sunday 2022, the parish opened the 24/7 Joseph and Mary Adoration Chapel.

Part of the pastor’s decision to offer 24/7 adoration at OLL was his own experience with it. He said he has done a holy hour every day for the past 20 years.

He was also inspired after learning about a priest whose first task upon being assigned to a new parish was to set up 24/7 adoration. The graces always flowed at his parishes.

“That’s been the case here, too, I have found,” said Father Vallecillo.

He brainstormed the idea of perpetual adoration with the parish manager and parishioners. Like at all parishes, practical questions needed considering. What location was best? How would access to the chapel be handled?

The decision to repurpose the former baptismal chapel inside the church vestibule was made. Security was a fundamental concern.

“We decided we could not keep our church open 24/7,” said Father Vallecillo. A manual lockbox and a digital doorbell at the side exit was the solution, one that has worked well for the parish.

“I would say it is pretty low maintenance,” said Father Vallecillo.

Like Star of the Sea Parish, OLL uses AdorationPro software for holy hour scheduling online. Adoration coordinator Juan Alvarez sends registered parishioners a code for entry.

In less than two years, the Joseph and Mary Adoration Chapel has become a focal point of prayer for the parish and school.

“It’s a big blessing for our school,” said Father Vallecillo. “Some teachers have made a habit of bringing their classes here for 10 or 15 minutes of silent prayer. Other school prayer projects utilize it.”

Father Vallecillo launched a fundraiser with a rosary marathon in the Adoration Chapel after the parish was hit by a staggering $700,000 estimate for repaving the church’s crumbling parking lot.

People signed up for different mysteries of the rosary, he said, and prayer in both Spanish and English stretched more than 26 hours and 20 minutes.

Nearly a year after the fundraising campaign started, the parish received a large check and met its $700,000 goal. The parking lot was repaved in July.

St. Bruno Parish, San Bruno

The Virgin of Guadalupe hangs above the altar in the Adoration Chapel at St. Bruno Parish in San Bruno. Her gaze appears directed to her feet where dozens of candles represent the intentions of the parish community who have come to spend a holy hour with her Son.

Executive Secretary Roger Tellez said the 24/7 Adoration Chapel is set up in the room that used to be the family “crying” room.

The monstrance was purchased in Italy by a parish prayer group, and the stand was built by a former deacon.

“It is very simple,” said Tellez. “The reality is that the majority of people really don’t care how it looks. The stories of hope and healing are the beautiful things.”

The system is also simple, he said. The door to the church and adjacent Adoration Chapel are open during parish business hours but are locked at 5 pm. Anyone who wants to enter just knocks.

While the schedule and access appears more informal than other parishes with 24/7 adoration, it has been working well largely without incident for for nearly 20 years.

There are people who do have keys, who ensure the hours are covered, and are often there themselves to open the door when someone knocks.

“We know these people,” said Tellez. “We trust them; they’ve been coming here a long time.”

Security is an ongoing concern due to the parish’s proximity to a rehabilitation facility. But small issues have not deterred the parish from continuing 24/7 adoration.

“This is a calling for our parish,” said Tellez. “No matter what it takes to provide this place, your parish and your parishioners will benefit in more ways than I can tell you. I have seen it.”

Our Lady of the Pillar Parish

In the space of about one month, the Half Moon Bay parish transformed a former crying room adjacent to the main sanctuary into a perpetual adoration chapel. It opened on Sept. 8 after a special Mass, blessing and Eucharistic procession.

For more than 20 years, Juliette Kulda and her husband Derek had been “very passionate” about the parish having an adoration chapel. The timing and momentum didn’t align, she said, until the parish united in prayer as a response to some challenges it faced this past summer.

“We went from getting our pastor’s (Father Jose Corral) permission on Aug. 9, to painting the next day,” she said. Two weeks later, an altar arrived from Florida, pews from Indiana and lights from a 100-year-old church in Santa Barbara. The parish raised $50,000 to pay for the chapel.

“The parish came together, and it was the most beautiful thing to experience,” she said. “I want other parishes to know it can be done.”

Father Corral made an announcement at the six Sunday Masses for the parish community. “The money just started coming in,” said Kulda.

He said it is not unusual to see more than a dozen people in the chapel during the day, and even two or three in the middle of the night.

Christina Gray is the lead writer for Catholic San Francisco.