Adoration Workshop Presentation

Sat., 9/6/03, 1:15 p.m.

Real Presence Association Eucharistic Adoration Manual

Good afternoon to all of you, and God bless you for making the commitment to spend this gorgeous Saturday here in a quest to learn more about adoration.    My name is Connie Sanfilippo & I’m here representing St. Mary Immaculate Parish in Plainfield. 

 About 2 years ago, I was in the same approximate position as many of you:  along with a few other interested parishioners, I was attending living room meetings to discuss how we might start a Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Ministry in our parish.   At that time, we held adoration for three hours each month on First Friday evenings. 

 We started making real headway after one of our committee members recommended we contact a friend of his, Mike Mortimer of the Chicago Real Presence Association, whom you just met.  Mike was very accommodating and began attending our evening planning meetings, driving from Chicago, whenever we asked.  Having worked with many other parishes, he had extremely valuable insights and ideas based on his experience of what worked and what didn’t.  Mike even made himself available to speak at our parish educational sessions. 

 But what I’ve been asked to talk to you about today is one very helpful resource that we used in our start-up process, the Real Presence Association Eucharistic Adoration Manual  

 Before I get started on that, I just want to tell you, with great joy, that last June, 2002, St. Mary’s Eucharistic Adoration Chapel was opened with a special ceremony and blessing.  Our Lord has been adored there ever since, night and day, for the majority of each week by hundreds of His faithful who include several hundred regular adorers, dozens of substitutes and many occasional visitors.  The feedback has been overwhelming: many, many testimonies of blessings and graces from spiritual awakenings to answered prayers of all kinds.  Nearly all report their time with Jesus to be one of peace, comfort, healing & joy, and that their relationship with Him has grown considerably.

 And now, on to the Manual created & distributed by the Real Presence Association.   I want to start by letting you know that there is at least one sample manual here today if you would like to take a look at it.   The basic manual is available to everyone FREE OF COST on-line at www.therealpresenceassociation.com in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.   You will need the Acrobat Reader to view and print it. To obtain your own hardcopy version of the Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Manual, you can contact the Real Presence Assocation:

The Real Presence Association
7030 W 63rd St, Chicago, IL 60638
Email: orders@therealpresence.org

Phone: 773-586-7809, Fax: 773-586-7781

I have made a hand-out with all of this information which is available after the session.

 The manual is organized for your ease of use into 6 sections:

1.      Pastor Information Packet

2.      Head Coordinator Organization Information Packet

3.      Sign-Up Sunday Weekend Preparation

4.      Chapel Preparation

5.      Adorer Information Packets and

6.      Eucharistic Adoration Resources

Section 1:  Pastor Information Packet

contains a wealth of information which your pastor can review and utilize in the initial stages of planning for Eucharistic Adoration, including a step-by-step planning checklist and these other resources:

 ¨      Endorsement letters from several prominent individuals such as:

§         His Eminence Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago

§         Fr. John A. Hardon

§         Most Rev. Raymond E. Goedert, Vicar General, Chicago

§         Most Rev. Raymond L. Burke, Bishop of LaCrosse, WI

¨      A Frequently Asked Questions section – answers to common objections to Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration

¨      Letters from several (4) pastors on the benefits of PEA

¨      Perpetual Adoration of the Holy Eucharist by His Holiness Pope John Paul II, originally delivered in June, 1993 at Seville, Spain at the 45^th International Eucharistic Congress

¨      2 Handbooks:  The History of Eucharistic Adoration (by Fr. John A. Hardon) and Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration  (includes the Decree, Statutes & Practical Guide).  The 2^nd handbook is not available on-line but ordering information is included.

¨      A “Call to Adoration” Flyer

¨      A reference number to call to schedule a Eucharistic Adoration Priest Speaker

¨      Suggested Guideline for a Pastor’s Letter to the Parish

Section 2:  Head Coordinator Organization Information Packet

includes lots of practical information on the organizational structuring of the ministry and includes descriptions of the management organization positions of Coordinators, Division Leaders and Hourly Captains as well as adorer & substitute functions, plus the following:

¨       Sample Management & Adorer Organizational Charts

¨       Computer Program Downloads for managing the ministry.  These programs are DOS based in format and provide a phone number for the programmer, Michael Gallagher, for system support.

§         The Adorer Tracking Program – an Adorer Database Management Program which allows you to enter adorer records, change, reconfigure or purge records, create reports & ASCII files, and print mailings & labels.  It also creates a number of reports such as Master File Listings, Listings of Adorers by Hour, Open Hours, Substitutes, Inactive Adorers & a Leader/Coordinator Listing.

§         The Adorer Attendance History, which works in conjunction with daily sign-in sheets to track & print attendance history reports. 

¨       Sample Sunday Bulletin Pieces

Section 3:  Sign-Up Sunday Weekend Preparation is focused on the initial sign-up weekend, and includes:

¨       A Preparation Checklist which takes you step-by-step through the planning stages

¨       A PEA Adorers Organizational Chart format.  When we started, be blew this form up to poster size and used it to record our committed adorers and view how our organization was stacking up.  It shows the full week and each hour so you can clearly see which hours are covered and which need commitments. 

¨       A sample Eucharist Adoration Sign-Up Form.  This form provides options for your volunteers to indicate their preferred days and general timeframes, such as mornings, afternoons, evenings, or overnight.

¨       A 4-week PEA brochure series, The Eucharist and Sanctity,  by Fr. John Hardon

Section 4:  Chapel Preparation

includes a detailed checklist for initial planning and a variety of sample forms for chapel use, such as:

¨       Daily Sign-In Registers

¨       Petition & Testimonial Forms

¨       “Vacant Hour”, “Time Change”, “No Unsolicited Material”, “Chapel Closed for Easter Triduum” and several others.

Section 5:  Adorer Information Packet

 and provides everything you need to give your adorers as they sign up, including

¨       a Welcome Letter

¨       Guidelines & Rules for Chapel Conduct

¨       Substitute & Emergency Procedures

¨       A piece entitled:  “Enlightenment on the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, Conversations with God”

¨       Pope John Paul II’s “Perpetual Adoration of the Holy Eucharist”

¨       Adorer’s List of Useful Information

Section 6:  Eucharistic Adoration Resources

 is especially valuable.  It contains lists of a variety of prayer cards, brochures, posters, books, videos, audios & periodicals recommended for use in parishes with Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration and where you can get them.

 As you can see, there is a lot of helpful information here that has been utilized by many parishes who have successfully started Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration that can make your journey less stressful and more fruitful.  Again, information on obtaining this manual is available on the information table.  As I have said, Mike is a valuable resource, and I would also like to extend my own willingness to lend a hand to any of you who may need assistance along the road.  I’m certainly no expert, but I’ve been through it, and I would love to help.  In summary, what you are investigating or undertaking now is so worth the efforts you will expend, and will most assuredly repay you with countless blessings.  I wish you all God’s blessings—may our adoration never cease!  Thank you.

9/6/03