HIGH POINT — After a three-year, pandemic-induced hiatus, Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration will return to the chapel at Pennybyrn retirement community on March 19, the eve of the Solemnity of St. Joseph.
“We are all very excited,” said Sister Lucy Hennessy, S.M.G., mission leader and chairperson of Pennybyrn’s board of directors. “When the chapel closed, it was devastating for people. We are all so happy about the return of Perpetual Adoration.”
After the 10 a.m. Mass on Sunday, the Blessed Sacrament will be taken in procession up the center aisle of the main chapel and then over to the Adoration Chapel to be officially enthroned, Sister Lucy said. Father James Solari, assisted by Deacon David King, will lead the Eucharistic Procession, Benediction and Divine Praises followed by silent prayer.
Perpetual Adoration of the Eucharist by at least one person every hour of every day will then resume in the chapel.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the chapel closed March 14, 2020, after holding Perpetual Adoration for nearly 26 years – since the Feast of Corpus Christi on June 5, 1994. Re-recruiting people to commit one hour a week took time. Four coordinators worked hard to fill six-hour time periods for each day of the week and ultimately reached their pre-Easter goal.
A minimum of 168 people are needed to make Perpetual Adoration possible. However, having at least two adorers assigned to each hour is helpful for backup, making the preferred number of adorers 336. After coordinators’ efforts, there are now a record 219 people committed to Holy Hours. There are a good mix of new adorers and those who have committed to it for many years, Sister Lucy noted.
The Sisters of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God, who serve at Pennybyrn, also spend time in Eucharistic Adoration early each morning.
“We want the faithful to come, too,” Sister Lucy said. “But the sisters are there if needed. We love it as much as they do.”
— Annie Ferguson
HIGH POINT — More than 300 people turned out for the 55th annual St. Patrick’s Day Tea at the Pennybyrn Retirement Community in High Point on March 12, where Sister Lucy Hennessy was surprised with the state’s Long Leaf Pine Award, the most prestigious award conferred by the governor of North Carolina.
It is awarded for exemplary service to the state and one’s community and only bestowed on some of North Carolina’s most prominent citizens. Sister Lucy, who hails from Ireland, serves as mission leader and chair of the board of directors at Pennybyrn and has led the community of more than 450 residents for over 30 years. N.C. Sen. Michael Garrett presented the award at the event, which mostly served Irish Coffee as well as tea, courtesy of the Knights of Columbus.
Among those in attendance were residents, staff, volunteers, donors, priests and religious. N.C. Governor Roy Cooper signed the award, with the official words:
“Reposing special confidence in the integrity, learning and zeal of Sister Lucy Hennessy, I do by these presents confer The Order of the Long Leaf Pine with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary privileged to enjoy fully all rights granted to members of this exalted order among which is the special privilege to propose the following North Carolina Toast in select company anywhere in the free world: ‘Here’s to the land of the long leaf pine / The summer land where the sun doth shine / Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great / Here’s to “down home,” the Old North State!’”
— Catholic News Herald