Over the past months we have been pouring over the design plans and making adjustments, as we look to engage the construction manager and the architects sometime this month. It is especially during the month of November that we turn to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, praying for them and begging God to bring them soon into His eternal embrace. They are called Poor Souls because they cannot help themselves out of Purgatory, but they are called holy because their salvation is assured…and they can help and pray for us!

So, we are turning to these loved ones who have gone before us to ask for their aid in raising the Chapel of the Holy Face and the needed monastery expansion, by inspiring those on earth, the Church Militant, to give alms in memory of them, the Church Suffering. This goes a long way to assisting both the Poor Souls and us. We see this project not just building a chapel, but rather as raising a shrine to the Holy Face of Jesus in the center of North America. An article in this month’s Bishop’s Bulletin for our diocese highlights the above and more.

Our beloved Bishop, the Most Reverend Donald E. DeGrood, recently wrote us a letter of support for the project: “When we look upon the Holy Face of Jesus, we see the agony of His passion, the depths of His suffering, and the heights of God’s love for us. This devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus seeks to make reparation for sins of blasphemy against the first three commandments, for the sake of the conversion of sinners. I want to affirm that you have my full support in raising funds for this expansion of the Monastery and the new Chapel.” May God be praised for this confirmation of the urgent desire we feel to build a Chapel to honor His Holy Face!

The full text of this letter as well as the article mentioned above can be found on a website holyfacechapel.org which will be up and running soon. Tended by friends of the community (to leave us free to pray for you!), this website will carry the latest news of the building as well as photos once the construction begins. It is hoped that our novenas will also be posted there and space provided to leave your prayer requests. A place for you to safely donate online is also planned for the website.

Our gratitude goes out to all of you who are assisting in any way, including your prayers for us! We ask Our Dear Lord to make you the saints He created you to be, for you were made for nothing less. May St. Martin of Tours, along with St. Michael the Archangel and St. Louis IX, King of France, patrons of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face, assist you in the battles you must face in your journey to Heaven: the eternal Face to face! Remember that what you do to and for others is done to Christ the King. As in the beautiful prayer read on His Feast – The Dedication of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart – let us repeat often in the depths of our hearts and thrill His ear: We are Thine and Thine we wish to be…Be Thou King…Praise to the Divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to It be glory and honor forever. Amen. Long live Christ the King!