Our Lady of Peace Shrine

Our Lady of Peace Shrine, also known as the Immaculate Heart of Mary Shrine or Our Lady of Silicon Valley Shrine, is a Roman Catholic shrine and landmark of the Diocese of San José, located in Santa Clara, California, in Silicon Valley. The most notable features of the parish are the 32-foot statue of Mary, mother of Jesus.

This article is about the shrine in Silicon Valley. For other places of worship, see Our Lady of Peace (disambiguation).
Our Lady of Peace
Our Lady of Silicon Valley
Religion
AffiliationRoman Catholic
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusMarian shrine
Location
LocationSanta Clara, Silicon Valley, California
Architecture
Architect(s)Charles Parks
Groundbreaking1982
Completed1983
Website
www.olop-shrine.org

History
The altar at Our Lady of Peace Church. Since 1976, Eucharistic adoration is in progress at Our Lady of Peace Church 24-hours a day, 365 days a year, unless the Holy Mass is being celebrated.

Our Lady of Peace church was founded on June 24, 1961. Fr. Joseph G. Sullivan, the founding pastor, oversaw construction of the church, hall, and rectory. In 1969, the Archbishop McGucken of San Francisco asked Fr. Sullivan to transfer to another parish in need of his leadership, and sent Fr. John Joseph Sweeny to serve as pastor at Our Lady of Peace Church. This was the beginning of Fr. Sweeny's 32-year stay as pastor of Our Lady of Peace Church.

In the late 1960s as proposed city planning developed in the City of Santa Clara, Fr. Sweeny recognized the church's strategic location as an opportunity for spiritual outreach to the already-increasing population. He also envisioned a shrine to Mary, the Mother of God, as a “forthright expression of faith” for the times. As he explained, “What child hasn’t responded to the open arms of a mother? Even the adult, if we take time to think back a little bit to our first experiences—experiences of trust, the open arms of a mother—I guess there’s nothing more endearing, and it is next to God.” Drawn to the Shrine by the welcoming statue of Our Lady of the Immaculate Heart, he hoped visitors would then visit the church. In 1976, Fr. Sweeny and a team of supporters established 24-hour Eucharistic adoration. Since then, the church has remained open round-the-clock for prayer.

Candlelight rosary procession at Our Lady of Peace Shrine. Due to the high-tech backdrop, the statue of Mary at the shrine is sometimes referred to as Our Lady of the Silicon Valley.

Establishing the Shrine and creating the statue proved to be more complicated. To support this endeavor, Fr. Sweeny solicited prayers (one million rosaries). Though he never asked for funds, faithful who shared his dream for the shrine began to mail in unsolicited donations.

After years of prayers and searching for a sculptor, in 1980 Fr. Sweeny contracted Charles Parks to construct the 32-foot steel Madonna. The statue was completed in 1982, on display in multiple cities for several months, and arrived by flatbed truck at Our Lady of Peace in 1983. On October 7, 1983, the Feast of the Holy Rosary, Bishop Pierre DuMaine of the Diocese of San Jose (established in 1981) dedicated the statue and Shrine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Fr. Patrick Peyton of the Rosary Crusade was present for the dedication.

In 1996, a Family Learning Center was built to accommodate the increasing attendance and request for faith-based activities, yet space continues to be a constraint to the present day.

In 2002, Pope John Paul II thanked Fr. Sweeny for his leadership and recognized him as a Prelate of Honor, addressing him as Monsignor Sweeny. Later that year, Bishop McGrath asked Monsignor Sweeny to retire (due to health concerns) and invited the priests of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) to assume pastoral leadership at Our Lady of Peace. They continue to staff a flourishing church and shrine today, supported by the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara (SSVM or “Servidoras”), the feminine branch of the IVE.

gollark: Actually, instead of ear protection you can use *active* sound blocking, by carrying around a giant set of speakers and automatically playing the Soviet national anthem at twice the volume of whatever they're playing.
gollark: *can't tell if serious*
gollark: Just go to live concerts but constantly wear very good ear protection to avoid hearing it!
gollark: No, just SolarFlame5, the annoying person.
gollark: <@151391317740486657> Initiating orbital laser strike

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.