San Francisco, Calif., Feb 11, 2009 / 16:17 pm
The Divine Mercy Eucharistic Society (DMES) in California is trying to establish a Divine Mercy Shrine on 100 acres near the San Francisco Bay Area to be a place of mercy, refuge, renewal and healing.
The property, called “Mercy Hills,” is within 15 to 45 minutes of many metropolitan and suburban communities including the major cities of San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco.
Planners hope to build at the site a Divine Mercy Shrine with a large cruciform, domed church with Perpetual Adoration; a home for priests and religious; and a Divine Mercy Retreat and Conference Center.
In the plans, priests and religious will give ongoing teachings about the Divine Mercy devotion, celebrate Mass, and hear confessions while youth and adults can gather for renewal and healing at the retreat center.
The shrine would be the “sister shrine” of the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
The financial cost for the proposed shrine’s land is $3.1 million, while another $30 million is needed for the total project.
“We are completely trusting in God’s mercy,” Thelma Orias, DMES chair and president, told the California Catholic Daily. “Once the land is paid for, with the blessing of the bishop and the cooperation of the diocesan priests, DMES will move on to the construction stage. We live the Divine Mercy message in blind, complete trust in Jesus. Trust is the essence of the Divine Mercy message and devotion. The Lord has always provided for our needs.”
“We need to step out in faith, and we hope that God’s rays of light and mercy will illumine the moral and spiritual darkness that we encounter in our daily lives,” she continued. “Our hope is to build a sanctuary for weary souls; to expand upon the spiritual and corporal works of mercy that we have begun out of our El Cerrito Center. The vision is to build a literal ‘Mountain of Mercy,’ and to become a place of renewal and refuge.”
The Divine Mercy Message was given to St. Faustina, out of which came the popular Chaplet of Divine Mercy devotional. Sr. Faustina was canonized by Pope John Paul II on April 30, 2000.
More information about DMES can be found at http://www.divinemercywestcoast.org/default.aspx
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