The Blessed Sacrament Fathers have organised successful Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in may parishes in the Philippines, the USA and Africa. The community founded by St.Peter Julian Eymard, the saint of the Eucharist,have day long adoration available at their church in Piazza San Silvestro, Rome. The church of San Claudio is closed at night similar to about seven or eight churches in that area.
The facility does not exist to choose to remain in Adoration during the night with the approval of the Rector of the Church.
There is a Church in Rome which has its door open until about 11 p.m for Eucharistic adoration. The Eucharist is exposed in a monstrance. After 11 p.m the Church is closed and those who have made an appointment to remain with Jesus in Adoration, are allowed to stay within the church.
Similarly there are some religious communities in Italy which invite Catholics to choose time at night, may be once a month, to remain with Jesus.
The Blessed Sacrament Fathers do not have this facility. Neither do they have enough priests to maintain 24 hours Eucharistic Adoration at San Claudio. They have a Center Eucharistia in another part of Rome.
Its aim is to promote research and pastoral action in order to foster in God's people a way of life penetrated and shaped by the Eucharist.
It endeavours to bring together those engaged in research and renewal in disciplines related to the Eucharist, especially liturgy, theology, and spirituality.
The work of the Center is carried out in a collaborative, interdisciplinary and ecumenical (as well as inter-religious) spirit, taking account of the riches of cultural diversity characteristic of the contemporary world.
The Center does not wish to enter into competition with existing bodies or double what is already being done. Rather, it seeks to promote collaboration and exchange, especially by bringing competent persons together for conversation and debate.
Use is to be made of Colloquia and other forms of exchange of views/approaches etc., and, according to its means, the Center will undertake a variety of projects, including the fostering of research and, on occasion, the publication of scientific studies and pastoral instruments.( http://www.eucharistia.org/en/whatis/index.html )
Pope Benedict said last Thursday at the open air Mass at the Basilica of St.John Lateran before the Corpus Christi procession began, “In order to truly communicate with another person, I have to know him, I need to know how to remain in silence near him, to listen to him, to look upon him with love,” he said.
“True love and true friendship,” he continued, “lives always in this reciprocity of gazes, of intense eloquent silences, full of respect and of veneration, so that the encounter is lived profoundly, in a personal and not superficial way.”
He said thatEucharistic adoration prepares the hearts of both priests and lay people for a more fruitful encounter with Christ in the Holy Mass.
“In the moment of adoration, we are all on the same level, on bended knee before the Sacrament of Love,” he said.(1)
A few years back I had spoken to the Rector of the Augustianian-Recollect community at a church near San Silvestro. He said they could not have adoration because the young priests there had come to Rome for their studies.
In Boccea, Rome there are six Benedictine Sisters who maintain all day and night Eucharistic Adoration.They keep the chapel door open through out the day until after Vespers.Then they continue the adoration on their knees.The Superior of this community is from Samoa.They are an English speaking community from Tyburn, England.They began Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in response to Pope John Paul II’s appeal to start Perpetual Adoration in all dioceses.
Just as these communities and parish churches announce various programs on their Notice Board they could also put out a Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration chart and invite parishioners to choose one night a week or month and coordinate with the Rector.They can invite the different groups Charismatic, Neo Catechumenate etc to choose one night a month. Also choirs in the church can be invited.
At the Basilica of Santa Anastasia al Palatino near Circo Massimo ( and on the street San Teodoro where St.Maximilian Kolbe lived) they have 24-hours Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration.The Rector Fr.Alberto Pacino assists other communities increase their time of community adoration.-Lionel Andrades
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