Chancery chapel gets a face-lift

By Joe Bollig joe.bollig@theleaven.org

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The small chapel at the Catholic Church Offices here has a new look thanks to its first touch-up in at least 30 years. The work began in April and was completed in June.

All the vinyl wall covering in the chapel interior was removed, as was the old popcorn ceiling coating. The walls were recovered with a neutral beige-colored vinyl covering and the ceiling was painted with a white, knockdown-textured ceiling paint, said Dan Himmelberg, archdiocesan director of real estate and construction.

Some pews, in which cracks had formed in the wood, were repaired.

Additionally, the vestibule just inside the doors to the chancery was painted a light seafoam green after the removal of the vinyl wallpaper, “something warm and inviting,” said Himmelberg.

The chapel was scheduled to reopen for worship on June 20.

The work was done by Dayco Painting Company of Grandview, Missouri.

Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a noted United States historian, famously opined decades ago that anti-Catholicism is “the deepest bias in the history of the American people.”

Another historian, John Higham, called it “the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history.”

Given the intensity and even violence surrounding the volatile issues of abortion, homosexuality and transgenderism, the attacks on the Catholic Church in this country have markedly increased of late.

From May 2020 to May 2022, 139 incidents of violence against Catholic churches occurred in 35 states, including cases of arson, beheaded statues, gravestones defaced with swastikas, smashed windows, pro-abortion graffiti, theft and desecration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Anti-Catholic, documented hate crimes have risen dramatically in this country in the last 10 years.

History of anti-Catholicism

In the past, American anti-Catholicism found its roots in the

ARCHBISHOP NAUMANN’S CALENDAR

July 16 Installation Mass of Father Joel Haug — Sacred Heart, Sabetha

July 17

“Shepherd’s Voice” recording — chancery

July 20

Communio update with Tory Baucum

July 21

Catholic Charities Consortio

July 24 Camp Tekakwitha Extreme Camp opening Mass — Prairie Star Ranch, Williamsburg

Correction

In the June 30 issue The Leaven ran a short article titled “Statement on Suspected Abuse,” which was not correct. The archdiocese has found two substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor by Father Francis “Lery” Wendling, a member of the Franciscan Friars Province of St. John the Baptist (Ohio) who died in 2017. The Leaven regrets the error.