February 14, 2023 // Diocese

Students at Queen of Angels Take the Eucharistic Revival to Heart with Art

Christopher Lushis

Freelance Writer

As the national Eucharistic Revival continues, the next phase will focus on how parishes seek to teach and lead their parishioners to cultivate a deeper understanding and love for Jesus in the Eucharist. Additionally, Catholic schools have been invited to create their own blueprint for introducing programming, initiatives, and events that emphasize devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

Queen of Angels Catholic School in Fort Wayne recently brought one of these Eucharistic-themed projects to life through their classroom hallways. Principal Dennis Wiegmann explained, “Catholic Schools Week involved our school creating many different themed days. One way we were able to celebrate in light of the Eucharistic Revival was through a monstrance door-decorating contest. This was inspired by a visit to St. Rose Catholic School in Monroeville about a month ago. While there, I saw that every room had a monstrance on their door that was created by their Art teacher. I thought we could take this idea a step further by having the students brainstorm to create monstrances with materials given to them for each of their classroom doors. Unlike a normal door decorating contest, these creative monstrances will stay on the doors through the years of the entire Eucharistic Revival, as an initiative of our school’s Eucharistic blueprint, which is themed on Venerable Fulton Sheen’s quote, ‘The greatest love story of all time is contained in a tiny white host.’”

Photos by Christopher Lushis
Classroom doors at Queen of Angels Catholic School in Fort Wayne are decorated with monstrances in honor of the Blessed Sacrament as part of the Eucharistic Revival in our diocese.

For the creation of the projects, Wiegmann added, “We gave each classroom gold cardstock and beige construction paper. The teachers provided students with the time to brainstorm and create their designs, while also giving them any other materials that might be needed. We were very pleased with the end projects and we look forward to displaying these on our doors for the upcoming years!”

Michelle Meyer, Religion Teacher for middle school and 8th grade since 2014, shared about the enthusiasm of her students to bring this project to life. She exclaimed, “The older kids saw what was happening in some of the classrooms and they got very excited. They started asking if they could bring in additional material and if we could purchase flowers to lay at the foot of the monstrance. Other teachers started creating different versions with stained-glass windows, handprints, altars, and candles. The middle schoolers became enflamed with excitement, saying they ‘wanted to do our utmost for His highest.’ They wanted to give more and more. They wanted to adore Jesus with their own personal touch, and they wanted to do it together. The more they worked on it, the more excited they got. I told them that this is their legacy because this will stay on my door for two more years. Even though they will be in high school, everyone who comes after them will see what they did and how much they love Jesus. Their excitement brought joy to my heart. It is why I am here!”

Jill Henderson, English Teacher for middle school and 6th grade, expressed similar sentiments about her class, “I divided my students into three groups: the first one rolled up their sleeves and went right to work designing ideas for what our monstrance needed to look like; another began researching Scripture to find the perfect wording for the display; and the third designed the background, which included an altar. Once our designs and wording were established, we began to focus on how we might help passersby understand that the Eucharist displayed in the monstrance truly is the Body of Christ. They decided to embed a beautiful picture of the face of Jesus in the center and created a golden glow around the Eucharist itself. The end result really is quite moving!”

Queen of Angels’ Pastor, Father Spenser St. Louis, shared his own appreciation for these creative initiatives, saying, “I was really impressed by what the students were able to come up with. Each “monstrance” they created really shows their love for the Lord, and how He impacts their lives. It is really fitting that the word Monstrance comes from the Latin word “monstrare,” meaning to show. The monstrance shows our Eucharistic Lord so that we can adore Him. These monstrances, on the other hand, help to show the devotion our students have and how they are able to show their love for God. They did a wonderful job!”

Anyone interested in learning more about the school’s plans for the Eucharistic Revival are welcome to email Principal Wiegmann at [email protected].