25/07/2024
Today is the second anniversary of the Dedication of the Holy Family Chapel, the Spiritual Heart of the Ateneo de Naga University Junior High School.
Learn about THE HISTORY OF THE CHAPEL today!
The Chapel of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph was built by the late Principal, Fr. Angelo “Boboy” Silerio, SJ in SY 2018-2019 to serve as a prayer room within the Junior High School building to allow students to visit Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament during their free time and to have a venue for intimate prayer sessions. With limited funding, Fr. Boboy managed to convert a classroom -- Room 130 -- into a small prayer room that could accommodate at most 40 students. In the prayer room, Fr. Boboy celebrated masses as early as 7:00am to accommodate teachers, and noon time masses for students. Fr. Boboy also placed the Chapel under the patronage of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in 2019, to give emphasis to the role of the Family in the formation of Junior High School students.
Fr. Boboy's Holy Family Chapel proved itself practical and useful at the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020-2022 as it became the center of all online masses in the Junior High School. The small chapel provided the community with a ready venue for the live streaming of daily and First Friday Masses and bridged the Eucharist to the homes of our students.
With Fr. Boboy's intention in mind, the succeeding Principal, Fr. Martin Licup, SJ deemed it best to create a larger chapel. One that can accommodate more students and well within the confines of the Junior High School building so that the chapel could easily be accessible to students. It was decided to place the chapel near the Four Pillars, as the Four Pillars lobby is a major thoroughfare of students during class days. This location was chosen not only to bring the chapel closer to the students but as a homage to the olden days of the Ateneo de Naga at the Main Campus with the Chapel located at the lobby behind the Four Pillars.
With its history and the intentions behind its construction and reconstruction, it is the prayer of the Junior High School community that the new Holy Family Chapel become the new Spiritual Heart of the Junior High School which plays a vital role in leading the students, faculty, and staff closer to Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament through the daily masses, group prayer sessions, and various prayer activities. Through this chapel, the Junior High School is inspired by the example of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph to live a life of prayer, obedience, and love, and to find God in all things.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.
