June 29 is a special day in the life of the Perpetual Adoration Chapel, located next door to Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Abilene.

On June 29, 2000, the chapel was dedicated, with Bishop Michael Pfeifer presiding and Father Robert Bush, pastor at the time, adding his prayers. Bush said he looked forward to the day when the chapel would be used by all Abilenians.

“We hope to be a blessing to the whole town,” he said. 

Bush, who was at Sacred Heart long enough to see that blessing come true many times over, died on Jan. 17, 2025, at age 81.

The chapel is located in what was once Green Electric Shop. After extensive renovation, it opened for its new purpose in 2000 and has been a beacon since then. Fast forward 25 years to Sunday, June 29, 2025, when current Bishop Michael Sis presided over a Mass at Sacred Heart, followed by a procession to the chapel for benediction, and a dinner in the parish hall, complete with multiple forms of entertainment.

In the Mass, Sis urged everyone to sign up for an hour or two each week to pray in the chapel. The chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Sis reminded young people that the chapel is a good place to sit and ask a question about their future. Just as St. Francis of Assisi once asked what God expected of him, young people today must ask the same question, Sis said.

“Lord, what do you want me to do?” Sis quoted St. Francis.

Among the guests for the activities was Margarita Argumaniz, who has visited the chapel since it opened in 2000 and has been volunteering the past five years to pray in the chapel one to two hours at a time, three days a week.

People who come to the chapel to pray or meditate frequently tell her about the good things that have happened to them after their visit. She, too, knows the value of sitting quietly in the chapel.

“We have a lot to be thankful for,”she said. “We are blessed to have the chapel here.”

Father Albert Ezeanya, a native of Nigeria, was appointed parish priest at Sacred Heart in 2019. He began his first day on the job in prayer in the chapel. An article in the Abilene Reporter-News told about his prayer life and how much the chapel meant to him and others who sought a quiet place for prayer.

“When they come to the chapel, they are healed,” he said.

Charlotte Starbuck of Merkel took special interest in the joyous ceremonies in late June. She created the leaded stained-glass windows for the chapel, with assistance from Irene Lopez, a member of Sacred Heart.

Starbuck learned the process when her church in Merkel, Our Mother of Mercy Mission, was located in a temporary metal building. She didn’t like the plain glass windows and heard the voice of the Lord speak to her — she needed to do something about those windows.

“When the Holy Spirit moves you, you must pay attention,” she said.

So she took a one-week class in how to make leaded stained-glass panels and outfitted the 12 windows in the metal building. Since then, the congregation has moved into a larger, permanent building.

When Starbuck created the windows, first for the Merkel church and next for the adoration chapel, she did the work in a furniture store that she and her husband owned. No matter where she worked, Starbuck kept feeling the Holy Spirit nudging her to complete the work.

“I just knew I had to do that,” she said.

Photo: Bishop Sis, clergy, and altar servers stand outside the Perpetual Adoration Chapel next to Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Abilene. The chapel was dedicated on June 29, 2000, and was the site of solemn exposition and benediction on its 25th anniversary June 29, 2025. (Photo by Loretta Fulton)