Flather Hall 24/7 Chapel Now Open to Entire CUA Community
Image courtesy of CUA Campus Ministry.
By Anthony Curioso
As of the start of the Spring 2026 semester, CUA students now have a new on-campus space available at all times for individual prayer.
Following a brief construction project overseen by Jeffrey Brown Contracting that began in early October, a new exterior entrance has been created to provide access to the Sacred Heart Chapel, which is located on the first floor of Flather Hall — one of the two residence halls in CUA’s North Neighborhood Two that currently house freshman women.
The Sacred Heart Chapel opened its doors in 2012. Initially, it was designated exclusively for Flather Hall residents and could be accessed only by those residents using their Cardinal Cards to enter through the building’s front door. From there, they would proceed through the lobby to reach the chapel.
Before the new entrance to the Sacred Heart Chapel was built, non-Flather Hall residents seeking a place for prayer, accessible at any time of the day, had to visit the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. This chapel was an annex connected to the popular St. Vincent de Paul Chapel, and access required obtaining a code from Campus Ministry staff to unlock the door via a keypad. According to a message from Fr. Bernard Knapke, Associate Chaplain and Liturgy Coordinator, the former Blessed Sacrament Chapel will be converted back into a sacristy, returning the space to its original purpose from when St. Vincent’s Chapel and the adjacent residence halls, Regan and Ryan Hall, were opened between 1945 and 1950.
As a result of the construction, those who wish to access the Sacred Heart Chapel need only scan their Cardinal Cards at the new door (a white door facing the Kane Fitness Center) to enter a newly built corridor leading directly to the chapel. Both men and women have been granted card access to this new door, and anyone with a Cardinal Card can use it, including faculty and staff members.
In the Liturgy Updates section of the Campus Ministry Weekly Update email sent on January 26, the University community was informed that the 9 a.m. Saturday Mass on the last Saturday of each month will be held at the Sacred Heart Chapel. The first Mass at this chapel will take place on Saturday, January 31, at 9 a.m. Campus Ministry estimates that the Sacred Heart Chapel can accommodate a capacity level similar to that of St. Michael the Archangel Chapel in Maloney Hall.
Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, University Chaplain and Vice President for Ministry and Mission, shared the following in the January 12 Weekly Update email as part of his announcement of the opening of the Sacred Heart Chapel: “Updates will continue to be made to the chapel, and a formal dedication of it will be scheduled in the future. But even as we continue to improve the chapel, it is open now for all who wish to spend quiet time with the Lord.”
The opening of the Sacred Heart Chapel to the whole University community appears to serve as a partial fulfillment of the Student Government Association (SGA) Senate’s first resolution from the tenth year of its existence in the 2024-25 school year – Resolution 10-001: A Resolution to Show Support for a Perpetual Adoration Chapel. Although the Sacred Heart Chapel does not yet technically qualify as a perpetual adoration chapel because it currently does not have the Blessed Sacrament exposed in a monstrance, it is entirely possible that Campus Ministry will set up a monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament in the Sacred Heart Chapel in the future to fulfill the terms of this resolution more completely.
