Our Community

Welcome to our online contemplative community for anyone interested in the spiritual practice of meditation and lectio divina. We offer virtual meditation chapels, open at different days and times each week, where you can experience the enrichment and community of online contemplation. These chapels are hosted by the faith communities of Old St. Patrick’s (Chicago, IL) and St. Margaret Mary (Naperville, IL) and are open to all.

The chapel experience is one hour long and takes place in two parts. We connect together in our online chapel through the video conferencing platform, Zoom The first half of our time is spent together in silent prayer/meditation. To see, hear and join with others throughout our community and beyond can be a profoundly connecting, expansive and intimate experience. Learn More

What is Contemplation?

Contemplation is communication/communion with the Divine Presence that makes minimal use of words, images and concepts or dispenses with them altogether. Meditation and lectio divina are common contemplative practices. We are not prescribing any meditation method only inviting you to be prayerfully silent with us in our collective desire to enter into a more conscious awareness and communion with Divine Presence.

Contemplative practices, like meditation and lectio divina tend to be solitary experiences, that we believe should not always be done alone. For participating with others enriches the experience for all of us. We benefit from one another’s companionship. Continue Reading

Chapel Days/Times/Hosts

The following is a list of when the meditation chapels will be open and who will be hosting the chapel time. You are welcome to participate in any or all of these opportunities to pray with a community. Please plan on entering the chapel a couple minutes prior to the scheduled start time and with the audio muted on your device.
We encourage regular participation in a chapel as it strengthens community and our contemplative practice, but please know you are welcome to participate as you are able.

Day Time Host
Monday    7am CST John Blumberg & Linda Tomasello
Monday7:30pm CSTAl Gustafson – guided Loving Kindness Meditation
Tuesday 7am CST Ed Shurna
Wednesday Noon CST Al Gustafson & Bill Hassett
Wednesday 7:30 pm CST Mary Beth McEuen & Ed Siderewicz
Thursday 8am CST Marybeth Coleman & Eileen O’Shea
Thursday5pm CSTHappy Half-Hour ( 30 minute meditation)
Friday10am CSTAl Gustafson
Saturday 7am CST Kate DeVries & Margie Rudnik

Bios for each of the chapel
hosts can be found here

Registration Form

Sharing Guidelines

Each chapel experience concludes with a time for holy sharing. This time is an opportunity to name our own experience, listen deeply to the experience of others and strengthen the bonds of our community. As our groups increase in size, we need to be especially sensitive to each other. The following guidelines for effective sharing are taken from the interfaith community mediationchapel.org.

Please review our guidelines here.

Register to Participate

If you care to participate in any of the online chapels, you will first need to complete this simple registration form.  Once you have registered, an email will be sent to you with the URL for participating in any of the chapels throughout the week. You will need to register if you wish to receive the URL and access our online chapel. Sharing your contact information allows us to contact you with important news about our contemplative community.

The database of all those participating in our contemplative community is kept at Old St. Patrick’s Church.  We never share your email and promise to not clutter your inbox. You will only receive notifications regarding our contemplative community.

Once you have registered please  install the Zoom software on your computer or device in order to enter the online chapel. Additional information about the technical requirements for participating in our online chapel can be found here.

Registration Form