NORTH PALM BEACH | The new Eucharistic adoration chapel at St. Clare Parish, using space that had been a reconciliation room in the church building, was “funded on prayer,” said Father Nick Zrallack, pastor.
After praying over the idea from Bibi Mendoza, director of religious education, to convert the small room into a quiet place of prayer before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, Father Zrallack contacted a local interior designer to create a simple plan with a couple of pews, candles, a tabernacle and a large mosaic. Everything fell into place, he said.
Feeling certain that “God is wanting this,” Father Zrallack said, the parish proceeded with the project, using money from special novenas in 2025. “The Mother’s Day novena itself paid for the entire mosaic. The Father’s Day novena money will end up helping fund the rest of the design that we did inside the chapel. So truly, it is funded by prayer. That’s where we just trust God and say, ‘OK, Lord, you really want this, you better help pay for it.’ And he does. He finds a way,” he said.
Located off the church’s narthex (entrance vestibule), the chapel features pews that were previously in the choir loft, which is now used for a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd learning environment for children ages 3 to 6. The chapel’s tabernacle had been stored in a church closet. The parish purchased a new monstrance, or ostensorium, to fit better in the tabernacle behind a glass partition.
When a person enters the chapel, they can hit a button that opens a curtain revealing the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance. As the person leaves, they hit the switch again to close the curtain.
The mosaic depicting the Last Supper was ordered from a company called Mozaico, which is a U.S.-based firm that employs artisans worldwide, Father Zrallack said. The same company provided mosaics of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare that are displayed inside the church. The chapel mosaic was created in the Middle East using polished stones and shipped to the North Palm Beach parish.
The artwork arrived in three parts rolled up in a tube, with the stones glued to a wire mesh. Thanks to the artistic talents of Father Marvin Borda, assisting priest from the Philippines, along with seminarian Jonathan Fonque Cortés and parishioner Steve Appleby, the mosaic was placed on a chapel wall.
“We installed it one by one, piece by piece and then restored some of the edges because, when they delivered the mosaic, there were a lot of missing parts,” said Father Borda, who studied architecture in college and later worked to restore Catholic artwork.
“In our diocese in the Philippines, I was in charge of restoring artifacts because we have a lot of centuries-old churches,” he said. “Most of the churches there have their own museum, too. So, before they show to the public some of the artifacts, they need to be restored first, paintings and sculptures. I did one mosaic before, when I was in the seminary (more than 12 years ago), and that was the last time I did a mosaic. Not on stone but mixed medium, like eggshells, bits of seeds and rice.”
Installing the mosaic took nearly a week because they had to apply grout, then a sealer and varnish, with enough time for each element to dry.
Father Zrallack is grateful for Father Borda’s expertise installing the mosaic. “I had no part in that. I know my skillset, and that’s not it,” he said.
Currently, the chapel is open from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. “During the school year, that’s actually the same time that we have security on campus for the school. So, we were kind of matching that,” Father Zrallack said. Cameras have been added to bolster security during the summer, and anyone wanting to enter the chapel must register with the parish office to obtain an access code, he said.
“We have people registering for it, and it’ll control access to it, so that way we don’t have to just leave the front door open. We’re able to coordinate who’s able to be in the building,” said Father Zrallack, adding that he hopes to expand the chapel hours, possibly to 24/7.
The priests agree that having the chapel — opening it in the morning and closing it at night with evening prayer — helps orient their day around the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. “I always did evening prayer anyway,” Father Zrallack said, “but being able to actually sit in Christ’s presence, kind of being drawn to his presence each day, it’s been remarkable. It gives more meaning to it, I suppose. So, that in itself has been a blessing.”
He has received positive feedback from parishioners who take a break from their busy schedules to spend time with Jesus. One man told him that he can only stay a few minutes, but he finds such peace before going back to work. “I’m grateful, I think, for that as well, that it’s opening people’s hearts to the Eucharist in a way that only Christ can do, where it’s his presence, just being there, available for people. It’s so important,” Father Zrallack said.
“We have a good number of people a lot of times at the end of the day. As we’re going to close it, there’s a lot of people in the chapel, which is a great problem,” he said, adding, “You can’t go wrong when Christ is at the center.”
For more information about St. Clare Parish and School, visit www.stclarechurch.net or www.stclareschool.com and follow on social media. Contact the parish office at 561-622-7477 or info@stclarechurch.net.
