The coronavirus pandemic has transformed how Catholics around the world practice their faith. With parish doors closed, more attention has been paid to the domestic church. America asked listeners of its podcast, Jesuitical, to send in photos and description of their home prayer spaces via Facebook. Here are some of them.
(1) Easter season altar set on the windowsill: Mary Our Lady of Sorrows statue, a small St. Joseph, some small palm crosses from Palm Sunday, kiddo’s cross drawing, kiddo’s baptismal candle and baptismal water; holy cards of St. Anthony of the Desert, Dorothy Day, Augustus Tolton, St. Romero, Thea Bowman, St. Martin de Porres.
Daniel Regenscheit
(2) Easter Vigil at Home: Homemade Paschal candle, water for blessing and renewing Baptismal promises, and an empty chalice to remind us of what's missing…
Ryan Delaney
(3) General prayer space (we have two little ones, so we keep it simple).
Veronica Roltgen
(4) At this moment I am staying at my friend’s flat, so my prayer place is improvised from what I had with me: Cross from St. Damian church; picture of Loretto Mary (Black Madonna from our Jesuit church in Vilnius); picture of St. Therese from Lisieux (❤️), some branches from a garden and forest near home and my very schematic picture of Resurrection morning; also some prayer notes, left from Good Friday, that I placed at the feet of Jesus.
Monika Smalinskaite
(5) This was on Palm Sunday. We live in an RV so we don’t have a mantle or anything we can use - have to get creative! (Also please excuse the pup and her toy—she insists on being where we are 😂)
Josie Weisenberger
(6) This is my home “altar”/designated spot to livestream Mass in my bedroom. The cross at the top is from my grandmother’s apartment after she passed away in 2015. She encouraged me to find a faith community while she was alive, and it really made an impact on me. The quote on the letter billboard is from a homily Pope Francis gave at World Youth Day 2019. I was one of the pilgrims in attendance in Panama City, and that homily profoundly changed how I viewed my spiritual relationship with God. I livestream Mass from my parish (The Church of Saint Paul the Apostle in New York City 🙌🏻⛪️🏙) on my iPad, and light candles around it to help set a more contemplative mood.
Mary Kate Polanin
