In the last half-century, shopping malls were developed in suburbs throughout the country.
"They are sort of a new secular temple, the holy city for our consumer society," Cardinal Sean O'Malley said yesterday during his visit to Peabody's Northshore Mall.
Today, O'Malley said, the marketplace is flooded with solutions to our "invented" needs. You can choose among 50 shades of lipstick or 30 flavors of toothpaste, he said.
Amid the endless options and commercial bustle, "We need time and space for God," O'Malley said.
At the Northshore Mall, the Carmelite Chapel has provided that space for the past 50 years.
"Here in this wonderful chapel," O'Malley said, "we have that spiritual oasis."
O'Malley visited the mall yesterday to celebrate Mass and bless the recently renovated chapel on its golden anniversary. The noon observance drew a large crowd of Catholics from throughout the North Shore.
The chapel — one of only two remaining original mall tenants (the other is Murray's Hallmark) — began with the vision of Cardinal Richard Cushing, who wanted to open churches where the people were. Carmelite priests who lived in nearby Hamilton agreed to serve as its ministers.
O'Malley, the leader of the Archdiocese of Boston and its 1.8 million Catholics, said that when Pope Benedict made him a cardinal, he gave O'Malley a Carmelite Chapel in Rome for his church.
"It's much smaller than this one, actually," O'Malley said.
But the Rome chapel is home to a famous statue of St. Therese.
"It's run by the Carmelite Friary, and I told them I wanted to bring that statue back to Boston. I thought maybe we could put it here at the mall," O'Malley said.
"And they told me Napoleon tried to get it," he said to laughter, "which means that I wasn't going to bring it home."
The chapel reopened only last month. During months of construction, daily Masses were celebrated in a vacant former Office Depot.
The renovations cost about $250,000. They created a center aisle, enlarged and updated the altar, and added new lighting and wiring. Two stained-glass windows were installed in the wall behind the altar.
"I'm ecstatic," said the Rev. Herbert Jones, who oversees the chapel. "The whole day has just been a wonderful way of bringing to a close a long, long process."
Among the attendees yesterday was Mayor Michael Bonfanti. Frank Ochs traveled from Boston to be there.
"I thought it was wonderful," Ochs said. "(O'Malley) is a wonderful person."
The cardinal's message about the need to find time for God resonated with Ann Richard of Beverly.
"We need to take time to meditate," she said, "and to pray."
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