PEORIA HEIGHTS — Building a new home for the Franciscan Sisters of John the Baptist started with a blessing and ended with a blessing.

It was Feb. 24, 2008, that Msgr. William Watson, pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Peoria Heights, blessed the site of their future convent, located just down the street from St. Thomas Church at 1209 E. Lake Ave.

Fifteen months later, Msgr. Watson was present as Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, solemnly dedicated the chapel and anointed its altar during the convent’s Dedication Mass on Thursday evening, May 28. After Mass, the bishop walked through the $1.5 million two-story building, blessing every room with holy water.

Besides the chapel, the new convent includes living quarters for the 10 sisters, a library, rooms for dining, sewing and recreation, and second floor living quarters for as many as 10 novices.

“It was an honor to build and a privilege to be a part of it,” said Bob Brady of Brady Homes, the construction company that erected the convent. “The construction process really all came together for me tonight in the ceremony. It was just so beautiful.”

Construction was completed in December and the sisters moved into their new home in January.

“This whole house is an outward sign of the charism of these sisters,” Bishop Jenky said in his dedication homily, in which he recalled this year’s 800th anniversary of the approval of the Rule of St. Francis as well as the many blessings the Diocese of Peoria has enjoyed thanks to the devoted service of Franciscan religious communities.

The Franciscans sharing in the sisters’ joy at the Dedication Mass included five East Peoria-based Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, two West Peoria-based Sisters of St. Francis of the Immaculate Conception, and Father Larry Zurek, OFM, pastor of Sacred Heart and St. Joseph’s parishes in Peoria, one of the 16 priests who concelebrated the Mass with Bishop Jenky.

Also helping to fill the pews and the additional chairs and benches set up outside the chapel were about 50 other people. A much larger crowd of well-wishers from throughout the diocese arrived for the reception after Mass.

“This day has been awaited for a long time, and it still seems impossible that the dream of having our own convent became a reality,” said Mother M. Vaclava Ballon, FSJB, superior of the Franciscan Sisters of John the Baptist, as she thanked her community’s many supporters at the end of the Mass.