May 2024 Program
A Visit to Conewago Chapel, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Hosted by the Pastor of the Church, Fr. Dwight Schlaline
The Sacred Heart Basilica is a Roman Catholic minor basilica dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The church was built and founded by the Jesuit Order and opened in 1787. It has recently undergone extensive restoration of the ornate interior paintings and artwork. It is located in Irishtown near Hanover and McSherrystown in Conewago Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania. The church is now a part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg.
Summary of the visit by Erica Runkles:
The skies may have been overcast and rainy, on May 5, 2024, as we headed to the site of that Sunday’s program, but the visit to the grounds and interior of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was transcendent in terms of time and beauty. The setting was mostly pastoral and seemingly out-of-the- way until the centuries-old brownstone edifice with a towering 80-foot spire and attached rectory and school suddenly appeared in the near distance. There was the largest stone basilica in the United States. Our adventure had begun!
Rev. Dwight D. Schlaline, who has been shepherding the Basilica’s congregation and building restorations since 2020, greeted our group of close to 20 visitors. The inner vestibule doors opened, and we walked into a magnificent view of the bright interior of the Basilica with its lovely stained-glass windows, statues, Stations of the Cross, framed paintings, and soaring ceilings and walls with painted images of the sublime. As we sat in pews, Rev. Schlaline recounted the history of the
area’s Catholicism, starting from the landing of Andrew White on St. Clément’s Island, in southern Maryland, in 1634 to the northern spread of Jesuit missionaries in 1730. Depending on the religious climate in Britain and the colonies, Jesuits at times needed to disguise their presence by donning Quaker garb or sleeping on the ground with their horses in case they needed a hasty departure. In 1741, Father William Wappeler, the first pastor, directed the building of a log cabin called a mass house not far from the current church. In 1787 a permanent brownstone church, as well as a rectory,were built to accommodate the growth of the congregation, which was over one thousand at the time. In 1850, a major addition necessitated the moving of a portion of the cemetery which had abutted the rear part of the church. A transept and apse were added which together created the interior outline of the cross. Various noted artisans added to the beauty of the interior, for example, German painter Franz Stetler, who painted a fresco of the Last Supper in the 1850s (which unfortunately did not survive water damage); and Filippo Costaggini, who painted the apparition of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary for the centennial in 1887. By the centennial, the flock had grown to 5000 members.
In 2020, as there were signs of peeling and faded paint and plaster, with the Basilica showing its age, another major restoration of the church interior was commissioned and is now almost completed. In June of this year, the current floors will be replaced with hardwood flooring and space will be added between pews for the congregants’ comfort. Rev. Schlaline noted that there are many descendants of the families who originally built the mass house, the glorious Basilica, and its later expansion over these past 283 years who cherish their community of faith and attend to the preservation of this remarkable Basilica.
According to a brochure in the vestibule, Sacred Heart Basilica is open daily from dawn to dusk. Visitors and tourists are welcome. Phone 717-637-2721. 30 Basilica Drive, Hanover, PA 17331.