The new World Center of Prayer for Peace chapel will be located on the campus of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Beloit, Kansas. Beloit is a rural community with a population of approximately 3,000 and located just 50 miles from the geographical center of the United States. It is our hope that this Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel will serve as a beacon of peace that radiates throughout the United States and beyond.

 

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, construction of the current St. John’s Church began in 1900 and was completed in 1904. It was the largest church west of the Mississippi River at the time it was built and was the first church in the United States built with flying buttresses and a ceiling made entirely of stone.

 

Tools and equipment in the early 1900s were obviously primitive resulting in hard, back- breaking labor for all involved. Thousands of loads of limestone were quarried by hand and hauled, along with sand, in horse-drawn wagons over trails and dirt roads. This pioneer spirit and determination is still alive and well today as St. John’s parishioners, alumni, and friends recently completed a $3.5 million restoration project. Instigated by a fire in one area of the church, parishioners rallied behind Father Jarett Konrade’s vision to restore the church to its historical beauty. The community is excited to embark on the continuing vision for peace.