‘Earth’s crammed with heaven:’ All the Church for all the world

The Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria, Illinois, features a ceiling in its entryway painted to replicate the specific constellation alignment over Peoria on February 11, 1875, the day the church was founded.

A writer for The Catholic Spirit noted that the blue-painted night sky, decorated with stars and planets, resembles heaven descending to earth. The author connected this imagery to the prayer in the Our Father for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, describing it as a missionary prayer intended to help the world draw closer to God.

The commentary further linked this theme of divine presence to the ministry of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen. The author observed that Sheen dedicated his preaching and mission to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, following a pilgrimage to his beatification in St. Louis and a visit to his tomb in a side chapel at the Peoria cathedral.