Creating a holy space: New chapel dedicated at Holy Cross Hospital Mountain Point in Lehi
-
- Bishop Oscar Solis of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake dedicates a chapel at CommonSpirit Holy Cross Hospital Mountain Point on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Lehi.
-
- Bishop Oscar Solis of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake dedicates a chapel at CommonSpirit Holy Cross Hospital Mountain Point on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Lehi.
-
- A priest lights a candle during a dedication of a chapel at CommonSpirit Holy Cross Hospital Mountain Point on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Lehi.
As a Catholic institution, CommonSpirit Health requires each of its hospitals to have a chapel where patients and visitors of all faiths can come to pray or find peace amid their stressful circumstances.
When a new CommonSpirit hospital is constructed, these chapels are built as part of the original blueprint. But when the organization acquires an existing hospital without a chapel — as was the case at Holy Cross Hospital Mountain Point in Lehi — they have to get creative.
“It was an incredible challenge,” hospital president Chris Stines said about finding a chapel location. “This hospital was really well designed in many ways. But when the hospital was built, it wasn’t a faith-based hospital, it wasn’t a Catholic hospital, so they didn’t plan for a chapel at all. So we had to be very creative.”
The hospital administrators identified an old mail room near the front lobby of the building to convert into a chapel, and dedicated it Wednesday evening.
The dedication and consecration of the chapel was conducted by Bishop Oscar Solis of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake. The hourlong ceremony involved a dedicatory prayer, the sprinkling of the chapel with holy water and the offering of first Mass, among other rituals.
“There’s a sense of reverence when we’re in the presence or a place of holiness or of sacredness,” Stines said. “And so part of this dedication was dedicating this space that used to be a mail room as now a place of worship, a place of meditation, a place of prayer.”
Stines believes the intimate space is a reflection of what the Holy Cross Hospital stands for: “Small but mighty.” The hospital, which was acquired by CommonSpirit along with four other Utah hospitals in 2023, holds just 40 beds.
“We do things that much larger hospitals aren’t able to do, and we deliver really excellent care and our engagement scores, our patient satisfaction and quality scores are at the top,” he said.
Providing a chapel also serves the healthcare organization’s overall purpose of providing holistic care, according to Sarah Hill, who is the chief mission integration officer of CommonSpirit’s Mountain Region.
“Something like a chapel is really vital to us to live out our faith and show our faith, and have a place where people can go and pray and anybody can be welcome,” Hill said. “The patients, families, staff members themselves to have a dedicated space to go and pray.”
CommonFaith officials said they are happy to provide such a space to the local community, which is primarily served by secular health care institutions like Intermountain Health.
“We love being here in the Utah community, where we know there are so many people of faith that are really embracing us and faith-based health care being here for them and with them and honoring that people are of body, mind and spirit,’ Hill said.
