The Divine Mercy Chapel attracts the faithful and curious to a rural northwest-side neighborhood tucked away in an area where water flows in irrigation ditches and people on horseback travel dirt paths.
People of all faiths make their way to the tiny chapel that sits near Alicia and Reuben Islas Jr.’s home at 7831-B N. St. Patrick Road. Their neighborhood is east of Interstate 10 between West Cortaro Farms and West Ina roads.
The chapel, which has a steel frame, was built by the late Charles “Gringo” Miller, a welder, sculptor and artist. He began his creation in 2000 and the chapel’s doors opened on Ash Wednesday 2002. It was his dream for people to come to the chapel and contemplate their spiritual journey.
Miller met Alicia in 2003, when she stopped at his welding shop near North Flowing Wells and West Wetmore roads in search of a wood burning stove, but instead visited the chapel next door.
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She became a regular visitor — growing more in her faith — and discovering artistic details within the chapel that showed Miller’s devotion to God.
“It is evident in his sculpted wall hangings that hold religious images,” said Alicia, 55, of the more than a dozen works, including the Stations of the Cross.
Read more in Monday's Arizona Daily Star
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