By Pamela Seal
Diocese of Lake Charles
LAKE CHARLES — The start of a new school year at St. Louis Catholic High School was about more than reconnecting with friends and teachers. It was also about looking to the future while honoring its past and present traditions of excellence.
On August 25, 2024 — the Feast Day of St. Louis, King of France — Bishop Glen John Provost blessed the site on Corbina Road where the future campus of St. Louis Catholic High School will be built.
Earlier this year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) obligated $32,204,013.10 to build a new campus for the lone Catholic high school in the Diocese of Lake Charles.
The breezy Sunday afternoon was just two days shy of the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Laura, the catastrophic storm that destroyed the former campus on August 27, 2020. The high school has been operating in modular buildings in the time since, all the while exhibiting resilience that only true saints can do.
A few days prior to the site blessing, Bishop Provost blessed the students, faculty, and staff during a school Mass on August 21, inviting them to be grateful for what God has given them every day.
Rev. Whitney Miller, Chair of the “Spreading Roots, Growing Saints” Capital Campaign, said that the blessing of students paired with the blessing of the property was a way to “bridge the old and new.”
“Our ongoing goal with this Capital Campaign and the Catholic formation of growing saints on our campuses — old and new — is well stated in our school motto of ‘Honor and Praise God in All Ways,’ that is, in ways of memory and tradition, as well as ways of vision and restoration,” said Father Miller. Sharing in the ministry of Campaign Chair is Mike Veron.
Joining His Excellency for the site blessing were Father Ruben J. Buller, Rector of St. Louis Catholic High; Kimberlee Gazzolo, Superintendent of Catholic Schools; Kelly DeMolle, Principal; Father Whitney Miller; several members of the Board of Pastors, and a number of St. Louis students.
“The work we are beginning today should enliven our faith and make us grateful,” said Bishop Provost. “We know the familiar words of the school motto. Whenever we look to the interest of our community and serve one another, we are in a sense, God’s own coworkers, and in so doing, we honor and praise God.”
Father Buller said that the blessing is a sign of moving forward presenting to God all the work that has been done so far.
“Many people have done much to bring us to this point. We are grateful to them and grateful to God for allowing us to arrive at the next steps,” Father Buller remarked. “We have much more to do but are continuing to move forward!”
While those gathered sang the school’s Alma Mater, Bishop Provost sprinkled the signage and site with holy water.
“My brothers and sisters, let us pray that God will bless this property and land and that His protection will keep those who work on it safe from all injury and harm,” the bishop said.
Father Miller compared the past four years of tribulation to walking in the footsteps of many of the saints of our Church’s history.
“So many saints demonstrate the qualities of spiritual resilience and victory over suffering and struggle,” he said. “We, too, are being called to do the same in our present day and age with this project of challenge, adventure, and mutual support. With God’s blessing and the intercession of all the angels and saints, let us join together in getting this done!”
