Công Giáo posted an update in the group
3 days ago
Dio LansingREAD: THE REMARKABLE STORY LANSING CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL’S “BIG, BEAUTIFUL CHAPEL”: Thank you to the good folk at Lansing Catholic High School who have sent us some great images of their Mass of Thanksgiving, March 25, to mark the 10th anniversary of the school’s Saint John Paul the Great chapel. The Mass was offered by school chaplain, Father Joe Campbell, concelebrating with two former school chaplains, Father Gordon Reigle and Father Paul Erickson.
All four Diocese of Lansing regional high schools are blessed with both chapels and full-time chaplains. Deo gratias. The diocesan Superintendent for Catholic Schools, Tom Maloney, was President of Lansing Catholic when the new school chapel was built a decade ago. Here are his fond memories of that time. Tom says:
“It’s hard to believe it’s already been a decade that we’ve had that beautiful chapel on campus at Lansing Catholic. You know, it really started with Father Joe Krupp, the then school chaplain, who had a dream of having ‘a big, beautiful chapel’ at the high school to serve our students.”
“And so, Father Joe and I would talk about this and, lo and behold, the Good Lord provided Father Gordon Reigle who was our next chaplain and who, actually, had some experience in design and connections with design firms.”
“So, Father Gordon took some of those big, undisciplined ideas that Father Joe and I had and started to put them onto paper and, as we saw those plans coming to completion, it was then a case of going out and making sure the community was on board.”
“This was at a time when, quite frankly, there were lots of other pressing needs at the high school: we didn’t have any real varsity athletic fields; the auditorium was in desperate need of renovation; ditto music classrooms, weight rooms, you name it.”
“And so, some people were somewhat puzzled that we were going to spend money and time and effort to build a chapel when there were all these other needs – and yet the Good Lord provided!”
“When people started seeing the images, though, started seeing what the Lord wanted to do, then we got such great support! I will never forget, all those school community members coming together.”
“In fact, we built the chapel pews by hand. That included people like me who haven’t a whole lot of craftsmanship in their genes, but we gathered for nine months straight, every Wednesday, putting all those pew pieces together. It was just a beautiful effort. How often do you get to be part of building a church!”
“Time and time again, our Good Lord provided the resources and the people who were needed make this incredible building project a reality. So, as we celebrate this tenth anniversary, just a flood of memories are coming back.”
“Most beautiful of all the fact that, ten years on, whenever I visit the school and stop by the chapel, there’s always a couple of kids in there spending time in front of Our Lord. That always warms my heart. You can’t help but be drawn into the divine by being in that space, wherever you look in the chapel teaches you something about our Good Lord, and something too about our faith and praise of God.”
“What a gift it has been to Lansing Catholic High School.”
* Want to know more about Lansing Catholic High School? Click here: https://lansingcatholic.org/
