St. Cecilia High invites public for tours, meal, music - and a farewell
Southern Nebraska Register
St. Cecilia High School in Hastings will hold an open house Wednesday, June 12, to offer tours of the school’s new Our Lady Chapel.
The event, planned from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., will include a brief ceremony, a barbecue meal, and music. It will also serve as a farewell to Father Thomas Brouillette, longtime chief administrative officer of Hastings Catholic Schools, who has been appointed vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln. Father Cyrus Rowan, current principal at St. Cecilia and assistant chief administrator of Hastings Catholic Schools, will succeed Father Brouillette as chief administrative officer
The chapel was blessed and dedicated May 20, the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church. Fourteen priests joined Bishop James Conley for the Mass. The bishop consecrated the altar and blessed the chapel, anointing the walls and reposing the Eucharist in the tabernacle for the first time.
The new chapel will be used for small Masses and other liturgies, as well as prayer and adoration. The space includes a sacristy and a confessional. The front sign, altar, ambo and medallions were installed May 1, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. The stations of the cross – from the Crosier Monastery that once served the Hastings area – and the crucifix were installed the following week, as well as flooring. Jean “JJ” Kriz and Vern Dvorak helped create the ambo, altar, archways, cross and other finishing details.
The addition of the chapel is part of a larger project at the school. Kicked off in 2021, the school’s “Our Faith, Our Future, Our Time” campaign raised funds for renovations and upgrades at St. Cecilia High School and Middle School, and St. Michael Elementary, as well as an endowed teacher fund for Hastings Catholic Schools.
Renovation work began in 2022. In addition to the chapel and new educational spaces, St. Cecilia received new HVAC systems, flooring, windows, paint and fixtures. The renovation is the first for the school, which was completed in 1961.
Courtesy photos
