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HOLY FAMILY CHAPEL

HOLY FAMILY CHAPEL
 

The golden dome shining atop the Holy Family chapel is a beacon to all who approach it.  It signals that faith holds a preeminent position for this school in the Holy Cross tradition.  

The chapel has been named The Holy Family Chapel. When Father Moreau merged the Josephite brothers,  the Marianite sisters and his priests to form the first Holy Cross Community, he saw the new community as modeled on the Holy Family.

A welcoming family spirit has been a prominent hallmark of the St. Edward community. The outdoor shrines to Mary and Joseph, and the many benches and paths to the chapel invite visitors to come and rest awhile.  Through the generosity and labor of many, this chapel is an inspirational space in which we can pray, celebrate, and meet the Lord Jesus who is the source of our spirit of love and family.  

The chapel dome reflects the ties we share with University of Notre Dame – it was from there that the brothers came to establish St. Edward High School.  The trees planted in the front yard by the first brothers were carefully removed during construction and their wood has been fashioned into the chapel’s cross and altars. The simplicity of our chapel derives from the focus it places on the cross, whose Corpus was designed by renowned sculptor Jerry McKenna ‘56.  Fr. Moreau’s motto for the community was Spes Unica. The cross was to be "Our Only Hope.”

He believed that: "There is no failure the Lord’s love cannot reverse, no humiliation He cannot exchange for blessing, no anger He cannot dissolve, no routine He cannot transfigure. All is swallowed up in victory. He has nothing but gifts to offer. It remains only for us to find how even the cross can be borne as a gift. (Resurrection for us is a daily event).   Constitution 8, 118, 119.   

The open design of the chapel with its view of the city also reflects Fr. Moreau’s view that education in faith does not close students away from the world, but rather prepares them to see and act in the world.  Fr. Moreau urged that students be taught everything that was necessary for them to become complete persons whose both minds and hearts are transformed through education and open to truth.

The flow of the design of the chapel into the adjacent Lowe Center for engineering further expresses Moreau’s holistic view of education as a ministry ever seeking new ways for students to gain the competence to see and the courage to act as persons of faith. St. Edward alumni have helped to equip this generation to follow their example as men whose expertise and generosity continue the Holy Cross tradition of meeting the global needs of our world with faith and skill.  The Holy Family Chapel was designed by Tomsik & Tomsik Architects, T. Michael Tomsik '77, and built by Walsh Construction, Jim Walsh '73.

This chapel is truly built upon a Holy Cross foundation.  The space it encloses once housed the brothers and priests whose lives of dedication brought St. Edward High School into being.  This space once held the "old" chapel in which generations of Edsmen sought and found in the Lord the hope they needed and would later bring to the world.  

The gift of this chapel is a legacy that will provide present and future members of the St. Edward community with access to the Holy Family.  We now have a place to seek the comfort of Mary, our Sorrowful Mother; the inspiring example and aid of St. Joseph, and the life-giving presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

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