Home  |  News  |  Events  |  Contact
Meet the people involved in our faith community.
Learn what it means to be a Catholic.
Our parishes, schools, ministries, and centers.
The services we provide and ways to get involved.

News

Bishop Designates Queen of All Saints Chapel at Diocesan High School

larger font

At a Mass celebrated at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge used the occasion to designate the school chapel as “Queen of All Saints Chapel.” The Bishop also blessed the new chapel doors, which were installed during the summer as part of an ongoing upgrade of the chapel and narthex (entrance) area.

Fr. Scott McCue, Assistant Principal for Spiritual Life at Cardinal Gibbons, explained that the title of “Queen of All Saints” places the chapel under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as was the school building during its construction in the 1990’s. This title also honors the patron saints of the three religious communities that served in administrative capacities at the high school during its almost 100 year history. (The school will begin its 100th anniversary celebration during Catholic Schools Week in January 2009).

The three communities and the patron saints honored are the Dominican Sisters of Newburgh, New York (St. Dominic) who, along with Msgr. Thomas Griffin, founded the school as Sacred Heart Academy in 1909; the Sisters of Notre Dame of Chardon, Ohio (St. Julie Billiart); and the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn, New York (St. Francis). The chapel and narthex pay tribute in specific ways to each of these communities. A statue of St. Julie Billiart is in the narthex. A Dominican Cross honors the Dominican Sisters and the San Damiano Cross and Statue of St. Francis inside the chapel honors the brothers.

“We wanted to create an area in that part of the school building that leads to the sacred area of the chapel,” Fr. McCue said in explaining the narthex. ”We realy wanted to make it known that the spiritual life of our school is our top priority. The new chapel doors help to accomplish this by stating that this indeed is a sacred space and these doors now serve to more fully welcome and draw students, faculty, staff, parents and visitors into the sacredness of “Queen of All Saints Chapel.”

Above: The tabernacle and altar at Queen of All Saints Chapel.

Above: New chapel doors in the narthex.

Above: Part of the narthex with statue of St. Julie Billiart.