Holy Family Parishes
“Chapel of St. Paul”
The Chapel of St. Paul was built as a presence of the St. Paul Parish that was located on this property for over 150 years. After hurricane Katrina washed ashore in August of 2005 and heavily damaged the church and school that was here, Bishop Thomas J. Rodi, who was bishop at the time, combined Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and St. Paul’s Parishes and formed a new parish of Holy Family Parish. The new Church for Holy Family, built and dedicated on January 25th 2014, is located on Menge Avenue next to the new St. Vincent De Paul School. Bishop Roger Morin had this Chapel built in memory of the past church history, as a place of the presence of God, a quiet space for prayer and meditation in the heart of Pass Christian. The Chapel is a part of Holy Family Parish.
The exterior of the Chapel was designed to look like the Pre Hurricane Camille St. Paul Church. The Stain glass window in the steeple of the Chapel is one of the windows that survived that hurricane and was refurbished by a parishioner and donated to Holy Family Parish to use in the new Chapel. The Statues of Mary, Joseph and The Sacred Heart of Jesus were from the Pre-Katrina church and were badly damaged in that storm but were refurbished to their original condition. As you walk into the nave of the chapel you will notice the stain glass windows. These windows, from the Post-Camille St. Paul church were not damaged in the storm. They were recovered and retrofitted into a gothic style. The Marble Altar, Ambo and Baptismal font were all recovered from the St. Paul church after Katrina. The Altar was downsized to fit into the Chapel. All the light fixtures were refurbished from Our Lady of Lourdes church. As you leave the Chapel on the back wall over the exit doors of the Naïve, you will notice the Risen Christ statue that hung over the Altar of the Post-Camille St. Paul church. The Chapel brings pieces of past history back together, and unites the two pre-Katrina Parishes, St. Paul and Our Lady of Lourdes as one Holy place of prayer. The Chapel has two scheduled masses during the week, and is used for Baptisms, weddings and funerals, as well as other religions celebrations.
