After about a year of construction, Cathedral’s new campus addition is complete. The Grotto on the Hill has been welcomed as a beautiful place for Cathedral to use in its future. On Wednesday May 7th, it was officially opened with the dedication ceremony after school. 

One group of the school that plans to take full advantage of the new grotto is campus ministry run by Director of Campus Ministry Dave Neeson. Neeson believes the grotto will continue to help grow faith around the school and take faith to new heights.

Neeson said, “Anytime our students can grow in their faith, it’s of benefit to our Campus Ministry Department.  This grotto will allow more availability for a bit of quiet prayer to occur after school, before games, or just in between classes if a student needs a spot to go.  It’ll also be the spot where we close out our sophomore & junior pilgrimages.  We’ll see if we can overlap it during freshman retreat day as well.”

Cathedral athletics and faith have always had strong ties together. Many of the teams and athletes at school try to bring in faith into their sports as much as possible. The grotto will provide a new unique opportunity to do that. Neeson said, “Football has a strong tradition of praying the rosary before games, so I could see them using it.  I could also see other teams appreciating its space to center them before going into competition.”

As of May 7th the Grotto is officially open for use by all in the Cathedral family. The Grotto was opened with a Dedication ceremony led by Father Geoff Mooney. Father Geoff led Cathedral in a prayer and welcome to the new sacred space. Visitors will be able to light prayer candles with whatever intentions they need. Many members of the Cathedral family have already taken advantage of this. 

The grotto looks to make a profound impact on Cathedral and its campus. The community and school is incredibly thankful for the opportunity and ability to have the gift of the Grotto. With its prominent place on campus, the grotto looks to almost certainly be a cornerstone of the Cathedral experience.

Neeson said, “I plan on using it officially as the closing to our sophomore and junior year pilgrimages, but I’d like to see classrooms use the space, and parents when waiting for school to end use it. I’m eager to see the amount of people who will take advantage of the space.”