Growing in faith and action

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

Hundreds took their first tour of the new Holy Family Center at St. Peter Parish in Covington after a Mass celebrated Aug. 21 by Archbishop Gregory Aymond, who also blessed the building that will serve school children and parishioners.


The $5.5 million, 19,300- square-foot building is aptly named Holy Family Center – a nod to the legacy of Holy Family Parish, a former African-American parish nearby that merged with St. Peter in 1960 and also a reminder that parents are the first teachers of their children.


Nurture holy families
“Bless us and this school and parish center – this place of learning and parish ministry – so that all who come here may know the presence of Christ, experience his love and friendship and deepen their faith and grow in love,” Archbishop Aymond said.

“We also pray that your blessings be upon the icon of the Holy Family in the building. … Let it be a reminder that our own families and our parish families always follow the faith of the Holy Family that we may grow in holiness in life, and that we never forget that we are building on the solid foundation of faith of those who came before us, that we may leave a solid foundation for generations to come.”

The center serves a dual purpose – accommodating school administration needs with an office, housing state-of-the-art classrooms (including a science lab) for fourth and fifth graders upstairs, four kindergarten classrooms and a library/media center downstairs that will be shared with the parish and community.


“It’s a huge win for the parish and school; it’s a blessing,” said Michael Kraus, St. Peter School principal. “We had reached a state of disrepair with our school office building. There were just massive renovations needed to that building – it was an old, dated building that had been repurposed several times and had expensive maintenance issues. Rebuilding was a much smarter way to serve church ministries and the community as well, and it will give a major upgrade to the learning experience at school, especially our enrichment program.”

Four years in making
At the dedication, Kraus thanked God, Archbishop Aymond and St. Peter’s faculty and staff for completion of this project, which began with a brainstorming session of faculty, parents and community members in the 2017-18 school year. The parish eventually hired architects Eskew Dumez Ripple (EDR) and Voelkel McWilliams Construction LLC in 2019.

“We give thanks to the Lord for giving us grace during this time, and pray that we will continue to glorify him through our church and school ministries through all these amazing blessings we have,” Kraus said.

With hurricanes creating labor shortages – which were exacerbated by the 2020 pandemic – construction didn’t begin until summer 2019 when the old office building was demolished. Ground was broken in November 2019 on the new, two-story center.

Its brick design – complete with the school crest in the pediment – matches existing parish architecture. Its location – fronting Temperance Street – makes the school office easy to find (it is no longer buried inside the campus) and safer for children.

“We now separate visitors from students in a much wiser way,” Kraus said. Security was updated with key card access and cameras throughout the hallways and exterior.

Mass first, then blessing


St. Peter school and parish members were involved in the Mass and center opening. Seventh grader Francesca Foret read the first reading from Joshua, where the prophet tells the Israelites – who had turned away from the Lord numerous times – “As for me and my family, we will follow the Lord.”



Lector Verna Newton, a former parishioner of the closed Holy Family Parish, did the second reading from St. Paul to the Ephesians about husbands and wives loving each other as Christ loves the church. St. Peter students Steele Siverd, Alare Goss and Emily Kraus brought up the offertory gifts.

Archbishop Aymond made reference to Peter assuring Jesus that the apostles would continue to follow him, even after his challenging teachings that they would have to eat his flesh and drink his blood to have eternal life.


“To whom else shall we go?” Peter replied.

Archbishop Aymond told parishioners that by attending Mass, they already answered.

“The Lord God takes that yes … and asks us how we can strengthen that decision,” Archbishop Aymond said, giving suggestions of praying before meals, at bedtime, talking about or reading Scripture together and modeling the Holy Family for whom the new building is dedicated.

He said he hoped each family would make a daily decision to follow Jesus  because they know him as “the one who shows us the way; you give us life and truth and we want to follow you even in difficult times. … Each and every day, you and I have to make a decision. … I want to be a disciple … It’s a way of saying, ‘Yes, I want to follow you today.’”


Father Otis Young Jr., pastor, thanked God for blessing St. Peter Parish and also expressed appreciation to parishioners, Archbishop Aymond and priests for their faithfulness and support of the parish center during his illnesses.

“I am so happy for the church and school community with this building,” Kraus said. “I feel the impact on the culture of the church and school will be significant, and the impact on instruction and faith formation will be significant. No one is more excited than I am.”

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