Holy Name of Jesus School, Parish looking to the future

Holy Name of Jesus (HNJ) School is creatively using space to accommodate its new infant and toddler and existing 3- and 4-year-old programs while a new building and three-story elevator are being built.

A capital campaign now underway is re-envisioning not only the school but also the church to better accommodate the needs of the community.

“There have been dreams of making larger, dramatic changes to the school,” said Jesuit Father Mark Thibodeaux, Holy Name of Jesus pastor. Long-time school parents have continually desired a gym and early-childhood center, things Father Thibodeaux and Kirsch Williams, Holy Name’s principal since 2020, see as areas necessary for school growth.

The current “Foundations for the Future” capital campaign vision began to materialize when Loyola University approached Holy Name in 2021 about assuming its Whelan Early Learning Center. It was operating in the former Mercy Academy building on Loyola’s campus, adjacent to Holy Name’s main campus.

Not having a toddler program, Holy Name quickly developed a “Little Gators” program to accommodate Loyola’s learning center kids and added other children, ages 6 weeks to 2 years old. The program became an instant success, with over 80 families on a waiting list. It’s the third early learning center that Williams has started in her educational career.

“We discovered this huge new ministry for infants and toddlers,” Father Thibodeaux said, who is hoping to double the number in the program. “There’s a huge problem in the city with limited childcare.”

Had to think ahead
With Loyola planning to tear down the Mercy site, Holy Name knew it was prudent to relocate the Little Gators in its main school building until permanent plans could be determined. 

In March 2023, Holy Name of Jesus Parish and School embarked on a $5 million capital campaign – first introduced on paper in 2021, but started as a silent phase in September 2022 – to include $1 million for church renovations and $4 million for a one-story early childhood school building and renovations to its existing school building.

Within two days of publicly opening the campaign, $5 million was raised with money from several foundations and individual contributions, prompting Father Thibodeaux and Williams to increase the capital campaign goal to $7 million. Father Thibodeaux said $1.4 million was the most money the parish had ever raised simultaneously.

“It’s going extremely well,” Father Thibodeaux said.

The overwhelming support and additional funds had Father Thibodeaux and Williams reimagining more school improvements in its planned Phase II. The plan includes adding a gym (which will double as a community center for the parish and attract more middle-school students for sports) atop the early childhood building. That idea was conceived before Hurricane Katrina but now would necessitate an increased campaign goal of $9 million to accomplish it.

The new building will be connected to the existing school by a three-story elevator tower, with offices and bathrooms for both buildings. The 10-classroom early childhood building will sit on the current site of the 3-year-old building, which will be eliminated. Neither the church nor school will close during construction.

Plans are for a May 2024 groundbreaking for the building that will house 6-week-old to pre-K3 children. The school currently has 520 students. With the new building, the school could accommodate a maximum enrollment of 700. 

Work in progress
Williams has been creatively carving out space to relocate students for the next two years. The infant-toddler program moved to renovated school offices near the former main entrance, and the offices were relocated to a little-used, canopied entrance facing Calhoun Street. 

An old storage room on the third floor – once the theater balcony – has been repurposed into a music room, and the adjacent library was retrofitted into a grade-level reading area and has new, hardwood flooring. A former computer lab was revamped into an “intervention” room for students needing extra one-on-one instruction. Other improvements include a new lighting system and other renovations to the school’s large theater, a new school roof and air conditioning. 

The church, built in 1918, also will undergo modest improvements to accommodate everyone’s needs.

“Little by little, we are renovating the space,” Father Thibodeaux said of the church and school, making everything American Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant. “We want to make sure that everyone will be welcomed in our space, even if they are in a wheelchair or if a mom needs a changing table and restroom facilities.”

Father Thibodeaux said an ADA-compliant ramp for wheelchairs and walkers will be built on the horseshoe-side of the church with an eye for adding lighting and greenery outside; bathrooms with a private entrance will be made from repurposed confessionals; the former baptistry with cathedral ceilings (used sparingly as a cry room) will be converted into the Ignatius Room and bridal suite with restrooms to accommodate meeting space and as a family comfort room for funerals.

Williams said the campaign and revamping of the school and church follow the Jesuit Ignatian motto of being a man for others, in this case, a “community for others.” The school and church are supportive of each other.

“The parish and school flourished together at a very difficult time, and we are now in a position that we need to build and can raise money to do it,” Father Thibodeaux said.

“It’s an unbelievable community,” Williams said.

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