Miege breaks ground for Our Lady of Lourdes grotto

by John Sorce
john.sorce@theleaven.org

ROELAND PARK — Those who enter the Bishop Miege High School campus here will be greeted with a new addition in the coming months.

Students, faculty and community members were on hand on the morning of March 25 for the groundbreaking of what will be the Our Lady of Lourdes grotto.

“Today marks a glorious new day for Bishop Miege,” said president Phil Baniewicz. “Each one of us in the past 33 days has done a Marian consecration, and today is consecration day.

“On this feast of the Annunciation, what a beautiful time to come together.”

The project, which has been in the works for eight months and will total $800,000, is being donated entirely by the Dunn family in honor of their parents Bill Sr. and Jean. It will be built by JE Dunn construction and designed by HTK Architects.

The lead gift was given by Terry and Peggy Dunn, who are both Miege alums and now have grandchildren in the school.

“My mother and father have a devotion to Mary, and we wanted to do something dedicated to them and their family,” said Terry Dunn. “We believe this is an opportunity to   celebrate our faith and our commitment to Mary and have everybody understand this is a Catholic school with a true experience of Catholicism as they enter campus.”

Also on hand for the groundbreaking was Bill Dunn Sr., who is 101 years old. His wife Peggy passed away in 2022.

“We’re very grateful to the Dunn family,” said Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann. “Bill Dunn Sr. has been a great friend and is a real hero. Everything that’s good and worthwhile, the Dunn family is usually a part of it. We’re grateful to all of them for their support making this happen today.”

Baniewicz said one thing he was hoping to accomplish when he got to Miege was to build something at the school’s entrance that would signify its Catholic identity.

“I love the crucifix that’s at our [football and soccer] stadium, and anyone who watches a game there can’t help but see Jesus,” Baniewicz said. “He is the reason we even have a school, and one of the things I wanted to do is make sure anyone who comes in and out of the doors of our school or walks onto our campus knows we are a Catholic school and Jesus is the center of everything we do.”

After opening remarks from Baniewicz, a song from the Miege choir and a prayer from the archbishop, school chaplain Father Anthony Mersmann read from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians (3:9).

Archbishop Naumann then spoke and blessed miraculous medals that will be placed in the ground. He also blessed the ground before the groundbreaking commenced.

“Today, we celebrate this feast of the Annunciation, when Mary was informed by the angel Gabriel that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and she was called to be the mother of Jesus Christ,” the archbishop said. “It was her ‘yes’ to God that was essential to God’s plan for all Jesus would accomplish.”

He is hopeful that members of the Miege community will spend time with Mary and the Lord at the grotto and follow their lead once it reaches completion.

“I hope once this grotto is built, it will be a place where you come and ask Mary to intercede for you to be able to follow her son and do his will,” he said.

“If we seek to know the Lord’s will for us and follow it,” he continued, “then we are going to live happy and fruitful lives that will truly make a difference in the world.”

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