A blessed foundation

Students at St. Catherine of Siena Parish School placed blessed, inscribed stones in the foundation of the future Siena Chapel Bell Tower on Dec. 8 as part of a ceremony celebrating the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

“The children of our school are the foundation of our faith, and we are celebrating our future Siena Chapel Bell Tower by having our current students paint stones with inscriptions to help lay the foundation for our future student’s place of worship,” Principal Janice Callender said.

Students painted the stones in art class. Some were painted with inspirational words, while others had pictures of birds, crosses and other symbols of the church.

Construction workers paused in their daily work as St. Catherine’s pastor, the Rev. Eamon O’Gorman, blessed the site and the students waited in turn to place their stones in the hole where the future Siena Chapel Bell Tower will stand.

Eighth-graders assisted kindergartners in traversing the dirt slope with their stones in hand to place in the hole, a practice the school has embraced.

“Our older students are partnered with kindergartners and first-graders during our Mass celebrations and school ceremonies to role model appropriate behavior and to help develop their sense of responsibility and empathy for younger people,” Callender said. “The best part is the kindergartners love and admire them so much they are more able to participate fully.”

The ceremony took place after a school Mass celebrating the Roman Catholic feast of the Immaculate Conception. During the Mass, O’Gorman reminded students that “God says, ‘I am your rock’ and Jesus is the foundation of this school and our new chapel.” The reverend then had the children hold their stones while they were blessed.

Altar servers at the blessing were Mary Lou Kerins, Kyle Smith and Lexi Del Toro. After the stones were placed by all the students, holy water was sprinkled on the site and dirt from Siena, Italy, was placed over the stones. The stones will be embedded in concrete to make the foundation of the future chapel.

Established in 1957, St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School is the parish school of St. Catherine of Siena Parish on Temple Terrace in Laguna Beach.

St. Catherine of Siena Parish School is currently remodeling its 50-year-old facilities. The re-built school will be completed in 2010 and have a middle school, administration building, state-of-the-art classrooms, new library, athletic facilities, music rooms, science labs and a dedicated chapel. The estimated cost for the project is $18 million.

For more information visit www.stcatherinelaguna.com or call (949) 494-7339.

CINDY FRAZIER is city editor of the Coastline Pilot. She can be contacted at (949) 494-2087 or cindy.frazier@latimes.com.