The bucket of the large yellow excavator tore away at the brick walls of the Sacred Heart High School Gym on Wednesday. The top stories of the Hertz Tower are visible from the demolition site at the corner of Louisiana Avenue and North Division.

“I think this building’s history is more significant than that downtown building,” said Charles Honoré with a nod in the direction of the tower. It was also damaged by the 2020 hurricanes, and the demolition that began this summer has been in the news. Honoré made the statement without bitterness, and the 84-year-old is not alone in his quest to make sure the history of Sacred Heart is not forgotten.

“It is significant to the Catholic community, to the community in general,” he said.

He said plans are underway to build a new recreation center on the property. The new Nellie Lutcher Playground and Park is a block away.

Members of the Sacred Heart community pooled their resources to build the gym, according to Dr. Alvin Schexnider. The now-retired Sacred Heart High School alum was a faculty member and senior executive at majority and historically Black colleges and universities. He has written extensively on urban politics, public management and higher education, according to his online bio. He wanted to see the gym preserved for historic and adaptive reuse, more frequently done in Virginia, where he is now a resident.

“The demolition of that gymnasium is losing a personal, state and national treasure,” he said.

Dr. Ina Delahoussaye, also a long-time member of Sacred Heart, said the gym was used for many functions and will be “sorely missed.”

The gym was built in the 1950s, but it served the community as more than a place for students from the K-12 school to exercise or play ball.  It was a place where weddings, proms, funeral repasses, church bazaars, graduations, graduation parties, family reunions and other events were held. Community members huddled inside when severe weather threatened.

After the school graduated its last class in 1967, the structure continued to be operated as a church parish and community center, until being damaged by the 2020 hurricanes.

The K-8 school continued through 1999, said Dr. Carl Ross,  a sixth-generation Catholic and 1963 alum who moved back in 1976 to join his father in practicing medicine after serving in the US. Army Medical Corp.

His children attended Sacred Heart through the eightth grade.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lake Charles confirmed that a new recreation center will be built on the site. It applied to FEMA for funding of the demolition, repairs to the damaged parish structures and rebuilding of a community center to replace the former gymnasium. The project is in environmental and historic preservation review based on the age of the other structures in the neighborhood, according to an email to the American Press from the Rev. Joby Mathew, Sacred Heart pastor.

The gym is one of the Sacred Heart campus group of buildings. Also scheduled for demolition is the old church rectory and a house, which was purchased to replace the old rectory. Both contained asbestos. Renovations of the houses were deemed not feasible, according to Donald Harrison who is retired, but filling in until the church can find a permanent maintenance manager.

Funds for church and convent repairs

Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church is at the southeast corner of Mill Street and Louisiana Avenue.  The building referred to as the old convent is at the southwest corner. Both were added to the Louisiana Trust of Historic Preservation’s Most Endangered Places List in 2024.

The LTHP selects historically significant sites across the state each year that are at risk. The list is based on historical integrity and the hope that advocacy will bring attention to the preservation of the site, including its people, history and culture.

Honoré and Delahoussaye said the church and the old convent, which is currently used as an administrative building, will be repaired but work has not yet begun. The Diocese will receive money from FEMA that will be used for repairs; however, the distribution will not be enough to cover the expense of restoring the church to its original state, Delahoussaye said.

Community members, Sacred Heart parishioners and private donors have contributed to the repair and preservation efforts, and fundraising continues.

The history of Sacred Heart predates the history of the formation of the Diocese of Lake Charles.

“It should remain as is,  a monument to the people who invested their lives to its construction and existence,” Delahoussaye said.

History

Five years ago, the parish was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ Church. The Sacred Heart School came first. So interwoven are the development of both, it’s hard to tell the story of one without the other, according to the church history provided to the American Press. Unlike most parishes that establish a church then build a school, Sacred Heart evolved from a school.

In 1908, a group of Catholic Negro men of Lake Charles, seeking a means to educate their children, turned to the Lafayette Diocese – it was not the Lake Charles Diocese at the time – seeking a means to educate their children.

The answer came in the form of Miss Eleanor Figaro, sent by the Sisters of the Holy Family. She preceded the establishment of the Sacred Heart parish and its first pastor, Father Anthony J. Hackett, an Irish priest who came when there was no church, no rectory and no means of transportation, just a “chalice and a prayer,” the history says.

Land was purchased in 1910 on Louisiana Avenue and Pine Street by Mother Katherine Drexel. The men of the Sacred Heart community banded together and formed a volunteer group to build the school.

The “little red schoolhouse” was destroyed by the storm of 1908 until volunteers could rebuild it. In the meantime, parishioners walked to Kirby, sitting in a section in the back of the church, and at times standing outside when all those pews were taken.

“In the summer of 1919, Bishop Jean Jeanmard requested the Holy Ghost Fathers to serve the growing Catholic population of Negro Catholics in Lake Charles, and Sacred Heart Parish was established. Land was purchased for a church. The men of the parish used their resources to build it.

In 1924, Father Hackett reached out to other Creole and African American communities in the area. Lake Charles grew in population. Sacred Heart church and school grew. Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and lay teachers offered classes for first through 12th grades. A larger church constructed by parishioners was built in 1941.

Sacred Heart opened a mission on Opelousas that became the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When the new high school building was completed, the vocational and science building was dismantled to build the St. Martin dePorres Church. Sacred Heart built a cemetery in the northern part of the city.

Bishops and successful professionals are products of Sacred Heart, the school and the church.