The connection between Religious of the Sacred Heart of Grand Coteau and St. John Berchmans is deep and time-tested and blessed.
On Sunday, August 17, several RSCJ attended the blessing of the new high altar relief in the Cathedral of St. John Berchmans in Shreveport, Louisiana. Earlier in the week, on August 13, the anniversary of the death of St. John Berchmans, Father Peter Mangum, of the Cathedral of St. John Berchmans in Shreveport, and Father Felix Van Meerdergen, of Deist, Belgium, had celebrated Mass at the Shrine of St. John Berchmans in Grand Coteau.
The Shrine is within the Academy of the Sacred Heart and is the site of the miracle performed by St. John Berchmans. Father Van Meerdergen was visiting the United States specifically to take part in the dedication of the relief. He traveled to Grand Coteau to pay homage at this holy site, the only shrine in the United States built on the site of a miracle accepted by the Vatican.
The boys of St. John Berchmans School, the all-boys component of the Schools of the Sacred Heart, took part in the Mass.
The relief depicts the last communion John Berchmans received. More can be found on the Shreveport Cathedral of St. John Berchmans website.
