On March 25, 2023, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, St. Catherine of Siena Parish blessed our new Marian grotto dedicated to the Holy Name of Mary.  For many years, there has been an old concrete Marian statue next to the church.  Her fingers and broken off and had been rebuild, but it was not a very fitting shrine to our Lady.  When we were celebrating our 100th anniversary in 1921, the parish wanted to do something to commemorate our anniversary.  It was decided to build a Marian grotto.   There used to be a grotto on the corner of Bonnabel and Metairie Road a long time ago.  Apparently it was a little scary because you would walk down into the grotto.  When we were designing this one, we wanted to design it similarly, but no one had any pictures of what it looked like.  It took a little while to design the grotto and get the statue made, but it was worth the wait. It came out beautiful.   We built a grotto in order to honor the past (the former grotto) and to entrust our future to the intercession of our blessed Mother.  We hope this becomes a place of prayer for anyone passing by. We hope that it can be a visible reminder of Mary and her YES to the Lord.  
 

Thank you

Thank you to the SCS Men's Club and Knights of Columbus Council 12686 who donated the new marble statue of our Lady.  Thank you to the SCS Men's Club for also donating the landscaping lighting.  Thank you to Tina D'Antoni for helping to design the new grotto.  Thank you Tommy Gennusa who oversaw the constuction of the new grotto.
 

Old Marian Shrine