Three years after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the campus of Archbishop Hannan High School in St. Bernard Parish, the new school campus was dedicated at its new home in St. Tammany Parish on Louisiana Highway 1085.

The dedication mass was concelebrated by three archbishops of New Orleans plus Abbot Justin Brown, OSB, of St. Joseph Abbey.

Current New Orleans Archbishop Alfred Hughes compared the courage and faith of those who survived the destruction of the school to the disciples in the boat with Jesus facing a storm and the survival of Noah and his family of the flood. Hughes said, “The future of the school was in question when the monks of St. Joseph Abbey made possible the relocation of the school in St. Tammany.” He said the relocation to St. Tammany was made because many people from the affected area had already relocated here.

Hughes also said this was a historic event because it is the first time a Catholic school has been funded with taxpayer money and government assistance through FEMA.

General Douglas O’Dell, federal coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding with Homeland Security, called Archbishop Hannan “a soldier’s priest.” Hughes had thanked him for his assistance in the rebuilding effort.

In his address, former Archbishop Philip Hannan, the school’s namesake, applauded the efforts of Hughes to rebuild the school. He told the crowd that when the United States bought Louisiana, one of the concerns of the Ursuline nuns was the ability to continue operating their school.

“President Thomas Jefferson reassured the nuns, stating that the principles of the Constitution assure you your property will be preserved,” Hannan said.

Principal John Cavell thanked his parents, his grandparents and his wife and three daughters. “Girls, I think Dad will be home a little bit more now,” Cavell said in an emotion-packed packed speech.

Hughes also said the paten and chalice during this dedication mass was the same one presented to the archdiocese by Pope Benedict XVI during his trip to Washington D. C. The Pope had presented them in recognition of what was suffered during and after Hurricane Katrina. Hughes said that the school was represented of all that was lost and now regained due to the hurricane.

As the clergy recessed at the end of the mass, the students of the school sang the alma mater. Clergy from the St. Tammany Deanery, including priests and deacons, filled the altar at one point during the mass.

Participants and attendees of the ceremony and mass included the Air Force Junior ROTC color guard from St. Paul’s School in Covington and St. Paul’s principal, Br. Ray Builliard, FSC.

The choir was from St. Scholastica Academy and both president Marguerite Celestin and principal Mary Katherine Villere were in attendance as well. Both schools have welcomed the co-educational archdiocesan school to the area.

The new school cost $18 million and FEMA paid part of the cost. The gym, the largest on the Northshore, has a capacity of 1,000 for basketball games. The gym was the site of the mass.

The school has complete wireless capabilities and is state-of-the-art. Although the current enrollment is about 250, an increase is expected once the facility is fully occupied. The school is built to accommodate 600 students, with a capacity to expand to 1,000 students.

At the reception, senior Joseph Cardinale said that he was a freshman at the original campus when Hurricane Katrina hit.

The remainder of his freshman year was spent at St. Paul’s school in Covington, and then Hannan relocated at St. Joseph’s Abbey.

“It was important to us to come home to our own campus before we graduated,” Cardinale said.