Chapel Construction

CB’s facilities director opens up about the next big addition to the campus.

If you haven’t noticed, construction has taken over the front of the Christian Brothers campus. The mess of chain-link fences around a brick building and torn up concrete and rubble has caught the eyes of many CB students.

So the question is: what is to become of our campus?

Well, in a handful of months Christian Brothers High School will cut the ribbon to a beautiful new chapel.

This new addition to our campus will replace our rather small and aging chapel, whose interior seemed to be stuck in the ’70s and a mass of red brick that is classified as some as ‘boring”.

However, the new chapel will be anything but mundane.

The Talon was granted an exclusive interview with facilities manager, Mr. Steve Barsanti ’76, to get an inside look at the project.

“The chapel was originally designed for the brothers who lived in the residence when I was a student here,” Steve remembers. “Well, the brothers aren’t here any more and it was time to make the chapel a bigger feature of our school — a proud catholic high school deserves a chapel to be proud of.”

Mr. Barsanti detailed the new chapel as a literally 180 degrees different of what you see today.

“Essentially, the chapel that you know now will be switched,” he says. “The altar is going to be on the west end towards MLK and the entry way will face the main lawn, so the chapel will be 180 degrees reversed.”

Mr. Barsanti explained that size was not the driving factor for building a new chapel.

“There might be a little bit more seating, but the job was not to try to make a bigger chapel, just one that is nicer and more accessible,” he reports.

He stated there will be several changes that students, staff, and visitors will be able to recognize almost immediately.

“The brick wall that you see on the main lawn won’t be there,” he says. “When it’s done you see a statue, a landing, and an overhang with the name on the chapel .”

“I think it’s the chapel of Saint Joseph,” he says of the potential name.

There will also be more cosmetic changes that will compliment the new chapel.

“It will have glass, better lighting, a baptismal font, and a big cross on the front,” he reveals. “It be easily recognizable from the street.

Christian Brothers religion legend Mr. Chuck Zanetti is particularly excited for the new addition to the campus.

“I saw the picture on [KBFT] and it looks more spacious and gives CB more of a presence on MLK,” he says. “It’s nice an simple — I like it.”

Mr. Zanetti also says the building will have a large impact on our community.

“I think it will be more inviting for students with it being less dark and more spacious,” he answers. “Classes will probably have more opportunities to go over there.”

It’s now been over a year since CB opened up their multimillion dollar theater and judging by how that turned out, we should be excited for our new chapel.