St Pius X students in front of Mary before the removal and demolition work began.

On Friday 13 April 2018, our whole school, along with many parishoners and families, joined in a prayer liturgy led by Fr Sanjay, to bless our grotto and our Mary statue at the front of the school.

The statue had to be removed and the grotto demolished so issues with the underground clay pipework could be addressed in conjunction with planned property-development work.

Mary statue is carefully removed to make way for development work. Photos: Supplied

The grotto was erected in 1958 in honour of Our Lady to coincide with the 100-year celebration of the Lourdes apparitions. Mrs E Gooch donated the Mary statue in remembrance of her husband. The people involved in building the grotto are recorded as Fr James, Richard B Woods, T O’Riordon, T Walsh, A Gilhooly and several other parishoners.

The grotto and Mary have been a special part of St Pius X School’s life for 50 years with First Communion, class and even whole school photos being taken at the site.

The statue of Mary has been temporarily put into Philomena Hall for our liturgies and masses. Once the building projects have been completed, Mary will be reinstalled in a sacred space at our school.

Anne Dent is DRS at St Pius X School, New Plymouth.

Published in WelCom July 2018