Many people came together recently to help renovate the Gibault Catholic High School chapel, which will be used by students and faculty alike to follow their faith.

“It really increases the Catholic identity,” said Sev Kovarik, Gibault director of development. “We’re a Catholic high school and this really just puts the finishing touch on who we are. We want faith to be important to our teenagers. These are the years you really want the kids to know their faith and live their faith. This, I think, helps them do that.”

The updated chapel now has new lighting, carpet, and most importantly, pews. Gibault was using plastic chairs until this year. They switched to a bigger room a couple of years ago, and now fits the average class size perfectly.

“It’s a little bit of a bigger room and situated for our small classes, which are usually at best 70 to 75 kids,” Gibault principal Russ Hart said. “So, we could fit them all in here. The Men’s Club renovated the chapel to a point. They repainted, they put up our stations of the cross and carpeted in here so it would have a quite, reverent feel.”

The Men’s Club has helped Gibault in the past.

“The Men’s Club is a phenomenal club that will do anything you ask them to do,” Hart said. “They really like tearing things down and building things. That’s what they do.”

Kovarik added that the club is the manpower for many projects at Gibault. This past summer they worked on the bathrooms, helped with the chapel, renovated the teacher’s lounge and installed a new floor and ceiling in the cafeteria.
Immaculate Conception Church and Msgr. Carl Scherrer also played a prominent role in the process.

When ICC built a new church, they sold the old one to Gregg Crawford, who plans on renovating the downtown Columbia church into an entertainment and reception venue. Both Crawford and Scherrer agreed Gibault should use anything they needed from the old church. Hart and Kovarik used the opportunity to improve the Gibault chapel.

“We went over there with Carl and picked out all things we wanted from the church. We picked out 18 pews,” Hart said. “They had many more available, but they happened to be perfect because they fit perfectly. They were just perfect. So, we took out the old plastic chairs and put these pews in, which are just fantastic. That alone would have made it great.”

Gibault also received a statue of Jesus and Presiders’ chairs. They did get a statue of Mary and statue of Joseph that will go somewhere else in the school.

“It was really important to their congregation that this stuff wasn’t just sitting in a warehouse somewhere, which is what would have happened,” Hart said. “The diocese would keep all this stuff in case someone wants it. It would go somewhere and sit. They were thrilled because we have a great partnership with Immaculate Conception. This was going to serve their children and other children that come to Gibault.”

Hart noted the chapel will be getting an alter soon. Kovarik found someone to take it apart and they will bring it to Gibault shortly.

Scherrer is excited about the upgrades to the chapel and proud of ICC’s involvement.

“We’re delighted that these items have been a part of our faith family here at Immaculate Conception will now be a part of the youth faith family at Gibault,” Scherrer said.

Hart and Kovarik are responsible for leading the charge on the upgraded chapel. They had talked about turning the auditorium into a chapel, but wanted the chapel to serve one purpose instead of multiple. The chapel is now, as it has been, in its own room.

“It gives the students a formal place to come in and reflect,” Kovarik said. “It just has a little more reverent atmosphere to give that extra touch to reflect.”