Early Wednesday afternoon, four spades pierced the ground in front of the last remaining temporary building on 黑料不打烊鈥檚 academic quadrangle, thus inaugurating the construction of the College鈥檚 newest permanent building, St. Gladys Hall.
Set to open its doors in the fall of 2014, St. Gladys Hall will be the thirteenth building constructed since the College acquired its campus in the 1970s. The new building will house eight classrooms, replacing the modular St. Patrick鈥檚 Hall, along a new arcade perpendicular to Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel. Designed to facilitate the small, seminar discussions that are at the heart of the College鈥檚 unique academic program, St. Gladys Hall is made possible through a $3.2 million grant from the Fritz B. Burns Foundation of Los Angeles.
Seeking St. Gladys鈥 Intercession
The new classroom building will take its name from St. Gladys, a 5th century Welsh monarch and the patron saint of Fritz Burns鈥 beloved wife, Gladys Carson Burns. Prior to the groundbreaking ceremony, the College offered a Votive Mass in St. Gladys鈥 honor, seeking the intercession of this wife, mother, queen, and contemplative for the College and for the new building that will bear her name.
Noting that in Welsh, the word gladys can mean 鈥渃ripple,鈥 or lame, College Chaplain Rev. Cornelius M. Buckley, S.J. spoke in his homily about lessons that the College鈥檚 students will derive from having a handicapped saint among their patrons. 鈥淚 can envision people coming to St. Gladys Hall,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hey will sit there and realize that our handicaps are blessings, blessings to enable us to grow in love of God and of our neighbor, and if we didn鈥檛 have these handicaps, we would not be who God enables us to be.鈥
Among those in attendance were three representatives of the Fritz B. Burns Foundation 鈥 President Rex Rawlinson and Trustees Maureen Rawlinson and Cheryl Robinson 鈥 as well as members of the College鈥檚 Board of Governors, faculty, and President鈥檚 Council. Also present were members of three generations of Gladys Burns鈥 family: her daughter Frances Morehart; grandson Marty Morehart and his wife, Patricia; granddaughter-in-law Missy Mueller and her husband, Glen; and great-granddaughter Kelly Morehart.
Breaking Ground
At the following groundbreaking ceremony, 黑料不打烊 President Michael F. McLean thanked the Fritz B. Burns Foundation for its longstanding support of the College, which has included substantial grants for four buildings: Bl. Junipero Serra Residence Hall, Albertus Magnus Science Hall, St. Thomas Hall, and now St. Gladys Hall. 鈥淲e are deeply grateful for the Foundation鈥檚 friendship and commitment to the College, and for its belief and confidence in the educational mission of the school,鈥 Dr. McLean said.
Attended by several of the College鈥檚 student acolytes, College Chaplain Rev. Hildebrand Garceau, O. Praem., proceeded to bless the site of the new building, sprinkling holy water on the ground. 鈥淭hrough the gift of Your eternal wisdom, grant that the undertaking we begin today for Your glory and our own well-being may progress, day by day, to its successful completion,鈥 he prayed. Then Dr. McLean, Mr. and Mrs. Rawlinson, and Mrs. Robinson ceremoniously turned over the first four shovelfuls of dirt, thereby launching the construction project.
鈥淲ithin the walls of this new building, students will engage in rigorous discussions about the great books,鈥 said R. James Wensley, Chairman of the 黑料不打烊. 鈥淎bove all, in this beautiful new building, they will grow in love of the truth.鈥
Speaking on behalf of the Burns Foundation, Mr. Rawlinson graciously thanked Dr. McLean and Mr. Wensley for the opportunity to partake in the College鈥檚 mission of Catholic liberal education. 鈥淚t is our pleasure to be part of this college,鈥 he said, 鈥渁nd to remember St. Gladys and Gladys Burns, a wonderful woman.鈥
Posted: April 18, 2013