Special to The Message
Reitz Memorial High School in Evansville is pleased to announce the current chapel will be renovated over the summer due to a generous gift from J.P. and Allison Engelbrecht. The chapel will be renamed the Chapel of St. Joseph in honor of the 70th anniversary of the dedication of the school to St. Joseph on May 6, 1956.
Currently, the chapel has enough space for 40 students and needs aesthetic improvements. The renovated and renamed Chapel of St. Joseph will have enough space for 70 students. It will also include new statuary, paint, seating, an altar and tabernacle. In addition, the hallway outside of the chapel will be renovated to include a new statue of St. Joseph and the child Jesus.
“I can’t thank the Engelbrecht family enough for this wonderful gift,” explained Reitz Memorial President Christian Mocek. “This renovated chapel will be a beautiful expression of our Catholic faith and be a place where students will deepen their relationship with God.”
J.P. Engelbrecht graduated from Retiz Memorial High School in 1998. He currently serves as CEO at South Central, Inc., a family office and holding company established in 1946.
“It is certainly appropriate that this renewed chapel project is happening during Memorial’s centennial celebration,” explained Father Chris Forler, priest delegate of Reitz Memorial and pastor of St. John Parish in Daylight and St. Bernard Parish in Snake Run. “The chapel is nestled at the heart of the school, and the Eucharistic Jesus is at the heart of who we are. As disciples, it is vital that we are transformed interiorly first. Only then we can transform the world outside. Thank you so much to Mr. and Mrs. Engelbrecht for making this beautiful transformation possible!”
Construction on the Chapel of St. Joseph will begin in late April and conclude by Aug. 1.