The walkways and stone foundation of the grotto have been completed after months of commitment, but it is still lacking one piece: Mary. The dedication ceremony for the new grotto was initially supposed to take place Sept. 14 but will now be held this spring since the statue will not arrive until May.

A grotto is defined as a vault or cavern, specifically a hidden and private place. Grottos around the world have been devoted to the Blessed Mother Mary after a young girl named Bernadette had a vision of Mary in a rock enclosure in 1858. These visions were confirmed by the Catholic Church and that very site is a sacred place of pilgrimage in Lourdes, France. Grottos can be discovered all over the world in Catholic churches and religious institutions. In fact, the grade school has one on its campus with a small moss-covered cave fed by a spring and a traditional Mary statue at its heart. Now, the high school has one too.

“The grotto will benefit our entire community as an outdoor space for prayer, meditation, a place to educate the mind, expand the heart and empower the lives of all who take time to visit,” Campus Minister and theology teacher Stephanie Pino-Dressman said.

According to Pino-Dressman, the grotto is not exclusive to any one faith. It is meant to be a peaceful place for all to gather or meditate while being situated in nature with a backdrop of trees, a grassy lawn and a water fountain at the center.

Pino-Dressman said, “The base of the gathering area has a trefoil emblem which reminds us of educating minds, expanding hearts [and] empowering lives.”

The space will be a place where theology teachers can take their classes for outdoor prayers and reflections. In the future, Pino-Dressman hopes athletic teams can meet there to pray before they play and that it can be a spot of dedication for peer ministers, the Campus Ministry team, student council and any clubs.

“I’m looking forward to having it available as a nice place to walk and think,” Head of School Natalie McDonough said. “I think I get my best ideas when I am outside walking with God.”

The statue is currently being hand-sculpted out of marble, weighs 450 pounds and stands 4’2” tall.

“With the addition of the grotto, our high school campus is now ‘bookended’ with dedicated places of prayer– the chapel on the west side and the grotto on the east,” Pino-Dressman said. “Both places of prayer are dedicated to Mary, Notre Dame de Sion: Our Lady of Sion.”