By Mary Stadnyk | News Editor

Peacefully situated near the Monsignor Walter Nolan sports stadium on the grounds of Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville, is a grotto dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The grotto was erected last summer and is a treasured outdoor prayer space that welcomes all who are seeking a quiet moment of prayer. Barry Breen, school president, said that throughout the school day, students, faculty, staff and visitors often stop by to reflect, meditate or pray the Rosary.

 School sports teams have gathered there for Mass on the afternoon of a big game or on their way to practice. And many from the school community sought comfort and solace at the grotto in the days following the December shootings in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

“It was at the grotto where we came together to sing, to cry and to ask for Mary’s intercession with her son to help the victims and their families,” said Breen, noting that among those killed was the six-year-old nephew of a Notre Dame English teacher.

Breen said that initial discussions about having an area on or near the field where the football team could pray before a game to dedicate their efforts to the Blessed Mother evolved during a conversation he had with the coach and alumni who were attending an event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the school’s football program.

As plans to build the grotto progressed, the school began raising funds, with many of the donors being the grandparents of students. In addition, Breen said that alumni helped support the effort whether it was monetarily or with the construction and design elements.

In the present prayer area, visitors will see a structure that resembles the internationally known grotto near in Lourdes, France, where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared several times to Bernadette Soubirous, a peasant girl who was later canonized.

Inside the grotto, which means cave, are votive candles that burn as expressions of prayer for special intentions. Set in the midst of the sturdy grotto stones is a statue of the Blessed Mother, which was donated by Msgr. Walter Nolan, a former Notre Dame High chaplain. Msgr. Nolan is also planning to donate a statue of St. Bernadette Soubirous, Breen said.

While the grotto is lovely to visit at any time, Breen said that it’s especially inspiring to sit in the football stadium with a couple of thousand people on a Friday night and see the brilliantly lit structure while watching a game.

Work still has to be done on the grotto, Breen said, then noted that funds are being raised to construct  a proper altar and pulpit for the celebration of Mass, a plaza, connecting sidewalks, a kneeler, benches, gates as well as for additional landscaping to “beautify what has been so beautifully begun.”

He anticipates that the grotto will be completed during the summer and dedicated in the fall.

Senior athlete Michael Scaringelli, said that during the football season last fall, his fellow team members and coaches appreciated going to the grotto “to pray for a good game and that all the players would do well.”

He noted that the football team is used to having prayer experiences incorporated in their sporting events. Before a game, the players attend Mass in the school chapel and during each game they gather to say a prayer after the coin-toss and before the second half of the game.

Besides being a beautiful site where the Notre Dame community gathers to pray, meditate or ask for Mary’s intercession in times of trouble, the grotto  is also a place “that proudly promotes our Catholic identity and our commitment to our school’s namesake and patroness, Notre Dame,” which is French for Our Lady, Breen said.