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Saint
John Cathedral
Saint John Berchmans
Bishop Anthony Durier invited the Jesuits to establish a
new parish here in 1899. Father John F. O’Connor arrived
in Shreveport in May of 1902 to organize a church and
school, which became St. John Berchmans Church with
Jesuit High School, as the school was later known.
1 White frame buildings on
Texas Avenue first housed the church and school.
2
The Jesuit Fathers came to
Shreveport
in 1902, and on May 28
of that
year, the church began
under pastor, Fr. John F. O’Connor, S. J. The small
white frame structure was built for $20,000 in the 1500
block of Texas Avenue. The first Mass was celebrated on
October 30, 1902 and was attended by sixty people. The
first floor of the structure was used as St. John’s
College and contained classrooms. The upstairs served as
living quarters and had a chapel. The altar was too
large for the chapel and stood in the hallway. The
congregation grew, and the second building was under
construction from January 28 until August 16 of 1903.
The new altar stone was consecrated, and the new church
opened. In 1904 a second floor was added and the church
was moved to the second floor. The high school and
Sunday school classrooms were then on the first floor.
By 1924 the congregation had outgrown this structure as
well and a new one was constructed on Jordan Street
under then-pastor
Fr. Oscar Poche.
3 The cornerstone of the Tudor Gothic style
church was laid on
July 31, 1927. The church opened in June of
1928 and was
consecrated on
January 15, 1929, at which time the
church had 3,000
members.
4
Membership grew and the congregation formed two more
churches in 1938: St. Theresa Catholic Church in the
Queensboro area and St. Catherine Catholic Church in
Cedar Grove.
5 The first half of the high school was completed in
1938, with the second half reaching its completion in
1949. The first classes were held on September 12, 1938.
On
July 1, 1960
the name changed to
Jesuit
High School. Another name change occurred in May of 1980
when it was renamed Loyola College Prep. In September of
1987 the school became co-ed.
6
It became co-cathedral on January 12, 1977.7
In July of 1983 the church was struck by lightning,
damaging the stone spire on the cathedral tower. In
July of 1988, lightning once again struck the church and
damaged the stone base of the cross; as pieces of the
base fell, they knocked a hole in the slate roof and
damaged the baptistery roof, but there was no interior
damage.8
In 1986 the diocese was separated from the
Alexandria-Shreveport diocese, and William B. Friend
became the bishop over the new diocese on
July 7, 1986 with the ceremony held at
St. John’s Cathedral.
9
In 1987 Richard LeBlanc Architects, Inc. began the first
phase of renovation. Sixty-percent of the tile roof was
replaced, and gutters were added. The second phase of
renovation occurred in July of 1992, and the church was
closed for the time. The church was rewired, the safety
glass on the exterior of the stained glass windows was
replaced, the original fixtures were repaired, the
wooden ceiling beams were cleaned and refinished, the
wood floor were replaced, the pews were refinished, and
the sanctuary was expanded. The altar rail was used to
build the bishop’s chair and the altar.10
The church needed adequate confessionals, handicap
accessibility, improvements in the heating and cooling
system, and an underground drainage system. A new roof
was installed.
11
Monsignor Earl Provenza, who was the pastor at the time,
rededicated the church on the weekend of August 28 and
29, 1993.12
References
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