LOS ANGELES – Sacred Heart Chapel’s front steps will soon be closed behind construction fencing as Loyola Marymount University begins repairs to the sinking plaza.
Construction is expected to begin after this year’s commencement ceremonies and continue from May through December, closing the chapel’s main entrance while renovations are underway. Despite the disruption at the front, the chapel will remain open throughout, with regular Mass and prayer services continuing.
Jonas Bognar, LMU’s Campus Minister for Liturgy and an LMU alumnus, said that these renovations have been a developing structural issue that was originally planned to go under construction in 2025.
“It’s just redoing the concrete in front of the chapel, because there’s kind of a sinking problem,” said Bognar. “The plaza in front of the chapel [is] sinking. The steps are crumbling.”
As the chapel approaches its 75-year anniversary, the plaza in front of the chapel has been slowly “sinking” for some time, causing visible misalignment and deterioration of the front steps and surrounding concrete. To fix this, Bongar says the chapel must be lifted and rebuilt to realign and prevent further erosion.
As part of the same project, LMU hopes to increase accessibility by installing an elevator at the front of the chapel to replace the consistently unreliable wheelchair lift at the back.
Bognar explained that the elevator project could have contributed to the construction delay, pushing it from 2025 to 2026. “I think mostly waiting for the elevator to be approved and permits from the city and all this stuff… but after commencement, they’ll move forward with doing the front part.”
Bognar, while currently unsure of precise implications, noted possible logistical complications with other school events, ceremonies, and private events.
“Originally, they told us it would be closed because of all of this construction going on, but the chapel will remain open, which is good news,” Bognar said. “People will just have to access from the side doors, since the front will be closed off.”
Julian Herard, a junior environmental science major with a minor in African American studies, works with Campus Ministry and Feed the Hungry at LMU, spending a lot of his time around the chapel.
Herard said he has few concerns about the project’s effect on day-to-day ministry operations since the chapel will remain open for Mass and prayer services. He said even if the program had to relocate, “it’s not going to change much, because the main purpose of these programs are to make sandwiches and then deliver them to a youth program for kids that need food.”
Other changes include weddings, photo shoots, and other ceremonies that typically use the front facade as a backdrop may have to be relocated during the summer and fall months, when it’s expected to be closed off.
For the LMU community, which sees Sacred Heart Chapel as both a landmark and a spiritual center, the temporary inconvenience will hopefully preserve one of LMU’s most iconic spaces on campus for the long run.
