Our History

Founded in 1891, Our Lady Help of Christians is a Roman Catholic Parish. By professing faith in Jesus Christ, we work to provide a parish setting in which the family of faith may be nourished by Word and Sacrament.

Our Lady Help of Christians Church parish’s first aim is to proclaim the Word of God in an environment of love and understanding, and to affirm and enable the many ministries that our parish affords, staffed by very capable professionals and volunteers. Your prayers and mine, your God-given talents, your enthusiastic participation in worship and ministry are vital to enable us to continue to be and become an ever more vibrant Church.

The first Catholic immigrants from France began to arrive in Jennings, Louisiana in the middle 1880’s.  In 1886, Father Sylvan Buscher was among the names noted that met in Jennings to plan the building of a new church. By 1887, Father Fallon of Lake Charles began to celebrate Mass in Jennings and made regular visits. He also envisioned the establishment of a separate church parish and suggested to then Archbishop Janesens of New Orleans what might be suitable boundaries if a new church parish were to be established. On May 14, 1890, Archbishop Janesens blessed the new church parish in Jennings which was a wooden building erected south of the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks on the corner of Madison and
S. Main Street. 

December 7, 1891, Archbishop appointed Father Cornelius Van De Ven, a native of the Netherlands, as the first resident pastor of Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church in Jennings. Father Van De Ven got right down to work in organizing the new church parish. In 1892, Father Van De Ven, left Jennings to become pastor of Immaculate Conception in Lake Charles and Father Joseph Peeters, a native of Belgium, was appointed pastor. The plans for the new Church were drawn by Father Peeters and his brother, Louis Peeters. It was modeled on a smaller scale to the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France. 

The concrete blocks and cylinders were cast and cured right on the very property where the church now stands. The Church was nine years under construction. The first new Catholic Church and Rectory was built on the site and on February 29, 1916. New Orleans Archbishop James Hubert Blenk dedicated Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church and blessed the new Rectory built behind the church. In 1977, the church worship space was renovated to reflect and implement the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1963-67), which resulted in the beautiful church we have today.

For over 132 years Our Lady Help of Christians has been praying, serving and evangelizing in Jennings. We continue to grow in faith and our church has an energy derived from the generations of our faithful parish families! Our decades of prayers, our God-given talents, our enthusiastic participation in worship and ministry are vital to enable us to continue to be and become a more vibrant Catholic Church. We are grateful for all those who have gone before us and we honor them, as their sacrifices, faith and services have made our parish what it is today! Now we have the opportunity to carry on a legacy of faith, hope and love in Christ Jesus as we Restore our Church Today for Generations to Come!

In 1906, Father Joseph Peters started a Catholic School with the help of the Sisters of the Marianites of the Holy Cross in St. Henry’s Academy in Jennings, Louisiana. The school closed in 1916 due to declining enrollment. In 1956, Msgr Charles Marin had Our Lady Help of Christians Elementary School built and in September 1958 opened on 10 ½ acres on Roberts Avenue in Jennings with the Teresian Sisters who taught at the school. On October 15, 1958, Bishop Maurice Schexnayder dedicated the school and the convent which had been built next to Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church. In 1959, Immaculate Conception Church opened a new elementary school staffed by the Sisters of the Most Holy Sacrament. The two schools operated independently until May 1969. In September 1969, the two schools consolidated with all classes held on the Catholic School campus on Roberts Avenue and the school name was changed to Our Lady Immaculate. In 1971, OLI became the 17th Catholic Elementary School in the Diocese of Lafayette to receive official State Accreditation. In 1980, the Diocese of Lake Charles was established from five civil parishes in Southwest Louisiana. By 1986-87, under Msgr Joseph Bourque, OLI was completely consolidated with the establishment of the OLI Catholic School Board. 

The vision of Our Lady Immaculate Catholic School is to provide students with the spiritual academic, social, physical, and emotional foundations essential in achieving their maximum potential as a Catholic Christian adult.

The purpose of Our Lady Immaculate Catholic School is to ensure the presence and strength of the Gospel message both today and in the future in the lives of all who attend this school as they are the future of the Church, our community, our nation, and our world.