Today, St. Genevieve stands some twenty-odd feet from the multilane Evangeline Thruway. Simcoe Street flanks its eastern side. The architecture of the building is of Dutch origin and is comparable to the numerous village churches that dot the countryside of Holland. The style is Romanesque. This is the style that was made popular by the Emperor Charlemagne and his builders in many European countries at the beginning of the ninth century. It was an adaptation of earlier styles of church buildings. This style is simpler than the later Gothic churches of the Middle Ages with their more complicated and expensive pointed arches and vaulted ceilings. However, it has a depth of special quality which creates an atmosphere of prayerful recollection. The building has a floor plan in the form of a cross with the western and eastern wings of the church, added in 1938, forming the crossbar. The church has been adorned over the years by various gifts of stained glass windows. On sunlit days, the light playing through the colored glass produces a rainbow of warm colors within the building. It is obvious that the thrifty Father Teurlings adapted the plans that he used to build John's Cathedral to the needs of the daughter church of St. Genevieve.
To the north of the church building, a rectory stands complete with parish offices and a home for the priests who serve the church. St. Genevieve Elementary School stands to the west of the square. Teurlings Catholic High School is located on Teurlings Drive. It is now supported by several church parishes with students from a wide area of the city. St. Genevieve Middle School is the latest addition to religious education here in the parish on the corner of Teurlings Drive and Willow Street. Calvary Cemetery is on the Breaux Bridge Highway.
Parish boards advise the pastor on church activities and the two schools, and complete religious education programs are organized. St. Genevieve Church continues to provide a most effective means to channel God’s grace to his people in a wide area of north Lafayette.
On February 1, 1979, St. Genevieve observed its Golden Anniversary as an independent church parish in Lafayette. In this year, it also celebrated the end of all financial obligations on the church plant. On August 6, 1979, the final installment of the last note was paid to the local banks, the Guaranty Bank & Trust Company and the American Bank & Trust Company. begins
St. Genevieve Parish is over 80 years old.
-Rev. Grady J. Estilette
-updated by Very Rev. W. Curtis Mallet, JCL, VG