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THE
ACADIANA
ADVOCATE
T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
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M o n d ay, S e p t e M b e r 29, 2025
Taking shape Our Lady of Wisdom church on UL’s campus closing in on last year of construction
BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer
Anyone driving or walking through the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s campus on East St. Mary Street can see the progress that’s been made on the new building for Our Lady of Wisdom Catholic Church. Ground broke on the church, being built across the street from its current location, in November. At the end of July, crews started constructing the steel framework for the building. That framework is nearly done and the church is planning to celebrate with a topping-out ceremony, when the last steel beam is placed, on Oct. 6. Watching the process has been exciting for the Rev. Patrick Broussard, the church’s chaplain and pastor. He studied civil engineering before entering the priesthood and worshipped in Our Lady of Wisdom while a UL student. “I’m thrilled about everything. Every new piece of steel they place shows another aspect of the shape and size,” he said. “I walk across the street at least once a day, usually more than that, to see what progress they’ve made. It’s fascinating to me.” Once the last steel beam is placed, construction will be in the homestretch. The church will celebrate the laying of the cornerstone the week of Thanksgiving. Construction is set to be complete in about a year. The old church will need to be deconsecrated and the new building will need to be dedicated, which will likely happen between November 2026 and January 2027.
ä See CHURCH, page 4A
$2.00X
Restoration of dignity Hundreds of Native American remains pulled from La. graves still not returned to tribes
BY HALEY MILLER | Staff writer In 1968, a Louisiana prison guard unearthed over 100 skeletons and sacred objects at a grave site in West Feliciana Parish, exposing them to the light for the first time in centuries. He kept the items, precious pieces of handmade Tunica pottery and traded European goods. Those could be sold. He tossed the remains into the Mississippi River. Out of 1.5 tons of recovered materials from the grave robbing, “the human remains could fit into a shoebox,” said Earl Barbry Jr., the historic preservation officer for the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana. “The guy that desecrated the graves really didn’t find any monetary value, so he just discarded the remains.” There are more than 1,700 bodies and parts of bodies that, like the Tunica-Biloxi’s ancestors, were disturbed and disinterred by archaeologists, government officials and collectors in Louisiana across the 19th and 20th centuries. Many landed in the collections of universities, museums and government agencies. But over the past few decades, there has been growing recognition among archaeologists and the public that human remains buried by tribes should not be artifacts or subjects of scientific study, and must be returned to their descendants. The paradigm shift led to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
ä See DIGNITY, page 5A
STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Officials say the steel framework is nearly complete in the construction of the new Our Lady of Wisdom Church and Catholic Student Center on the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus.
“We’ve been at this since 2015. There have definitely been some moments in the campaign where we thought, ‘Well, it’ll never happen. When the steel came up, I was like, ‘This is amazing.’ You really get to see it take shape.” MARy HERNANDEZ, Our Lady of Wisdom’s executive director of advancement
STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Tribal historic preservation officer Earl Barbry Jr. points to an artifact at the Tunica-Biloxi Cultural and Educational Resources Center on Wednesday.
State continues push to regulate pharmacy benefit managers Louisiana officials are continuing efforts to limit the control pharmacy benefit managers have over the pharmaceutical market in the state. FILE PHOTO
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Leaders target CVS, other middlemen
by prohibiting benefits managers from owning pharmacies here. In response, CVS launched a massive public lobbying campaign, sending text messages to customers saying the new rule would force it BY ALYSE PFEIL | Staff writer to shut down over 100 pharmacies across the A spectacular political fight between state state. Landry’s sweeping proposal ultimately did lawmakers backed by Gov. Jeff Landry and health care giant CVS defined the final days not pass. But Louisiana officials are still tarof the Louisiana Legislature’s regular session geting the prescription drug intermediaries this year. on multiple fronts: taking a contract worth At issue was the influence of the nation’s millions of dollars away from CVS and giving largest pharmacy benefit managers over the most of the business to a Louisiana company prescription drug market. Landry pressured instead; pursuing three separate lawsuits lawmakers to limit the companies’ control ä See REGULATE, page 4A over the pharmaceutical market in Louisiana
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101ST yEAR, NO. 91