Moments in Ministry St. Mary’s Elementary and High School, Lansing, Michigan By S. Judith Metz
St. Mary School’s first building on Chestnut Street circa 1880.
1874
Three Sisters of Charity, led by S. Octavia McKenna, opened a six-room school house with an enrollment of about 100 students.
1900
St. Mary’s High School opened. By the 1920s its enrollment was 220 students. Tuition for out-of-parish students was $15 per year.
Editor Erin Reder
Administrators were interested in introducing the curriculum developed by the Committee on American Citizenship from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. S. Mary Janet Miller was named principal of the high school to oversee this project.
Executive Council Liaison S. Monica Gundler
1963
St. Mary’s High School closed and O’Rafferty High School opened, staffed by Sisters of Charity and Christian Brothers.
1969
St. Mary’s elementary school closed and merged with Holy Cross School. Sisters of Charity Juanita Marie Gonzales (as principal) and Pat Newhouse (as classroom teacher) continued to teach there until the 1990s.
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1970
O’Rafferty High School closed. Sisters of Charity continued their ministry at Catholic Central until 1991.
1993
Sisters Marie Pauline Skalski, Pat Newhouse, Anita Parks, and the late Cheryl Ann Grenier were on the inaugural faculty of St. Martha’s School in nearby Okemos.
The pictured postcard commemorates the transition of St. Mary’s Church to St. Mary’s Cathedral in 1937.
S. Mary Janet Miller was named principal of St. Mary’s High School in Lansing in 1958.
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Intercom Staff
Lansing was named a diocese with St. Mary’s as the Cathedral. By this time there were 18 Sisters of Charity and three lay teachers serving 383 elementary school students and 290 high schoolers.
1937
1958
The last faculty of the St. Mary’s Cathedral Grade School in June 1969.
Intercom is the official magazine of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. This apostolic Catholic women’s religious community exists to carry out the Gospel of Jesus Christ through service and prayer in the world. Approximately 245 Sisters are joined in their mission by 204 Associates (lay women and men). Sisters, using their professional talents as ministers of education, health care, social services and environmental justice, live and minister in 18 U.S. dioceses and in two foreign countries. They also sponsor institutions to address education, health care and social service needs, with particular concern for direct service to the poor.
Graphic Design/Layout Michelle Bley Director of Communications S. Georgia Kitt
Advisory Board Members: Veronica Buchanan S. Mary Ann Flannery S. Tracy Kemme S. Joyce Richter Debbie Weber Vicki Welsh
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