HISTORY OF SAINT MONICA SCHOOL

 

In 1895 in response to the growing population in the area of Passyunk, Archbishop Patrick J. Ryan established a new parish name St. Monica. Father Owen P. McManus was appointed pastor and directed “to undertake the work of organizing the new parish and building a church on Ritner Street between 17^th and 18^th Streets with the church to be so built as to be used as church and school for the present.”  (50^th Anniversary Parish History)

Groundbreaking took place for a permanent church in 1901 and was dedicated April 30, 1903. In 1906 the parish broke ground for St. Monica School beside the church on Ritner Street and it was dedicated November 2, 1908. The Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who had been teaching Sunday school since the foundation of the parish in 1895, agreed to staff the school. Six hundred children from the rapidly growing parish filled the school.

 

By 1920 the number of families in the parish had grown from 150 to 1,100. The flu epidemic of 1919 impacted many families and in response to the needs of many parishioners who were left single parents, the pastor at the time, Father John Walsh, opened the St. Monica Day Nursery at 1615 Porter Street. In 1920 he established the St. Monica Business School enabling many students to acquire training and preparation for the business world. The IHM Sisters staffed both facilities.

 

In 1944 Father Aloysius F.X. Farrell was appointed pastor of St. Monica’s. In honor of the 50^th anniversary of the parish, Father Farrell renovated the Church and in 1945 he established a Kindergarten. As a result of the growing school population, the Baldwin Public Elementary School at 16^th and Porter Streets was purchased in 1956 as a temporary annex. On September 23, 1962, Cardinal John J. Krol blessed and dedicated the newly constructed Senior School on this same site. The new building included a cafeteria, gymnasium, and an adjacent bowling alley.

 

In the summer of 1964 the original Ritner Street School was razed and the foundation for a new Junior School building was laid. Cardinal Krol dedicated this new building on September 8, 1965. This building included a cafeteria, library and four classrooms for the Business School. In 1971 the Protestant Church property at the corner of 15^th and Porter Streets was purchased. This building was razed and a modern Day Care Facility erected. Three, four and five-year-old children whose parents work attend this program.

 

The school population continued to grow and peaked in the early 1980’s with over 1200 students. The school had four sections of every grade with 40 plus students in each. With a declining birthrate and exodus to the suburbs the school population dipped slightly through the 1990’s. The Business School closed in 1995 and classroom space made available to the Junior School for a music room, gym room, tutoring and storage. When St. Edmond’s school closed in 1998 a number of students transferred to St. Monica’s so that the enrollment was over 800 students.

 
Upon his retirement in 2001 Bishop DeSimone established the St. Monica School Education Fund to provide tuition assistance for needy families. Father Paul Quinter became pastor in June of 2001 and continued the long tradition of support and commitment to Catholic education. As of 2002-2003 St. Monica School has an enrolment of 633 students with three sections of Grades 1 – 8 and four half-day sessions of Kindergarten. Classrooms have been divided to create counseling rooms, offices and tutoring space. Each school has one classroom set up as a computer lab. During the 2002-2003 school year a wireless network and internet access were installed in both schools. In the summer of 2003 a new computer lab, made possible by a grant from the Sullivan Foundation, was installed in the Junior School.

 

Father Quinter’s appointment to Rome in March 2003 necessitated the naming of a new pastor, Father Joseph Kelley, whose ministry for many years has been in Catholic secondary education. This experience, coupled with Father’s pastoral leadership, inspires great hope and confidence in the future of St. Monica School despite many challenges facing Catholic education today.