Montgomery Catholic celebrates 150 years of excellence

By ROB HERBST
The Catholic Week
MONTGOMERY — An unimaginable trek by the Sisters of Loretto in 1873 sure turned out to be worth it.
Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School celebrated its 150-year anniversary on Oct. 10. Various dignitaries reflected on the past and looked to the future during a morning program outside the school. Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi also rededicated and blessed the school, plus participated in an anniversary ribbon cutting.
None of it would be possible without the Sisters of Loretto.
“Those Sisters of Loretto, they are heroes,” said past MCPS President Anne Ceasar.
Bishop John Quinlan, the second bishop of what was then the Diocese of Mobile, asked the Sisters of Loretto to come to Montgomery and open a school. The Sisters of Loretto are based about 60 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky., - more than 400 miles  north of Montgomery.
But they accepted the invitation and only eight years after the Civil War and during the Reconstruction Era, six Sisters of Loretto made the journey to Montgomery and founded “The Institution of St. Mary of Loretto” for girls in an antebellum mansion across from St. Peter Parish in downtown Montgomery in 1873.
It is now Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School east of downtown Montgomery on Vaughn Road and is the longest continually running nonpublic K-12 school in Alabama.
“Looking back on 150 years makes us feel proud, maybe makes some of us feel a little old and it definitely gives me pause when I think of the legacy that we have been entrusted to continue,” said President Justin Castanza.
The Sisters of Loretto’s work in the school didn’t begin immediately upon their arrival. They were greeted by a Yellow Fever epidemic, which delayed their opening by about a month.
They eventually opened with 85 students. According to Ceasar, tuition was $4 a month for primary students, $6 for junior high students and $8 for high school students.
“They opened this school to all faiths. It didn’t matter if you were Catholic. It mattered if you wanted a good education,” Ceasar said.
Much has happened since the school’s founding. The school went co-ed in 1929. Its name changed in the 1950s and it moved to its present location in 1965. The school also transformed into a regional model in 2001 with the merger of St. Bede Catholic School, the middle school and high school under the name “Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School.” Montgomery Catholic’s newest campus at Holy Spirit joined in 2012.
What hasn’t changed is Montgomery Catholic’s mission.
“Montgomery Catholic is committed to keeping Christ at the center of education,” Castanza said. “Montgomery Catholic is committed to serving our community no matter what that community looks like or what that community needs - we will meet them where they are. That’s what we’ve done so well for 150 years. That’s what I’m committed to doing as a school president.”
School facilities have also been upgraded and while that’s nice, it’s what takes place inside the facilities that make Montgomery Catholic special.
“These buildings, this campus, the other campuses, they’re just brick and mortar,” Archbishop Rodi said. “What’s in these buildings is what’s so important. Montgomery Catholic has a unique mission – education and formation of the total student, academically, socially, athletically, culturally and spiritually.”
So do the people.
Ceasar reflected on many who have played an important part in Montgomery Catholic’s history, including faculty members and presidents.  Dr. Thomas Doyle became the school’s first president in 1989 and Faustin Weber succeeded him in 2001. Ceasar and Castanza have since followed.
“You have heroes among you. We are so blessed because (our teachers and administrators) don’t look at this as a job, but it is a vocation,
She also thanked parents for their financial sacrifices and volunteer efforts which help continue to make Montgomery Catholic the outstanding institution that it is.
“Your countless hours of volunteering and support are remarkable. … You have entrusted your greatest gift you have, your children, to us.”