After 60 Years, the First New Catholic School Opens in Baltimore City

New School to Serve Over 500 Students with State-of-the-Art Facility

BALTIMORE– July 8, 2021 – Mother Mary Lange Catholic School, the first new Catholic school built in Baltimore City by the Archdiocese of Baltimore in nearly 60 years, will celebrate the opening with a ribbon cutting and blessing ceremony on Friday, August 6 at 9 a.m. Archbishop William E. Lori along with community leaders and city and state officials will formally open the doors to the school that will welcome more than 400 students this September.

The new 65,000 square feet educational complex is located at 200 N. Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. in downtown Baltimore and will be the new home for students from more than 40 zip codes throughout the city and surrounding area.

“Education has been at the core of the Catholic Church’s mission in the United States for two hundred years, and this new center of educational excellence will provide a safe, nurturing environment to develop talent and potential while providing a pathway to success for our youth,” said Archbishop William Lori. “This is a commitment that we, as the church, are proud to make to serve our city to help improve the lives and futures of our young people, our neighborhoods and the entire community.”

The state-of-the-art educational facility will serve students in grades PreK3 through 8, with a projected enrollment of 520 students within year four of operations. The school is also the new home for students who previously attended Saints James and John and Holy Angels Catholic schools. The majority (80-90%) of the mostly non- Catholic student population, is expected to qualify for tuition assistance from the archdiocese, which will make available over $1M in tuition grants and assistance from the archdiocese’s Partners in Excellence Scholarship Program. This tuition assistance will be complemented by additional aid from private scholarship funds, the State of Maryland’s BOOST program, and the Catholic Community Foundation tuition assistance endowments.

Features of Mother Mary Lange Catholic School will include:

STEM Suite (science lab, makerspace and robotics) digital media center (library and digital media studio) art and music rooms health suite regulation size gymnasium with a performance stage chapel full-service kitchen and dining facility 7 on 7 Soccer/lacrosse field and exercise circuit Partnership with University of MD (with campuses located across the street) state-of-the-art security systems

The professional staff of Mother Mary Lange Catholic School will include 35 teachers, teacher-aids and administrators and will include a full-time counselor, as well as access to medical and dental care professionals and a speech and language clinician.

“We are excited to open our doors and welcome our students to this amazing new school providing a beacon of hope for every child who walks through its doors,” said Alisha Jordan, principal at Mother Mary Lange Catholic School. “We are deeply committed to the mission of Catholic education and look forward to continuing Mother Lange’s legacy of educating the future of Baltimore.”

Born in 1784 in Santiago Cuba and of African descent, Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence in 1829, the first religious community of women of African descent, as well as the first Catholic school for children of color. The Vatican is currently reviewing her cause for canonization to sainthood.

To see more: Mother Mary Lange Catholic School.

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Media Contact Christian Kendzierski [email protected] 410-547-5378 (office) 917-882-1358 (cell)

New principal named for Mother Mary Lange Catholic School in Baltimore City

Alisha Jordan has been named as the new principal of Mother Mary Lange Catholic School, the first new Catholic school in Baltimore City in nearly 60 years.

The current principal of St. Mary of the Mills School in Laurel, Jordan will begin her work in August to prepare the school for its opening in September 2021.

The appointment was announced July 6 by James Sellinger, archdiocesan chancellor of education, and Donna Hargens, superintendent of schools. In a video accompanying the announcement, Jordan said it is a privilege and an honor “to be appointed the first principal of a school named after one of the pioneers in education and to continue her legacy by educating the children of Baltimore.”

“I am deeply committed to the mission of Catholic education and to ensuring that Mother Mary Lange Catholic School will be a beacon of hope for every child who walks through its doors,” she said.

She plans to work over the next year to meet with parents and students of Holy Angels School and Ss. James and John School, which will join at the new campus on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and with members of the local community.

“I believe children who feel safe learn best, and I am here for the students and families of Mother Mary Lange School,” Jordan said.

The new principal has three master’s degrees in aspects of education from Notre Dame of Maryland University in Baltimore, and is expected to complete her doctorate in urban educational leadership from Morgan State University later this year.

Standing in a framed-out classroom on the second floor of the construction site for the new school a few days before the announcement of her appointment, Jordan told the Catholic Review she could envision the walls and tables and the smiling faces of the first-graders who will be in the classroom in fall 2021. The school is expected to serve nearly 500 students in pre-K3 through eighth grade.

Diversity in faculty and staff selection will be an important part of her recruitment efforts.

“It’s important that children get to see teachers who look like them and mirror them,” she said. For a school that is expected to have an enrollment that is predominantly African American, seeing an African American woman in leadership will have an impact.

Jordan said Mother Mary Lange’s whole purpose was to educate children of color in Baltimore. The foundress of St. Frances Academy in 1828 and the Oblate Sisters of Providence the following year, whose cause for sainthood is under consideration, was of African descent, born in the late 1700s in Santiago, Cuba.

“I’m a woman of color, so I feel like a mirror of Mother Mary Lange. It is important that when we open up her school, we have a leader who believes and loves and cares for children and wants to educate children. And that’s me,” Jordan said.

Mother Mary Lange School will be the students’ home away from home and a safe place to spend seven to eight hours a day, Jordan said. “They need to feel comfortable when they are coming here,” she said. “The community needs to understand we are educating their future leaders, their future politicians, their future teachers, the future leaders of Baltimore City.”

She is excited about the facilities the school will offer students and the community, including a media center, a full gym and sports field, a maker space and a chapel. She said she is looking for innovative educators “ready to rock and roll and roll up their sleeves.”

Jordan had previously served as principal of John Paul Regional Catholic School in Woodlawn, which closed in 2017. She was also a teacher and assistant principal at St. Bernardine School, which closed in 2010. She has been a parishioner there since 2002; her husband has been a member of the parish all his life. She has served the parish as a youth minister and worked on women’s retreats.

In announcing the appointment, Archbishop William E. Lori said he looked forward to Jordan’s leadership at the school as a place of faith, learning and development, because she will embody the identity, mission and vision of the school.

He said while the school may have seemed like a distant vision when the decision was first made to pursue it, the cooperation from businesses and the community has made it real.

“This is a commitment we have to make to the city, to our young people, to our families,” he said.

“It’s a witness we have to provide as a church. But we must be not only a beacon of hope, but we must also be concretely assisting and working with children and families to make progress, to improve lives, to improve neighborhoods, to improve our city,” he said.

In announcing Jordan’s appointment, Hargens emphasized that the education the school offers must be Christ-centered. The new principal “gets the charism of Mother Mary Lange and knows that this school is going to have to live and breathe Mother Mary Lange’s charism.”

Hiring Jordan a year before the school will open will allow her time to get to know the families and build the culture. Jordan’s background in urban education will be beneficial there.

Every current teacher at Holy Angels and Ss. James and John is guaranteed an interview for a position at Mother Mary Lange if they want one, Hargens said.

Hargens and Sellinger said Jordan was the unanimous selection of the nine-member search committee, which included a cross-section of people with experience in education and representatives of the community.

Sellinger noted that construction on the school is moving along well; by September, the buildings will be fully enclosed and then fitting out the classrooms and interiors can begin. Building a new school is relatively easy, he said. “It’s just bricks and mortar. But the next major step in the creation of a new school is the identification of its leader,” he said.

The announcement of Jordan as the principal “will now bring life to the school. Mrs. Jordan will be responsible for bringing the atmosphere and character to the school” so that Mother Mary Lange Catholic School can educate children for the 21st century.

Sister Rita Michelle Proctor, major superior for the Oblate Sisters of Providence, said she never thought there would be another school named for Mother Lange.

In 2005, the consolidation of the parish schools at St. Dominic, Shrine of the Little Flower and St. Anthony of Padua, on the campus of the latter, opened as Mother Mary Lange Catholic School. It closed in 2010.

Sister Rita Michelle said the sisters are excited and want to be as supportive of the new school as they can. She and several of the sisters attended the groundbreaking in October. “From the time I picked up that shovel and threw that dirt, Mother Lange’s spirit was here, and it continues to be here.”

Since she doesn’t live far from the site, Sister Rita Michelle drives by often to see the progress. A former school principal herself, she believes families from all over the area will send their children to Mother Mary Lange. “I pray and hope that it will strengthen them and their desire to get a quality education and to go forward and do good for all people,” she said.

Email Christopher Gunty at [email protected]

IND alumnae have plenty of memories to cherish

From freshmen being paired with a “big sister” in the junior class to “The Big Game,” a basketball rivalry played in front of thousands, the Institute of Notre Dame established dozens of traditions during its 173 years as a Baltimore landmark.

At the core of its legacy, however, is the education provided generations by the School Sisters of Notre Dame, who came to Baltimore from Bavaria and founded the school in 1847 as the Collegiate Institute for Young Ladies.

“It’s grounded in spirituality and service,” School Sister Patricia Murphy said of that education.

Sister Patricia, along with School Sister of Notre Dame Charmaine Krohe, provincial leader, announced May 5 that IND would cease operations because of declining enrollment, the economy and an aging school building.

The decision hit Sister Patricia particularly hard. The chairwoman of the IND Board of Trustees, she was in its class of 1962 and was the third of four Murphy sisters to attend the school from 1954 to 1963.

Her school-day commute began with a streetcar from Paradise Avenue in Catonsville to downtown. Then and as recently as the 2018-19 school year, fixtures on IND’s campus included School Sister Hilda Sutherland, the inspiration of “Hildie’s Helpers,” which in a typical recent year involved half the student body. She died in March 2019.

The school will close its doors June 30. To commemorate the moment, parishes in Baltimore City have been invited to ring their church bells at 3 p.m. on that day. The class of 2020 will provide one final memory July 26, at 6 p.m., when its 54 members participate in graduation ceremonies at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland.

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Also see:

IND students attempt to move on

Alumnae mourn the loss of Institute of Notre Dame, the ‘hidden gem of Baltimore’

IND, oldest girls’ prep school in Maryland, closing its doors for good

‘Sister Hildie’ was beloved presence at IND for more than six decades

Kirk Gaddy, black Catholic educator and father figure to many, dies suddenly at 55

One of the final works of mercy of Dr. Kirk P. Gaddy’s life as a Catholic educator occurred June 13, when he helped transform St. Frances Academy into an impromptu cooling station for a Black Lives Matter protest.

Gaddy, 55, suffered a heart attack the next day, and died unexpectedly June 20. A lifelong parishioner of Historic St. Francis Xavier in Baltimore and major influence in the education of black youths from pre-K to college, Gaddy was in his second stint on the staff at St. Frances Academy, where he had been in the class of 1983.

“We were graduating kids individually (June 13), and couldn’t leave campus because the roads were blocked by protest traffic around the prison,” said Deacon Curtis Turner, principal/head of school. “It was a hot day, and Kirk made the most of the situation. He helped people cool off. That’s my last memory of him.”

That protest wound around the Baltimore City Detention Center on to Eager Street, where Gaddy’s life as a catechist, teacher, scholar, administrator and advocate for the Oblate Sisters of Providence had its roots.

His four older brothers include Redemptorist Father Kenneth Gaddy, associate pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus/Sagrado Corazón de Jesús in Highlandtown. Their parents, John and Beatrice, headed a home that included two of her sisters and their children, 15 people all told in a rowhome on Eager Street.

“There was a lot of noise, as you can expect,” Father Gaddy said. “There was also a lot of support and encouragement.”

All the Gaddy children attended Catholic K-8 schools, Ss. James and John for Kirk. In 2008, he recounted to the Catholic Review how he and his siblings spent Saturdays cleaning the schools they attended, and how he helped mow the grass at Redemptorist cemeteries.

“It’s something they instilled in us very early on,” Gaddy told the Review, of his parents’ sense of service. He went on to St. Frances Academy, the oldest Catholic school in the U.S. founded for black children, by Mother Mary Lange and the Oblate Sisters of Providence in 1828.

“The Oblate Sisters had a tremendous influence on his life,” Father Gaddy said. “The Oblate Sisters run through his veins.”

Sister Rita Michelle Proctor, the general superior of the order, taught Religion and Physical Education to Gaddy when he was in the ninth grade.

“His spirit of generosity, and caring for others, was already there, not only at St. Frances Academy, but at our convent,” she said. “He would go there after school to help Sister Brenda Motte, who coordinated the convent. Even when he was 13, you could depend on him.

“When he became principal at St. Katharine, he posted a message. ‘You enter to learn, and you leave to serve.’ It’s a powerful statement, one I’ve borrowed. … For all of his degrees and awards, he lived a life of Providence. I believe he was motivated by the spirit of Mother Mary Lange.”

Gaddy served as president of the Mother Lange Guild. In February, he served one last time as MC at the 23rd annual Mother Lange Awards, held by the archdiocesan Office of Black Catholic Ministries.

Gaddy earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with a minor in history, from what is now Loyola University Maryland in 1987. Two years later, he earned a master’s degree in educational curriculum and instruction from Loyola. In 2004, he earned a doctorate in education leadership from NOVA Southeastern University in North Miami.

“His goodness, kindness, compassion, concern for the have-nots and the poor … he would do anything for the poor,” Father Gaddy said. “At the center of the conversation was the Gospel of liberation, and Kirk knew that the way to liberation is through education. He felt he would have the greatest impact there.”

Gaddy’s first job out of Loyola College was back at St. Frances Academy, as a teacher and dean of students. He served as assistant principal of St. Katharine School, 1990-94; as principal of St. Alphonsus-Basilica School, 1994-98; and principal of St. Katharine School, 1998-2008.

In 2008, he became a founder, CEO and headmaster of the Bluford Drew Jemison- STEM Academy. In 2012, he took an administrator’s role at St. Francis International School in Silver Spring. He began teaching at Xavier University in Louisiana’s Institute for Black Catholic Studies in 2008, and became its associate director in 2014.

A year ago, Gaddy returned to St. Frances Academy as assistant principal. He was to become principal for the 2020-21 school year, with Deacon Turner becoming the school’s president on a full-time basis.

“He was the definition of tough love,” Deacon Turner said. “Many of our students come to us unchurched. One day a student did something disrespectful in our daily chapel, which he ran. Kirk was able to impart why it was disrespectful, and instill a sense of wonder and awe in the kid within an hour.”

The young St. Frances Academy educators under Gaddy’s tutelage included his son, Kirk E. Gaddy, class of 2012, who always saw his father’s stabilizing presence.

“When I was in the first grade (at Ss. James and John), one of my friends didn’t have a Dad in his life,” the younger Gaddy said. “Mine stepped right into that role. He was a father figure to so many of his kids at St. Katharine.

“When I was a freshman at St. Frances Academy, the baseball team won the (C Conference) championship game. It was played at Calvert Hall. He took the whole team to Red Robin afterward, and paid for everyone. He wasn’t just my father. He was everyone’s father.”

An RCIA instructor, Gaddy’s professional development included reaching level three of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Equip for Ministry training, in 1990. He contributed to “Keep on Teaching,” which served as a manual for the African- American Community; “What We Have Seen and Heard-Essays and Stories from Black Catholics of Baltimore”; the African American Catholic Youth Bible; and the Africentric column that ran in the Catholic Review when it was a weekly publication. His substantial volunteer efforts, his brother noted, included teaching at the Baltimore City Detention Center.

At Historic St. Francis Xavier, Gaddy served as parish council president and for 16 years was chairman of the board of its Head Start program. He also served on the boards of the Institute of Notre Dame and the Cardinal Shehan School. In addition to their son, Gaddy and his wife, Crystalyn, raised two daughters, Courtney and Kirby.

“Our time is not always lined up with God’s,” said Gaddy’s son, of the suddenness of his passing. “We have to remember his legacy and what he stood for.”

In order to accommodate larger gatherings with social distancing in place, a funeral Mass will be offered July 3, at 11 a.m., in the St. Frances Academy gym. Visitation will also be there July 2, 2-8 p.m.

Email Paul McMullen at [email protected]

Five retiring school principals in Baltimore Archdiocese depart with cherished memories

FREDERICK – The switch to distance learning due to the novel coronavirus and the closing of school campuses created an end to Karen Smith’s career that she never considered. “I never thought this would be the way I would be leaving the building, with nobody else in it,” said Smith, the principal of St. John Regional Catholic School in Frederick. “I never expected that we would not go back.”

Smith retired after 15 years as principal and 40 years in education. Other principals retiring included Deborah Glinowiecki of St. Ursula School in Parkville, Patricia McDermott of St. Mary Catholic School in Hagerstown, Terry Weiss of St. Louis School in Clarksville and Raymond Kiddy of Bishop Walsh School in Cumberland.

“In 45 years of education, I never could have imagined this,” Glinowiecki said. “I was looking forward to the children, the goodbyes, the traditions. Now I can’t even say goodbye to them.”

The principals all said the biggest changes they saw were the use of computers and information technology. The new technology ultimately helped schools make the abrupt switch to distance learning.

Glinowiecki said she felt called by God to St. Ursula School in Baltimore. “The Lord was calling me to my parish, my school, my son’s school,” she said. “I thought, I have five years that I will be happy to dedicate to this school. And that was what I have done.”

Glinowiecki began at St. Ursula School the day after she retired from Baltimore County Schools.

“You cannot get a better, more well-rounded education than you get at a Catholic school,” she said. “It’s not just academic, it’s spiritual, it’s the whole child.”

In Hagerstown, McDermott led collaborations among parents, educators and St. Mary Catholic Church to expand the use of technology. Separately, capital improvement projects created a modern dining hall for students and the school’s first gymnasium.

“Not anything I did as principal could I do on my own,” McDermott said. “It was all through relationships. To me everything is all about our relationships and our Catholic faith.” In 2017, St. Mary School received status as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.

“To be named a Blue Ribbon School, that’s just icing on the cake,” McDermott said. “I love the students. I love the parents. My faculty and staff are top-notch. It was the relationships with all of these groups that made my job what it was. The different groups trusted my leadership. I prayed for them and they prayed for me. Everything was centered on the Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Mother.”

In Frederick, St. John Regional Catholic earned National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence distinction in 2009 and 2017. “We celebrated for the whole year,” said Smith, as it was also recognized as a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) school.

An aunt inspired Weiss to follow her into education, who visited her classroom to help decorate the bulletin board and grade papers.

Weiss was a classroom teacher for 20 years, with two years also as assistant principal. Her principal encouraged her to pursue her master’s degree and when the principal’s position opened at St. Louis School in Clarksville, she applied. She was principal for 24 years.

“St. Louis School will always have a special place in my heart,” Weiss said.

It too received National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence awards, in 2010 and 2017, largely due to the school’s STEM programs and academic achievements. There are also more than 20 after-school clubs.

“I’ll miss the students,” she said. “Seeing their smiling faces, the giggles. That’s the part I’ll miss the most. I haven’t seen them, and it’s been so sad.”

Kiddy was retired for 24 hours from public school when the position of athletic director and dean of students opened at Bishop Walsh. He became principal four years ago and was tasked with increasing enrollment. The school now has an elite basketball program, a makerspace, a radio station and green room for video productions. The pandemic meant that Bishop Walsh couldn’t host its traditional graduation ceremony, but there will be an in-person graduation June 12 for seniors and their immediate family members at the soccer stadium. In the meantime, Kiddy, office staff and high school dean James Zamagias rode a school bus for six hours to visit seniors, placing signs in front of their homes celebrating their accomplishments.

“It was really great for us to see our students,” Kiddy said. “It was a great thing for an ending here for me, also. It’s been a great ending to my career and I appreciate all the support the archdiocese has given me.”

Capsules of the five follow.

Deborah Glinowiecki, Principal, St. Ursula School

Years in education: 45. Years as principal at St. Ursula Catholic School: 5. Memory: On the day before Christmas break, she would play “Crabs for Christmas” by David DeBoy over the school speakers to celebrate the coming holiday. Quote: She would tell new teachers, “You don’t know everything. But your colleagues are a wealth of information. Do not hesitate to ask. Or just to reflect with them.”

Dr. Raymond Kiddy, Principal, Bishop Walsh

Years in education: 42. Years as principal at Bishop Walsh School: 4. Memory: Personally congratulating seniors during a special bus tour to each of their homes.

Quote: “You have to be ever-changing and involved when you’re a Catholic school.”

Patricia McDermott, Principal, St. Mary Catholic School

Years in education: 29. Years as principal at St. Mary Catholic School: 13. Memory: Her first class of third-graders, who she taught again in middle school, and now keeps in touch with through social media and friendships. “We always joke about me being their favorite teacher,” she said. Quote: “We are like a family. We are truly a school community. Is it perfect? No, but that’s like any family.”

Karen Smith, Principal, St. John Regional Catholic School

Years in education: 40. Years as principal at St. John Regional Catholic School: 15. Memory: Teaching a group of students Irish step-dancing for the Grandparents Day talent show. The small troupe went on to dance for local community events for a few years. Quote: “It’s going to be different not going there every day. But I told them they can keep me on the substitute teacher list.”

Terry Weiss , Principal, St. Louis School

Years in education: 44. Years at St. Louis School: 24. Memory: Weiss was chaperone for the eighth-grade trip to Boston. She enjoyed being with her students on the field trip and getting to know them. “What a wonderful experience it was!” Weiss remembers. “We were the house moms and checking on the students to make sure everything was okay. It was such a great experience taking care of them and sharing the excitement of all there was to see and do in Boston.” Quote: “You have to love children. I don’t think you can teach if you don’t love children. We have to be role models for these children, we have to be Christ in the classroom.”

Adapting to coronavirus pandemic as teacher, wife, mom

Andrea Sommers will never forget her 10th year as a teacher at St. John Regional Catholic School in Frederick. She teaches social studies, English language arts and religion to 82 fifthand sixth- graders. Since mid-March, the coronavirus pandemic has forced her to do all that from home, which she shares with her husband, Dwight, a captain with the Frederick Police Department, and their two sons, Henry and Gabriel, who are in the first grade and pre-K-4, respectively, at SJRCS.

The challenges of distance learning were reinforced May 6, when the archdioecesan Department of Catholic Schools announced that its institutions would remain closed for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year.

“I’m very sad that we are not going back,” said Sommers, noting that she won’t get the chance to bid a proper farewell to Karen Smith, who is retiring as principal of SJRCS.

That admiration is reciprocated.

“Mrs. Sommers is an outstanding teacher,” Smith said. “I wish I could clone her. She is caring and compassionate, and always willing to step in where needed.”

This spring, that has meant videoconference sessions with her students as often as six times a week.

“The Zoom sessions are not so much for talking about the curriculum,” said Sommers, acknowledging that social distancing has made it difficult to motivate students. “It’s really social interaction for them.”

Sommers also has frequent Zoom meetings with co-workers.

“We’re separated right now,” she said, “but I never feel like I’m alone.”

Amidst the uncertainty and an unsettling new “normal,” Sommers finds herself feeling grateful for her own education, which she said has prepared her for the uncharted waters of remote learning.

Sommers attended public schools in Montgomery and Frederick counties, and was studying art at Montgomery College in Rockville when her father encouraged her to pursue a career in education, which would combine her creativity with her love of children.

She interned at SJRCS while earning a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Mount St. Mary’s

University in Emmitsburg, where she also got a master’s in technology of education.

“My master’s has been a huge help to me right now, because I have a whole toolbox,” said Sommers, who uses multiple online learning platforms with her students, including Google Classroom and Padlet.

Aside from coming up with different methods to connect with students, Sommers has also tried new ways to entertain her sons. Dance parties before bed have become a favorite family ritual, and brought her sons closer. It’s helped keep their spirits high, as the Sommers family had to cancel a two-week summer vacation in Ontario, Canada.

While Sommers and her sons stay mostly at home, she worries about the mental and physical well-being of her husband and their father, a first-responder. Her faith is a big help.

“This pandemic has made me a stronger Catholic,” said Sommers, a longtime parishioner of St. John the Evangelist in Frederick who sets aside specific times for prayer and reflection. “Everything comes back to love.”

Oblates see Providence at work in building of Mother Mary Lange Catholic School

Sister Rita Michelle Proctor is in the habit of taking a few turns out of the way on her afternoon commute from the motherhouse of the Oblate Sisters of Providence in Arbutus to the convent at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, where she resides.

Slowing down near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard with Lexington Street, the general superior of the Oblates checks on the progress of Mother Mary Lange Catholic School.

Its name honors an immigrant to Baltimore from the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, who in 1829 founded not only the religious order that Sister Rita Michelle leads, the first Catholic religious community of women of African-American descent, but the first Catholic school in the U.S. for black children, what became St. Frances Academy. The Vatican is reviewing her cause for canonization.

“Every time I go by it,” Sister Rita Michelle said of the construction site, “I proclaim, ‘God is good.’ It’s a miracle, another way God has provided to us. Even though not all of our (OSP) members are here in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, it’s here that Mother Lange landed 191 years ago, with a special calling to educate children of color.

“It gives us great joy and pride to know that this particular institution will stand as a beacon of hope in a part of the city where so many are discouraged by the plight of life. It’s a symbol of God’s providential care. God still cares for the people of Baltimore.”

While the coronavirus pandemic has delayed the hiring of a principal, which was to be announced in May, it has not negatively impacted the construction timetable, which, according to Matthew Regan, senior project manager for the archdiocesan Division of Facilities and Real Estate Management, is a few weeks ahead of schedule, in part because of an unseasonably mild winter.

“Our contractors have worked hard to maintain a rigorous pandemic protocol, which so far has protected our workers,” Regan told the Review. “Whiting-Turner has done a great job in evaluating and planning preemptive solutions to problems, such as dealing with manufacturers and vendors from adjacent states that have shut down entire businesses.”

“Topping out,” the industry term for setting the last piece of steel atop a building, occurred May 12. The $23.9 million project includes approximately 66,000 square feet on three levels, with a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) suite, digital media center, art and music rooms, regulation-sized gymnasium, full-service kitchen and chapel.

It is located 2.4 miles west of Ss. James and John Catholic School and 4.7 interstate miles east of Holy Angels Catholic School, which will provide the bulk of its approximately 400 students when it opens, scheduled in time for the 2021-22 school year.

For Sister Rita Michelle, the first new Catholic school construction in the city in approximately six decades is a turnaround from a decade ago, when a dozen Catholic schools there closed. Among them was Mother Lange School, which operated at the former St. Anthony of Padua School in Gardenville and formed after the closings of parish schools there and at St. Dominic in Hamilton and Shrine of the Little Flower in Belair-Edison.

Its principal? Sister Rita Michelle.

“When we closed in 2010, it was a heart-breaker for us,” she said. “Never in my wildest dreams, did I think that we would have a brand-new building in her (Mother Lange’s) name. I do think it’s fitting.

“We pray for the success, not just of the continued building construction, but for those who will fill the building. We pray for the faculty, staff and children they will care for, and that the legacy of Mother Lange will be taught, so that it continues.”

Email Paul McMullen at [email protected] 2020 Catholic School Teachers of the Year announced

James Sellinger, Chancellor of Education for the Archdiocese of Baltimore and Dr. Donna Hargens, Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, announced May 20 the 2020 Archdiocesan and Independent Catholic School Teachers of the Year.

Karin Abbott from Monsignor Slade Catholic School in Glen Burnie was named Archdiocesan Elementary School Teacher of the Year and Catherine Hellie from Archbishop Spalding High School in Severn was named Archdiocesan High School Teacher of the Year.

Chris Taddiken from Calvert Hall College High School in Towson was named Independent Catholic High School Teacher of the Year.

The Teacher of the Year recipients were selected by the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Teacher of the Year Committee, which included Department of Catholic Schools staff and representatives from the Archdiocesan School Board, according to a May 20 news release.

The committee selected Abbott and Hellie from a pool of 44 archdiocesan elementary and high school Teacher of the Year nominees, all of whom were the recipients of their school’s 2020 Teacher of the Year award. Taddiken was selected out of the Archdiocese of Baltimore independent Catholic high school nominations. The decision was based on each nominee’s demonstration of Catholic identity, innovative instruction, professionalism and leadership.

Hargens and Sellinger made the surprise announcement to the Teacher of the Year winners and their colleagues during virtual staff meetings early May 20. Following the announcement, each winner received a socially distant, in-person congratulations from Dr. Hargens.

“Mrs. Abbott, Mrs. Hellie, and Mr. Taddiken are outstanding educators, whose dedication is evident,” Hargens said in the news release. “They inspire a love of learning and work diligently every day to help their students grow academically and spiritually.”

About the 2020 Teacher of the Year Winners

· Archdiocesan Elementary School Teacher of the Year: Karin Abbott holds a master’s degree from Towson University in arts integration and has 17 years of teaching experience. She currently teaches preschool through 8th grade music at Monsignor Slade Catholic School and serves as the director of the school play.

· Archdiocesan High School Teacher of the Year: Catherine Hellie is a world language teacher at Archbishop Spalding High School. She has 19 years of teaching experience and has served as the foreign language department chair for more than 14 years. She holds a master’s degree in education.

· Independent Catholic High School Teacher of the Year: Chris Taddiken is a mathematics teacher at Calvert Hall College High School. He has seven years teaching experience and recently completed his M.A.T. degree and attended the AP Calculus Institute.

The Department of Catholic Schools will honor the Archdiocesan Teacher of the Year winners, along with the Teacher of the Year winners from each Catholic school in the Archdiocese at a later date.

Mount de Sales Academy readies performing arts center

CATONSVILLE – Maria Rew and Monica Slattery, sophomores at Mount de Sales Academy, spent a substantial chunk of winter afternoons off campus.

A musician and dancer/singer, respectively, they lent their talents to “Matilda the Musical,” a production Mount de Sales staged Jan. 31-Feb. 2 at Mount St. Joseph High School.

Some road shows such as that, however, will soon be a thing of the past for the all- girls’ high school, where a Center for Performing Arts and Student Life is under construction.

Scheduled to open in 2021, it will have an auditorium with 400 fixed seats; room for 200 more on a mezzanine that can be converted into a smaller lecture hall and performance space; a multipurpose area for dance; and other instructional spaces, some soundproofed.

“To have our own space to explore our art, that gives you a different experience,” said Isabelle Somma, a soprano and fellow “Matilda” contributor who hopes to be in the center before her graduation in 2021.

Somma came to Mount de Sales from Sacred Heart School in Glyndon. Rew, a graduate of St. Louis School in Clarksville, and Slattery, a parishioner of St. Peter the Apostle in Libertytown who attended Resurrection-St. Paul School in Ellicott City, will have a little longer to soak up the new surroundings.

An arts center has been part of the school’s master plan since the late 1990s. Despite COVID-19 shutting down the campus to students and lay teachers, it is taking shape on a slope beneath the main building, alongside the convent, structures which juxtapose the school’s past and promise.

The main building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was begun in 1852, when Visitation Sisters founded the school. According to Father Michael Roach, emeritus board of trustee and Archdiocese of Baltimore historian, it was the largest structure in Baltimore County, “even larger than the newly constructed courthouse in Towson.”

Father Roach estimates that the campus was close to 75 acres when it was founded. Now it’s closer to 12 acres, and every square foot appears to be utilized, outside and in, as student lockers occupy an area on the lower level of the main building that served as a carriage way in the horse-and-buggy days.

In the early 1980s, enrollment dipped as low as 201, but then the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation in Nashville arrived, with a new charism and energy. Phase I of a capital campaign included a new convent, which opened in 2011. Mount de Sales began the current school year with 488 students, and a Sept. 28 groundbreaking for the arts center.

“This is a historic day,” said Sister Mary Raymond, principal. “The arts form culture, and culture forms us. I am so proud of that our young women will now have their own space … to grow and flourish through their participation in the arts.”

They’ve been making do in the main building, where the Chapel of St. Francs de Sales was expanded in the summer of 2018. Similarly, visual and performing arts have been studied and mastered in retrofitted areas.

The arts center is part of the capital campaign’s Phase III. It will cost approximately $10 million.

Deacon Mark Cohagan, director of operations for the school, said the new arts center will include dressing rooms and a design shop, but once it opens, some traditions are not going to change.

“On the ‘A’ side of the (main) building, the stairs are worn, but you know some of those footsteps contributed to the art done by students,” said Rew, of the class of 2022. “Once we’re on our own stage, we’ll continue to produce our own work, just like students in the future.” Alumnae mourn the loss of Institute of Notre Dame, the ‘hidden gem of Baltimore’

Hours after administrators announced that the Institute of Notre Dame would be closing next month, a small group of seniors gathered May 5 on the steps outside the historic East Baltimore girls high school feeling lost.

Alumna Nancy Longo, who graduated in 1980 and went on to become an award- winning chef and restaurant owner, joined them. And although she was crushed by the decision, she had words of hope for the young women whose senior year has already been derailed by the coronavirus pandemic.

“I said, well, ‘I can tell you something. We feel really kind of lost for you,’” Longo said of her fellow alumni. “But you don’t need a building to be a part of the IND community.”

She and other alumnae said their time at IND led to lifelong friendships and incredible bonds of sisterhood. It’s something Longo has seen in action during the past few months of the pandemic. She owns Pierpoint Restaurant in Fells Point and said she and her staff have stayed afloat because of the generosity of her fellow IND alumnae.

Since her restaurant has been closed, she shifted to feeding medical workers and the homeless.

“Because of the IND community, I’m able to sit here and continue to survive in restaurant business, which is very tough right now,” Longo said. “It is the amazing spirit that has gone through that school and a lot of women who have gone there believe in the power of generosity, especially in endeavors in the urban community.”

The School Sisters of Notre Dame, who own and operate the school, declined to comment for this article. Caelie M. Haines, the communications director for the religious community, said officials would host online question-and-answer sessions for current students and alumnae about the closure later this week.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore does not have authority over the governance of IND and was informed of its closing shortly before the public announcement. The Archdiocese of Baltimore Department of Catholic Schools said it would work closely with the IND administration and would provide assistance with placement of IND students into other Catholic high schools.

In a statement, the school, which began educating girls in 1847, cited the economic downturn, declining enrollment and its aging school building as reasons behind the closing.

Nevertheless, the news took many alumnae, including Dee Walsh, a member of the class of 1965, by surprise.

“It came as a shock. I knew attendance was low there because I’ve been involved with things,” Walsh said, choking back tears. “I had so many phone calls, texts and emails. And I said to people, ‘I just never thought it would happen in my lifetime.’ I knew it would happen, but not in my lifetime.”

Walsh, a longtime member of the alumnae association, said her connection with IND goes back generations. Her grandmother boarded there at the turn of the 20th century and her mother and aunt graduated from the school in 1942.

Walsh, a parishioner of St. Mark in Catonsville, said her years at IND inspired her to become a lifelong teacher, spending most of her career with Howard County Public Schools.

“We had such a great education from the nuns, and to follow in some of their footsteps was what you wanted to do,” Walsh said.

Walsh, who worked on the school’s newspaper, said IND students were actively involved in the surrounding community, helping residents of the nearby Latrobe Homes, a low-income development, among other charitable activities.

The school was also known for its basketball team, which had an intense rivalry with fellow girls catholic school, Mercy High School. Each year, thousands would turn out for the “Big Game,” a tradition since 1967.

This January, the IND Penguins won their seventh straight against the Mercy Magic.

“It is hard to imagine that enthusiastic crowds will no longer pack the SECU Arena to watch Mercy and IND meet on the court for the Big Game,” said Mary Beth Lennon, president of Mercy High School. “I know that our Mercy alumnae will feel, as I do, a special sadness around the loss of sisterhood between our two great rival schools.”

Longo echoed Walsh, saying IND – often called “the Hidden Gem of Baltimore” – was a special place for women young and unlike any other school.

“I felt like I had a unique education from a very loving faculty. Nuns who deeply cared about you. And some of them I stayed friends with for the rest of my life. And I felt that the school did, in essence because of its urban location, continue the mission … to take care of women, take care of the community, and to teach women to be leaders and to be great in the community,” Longo said. “So now there’s no one in the city to fill that void anymore.”

IND is known nationally for inspiring women to become leaders.

The all-girls school counts among its alumnae two of the most powerful female office-holders in the history of the United States: two-time Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and former Maryland Representative and Senator Barbara Mikulski, the longest-serving woman in the history of the U.S. Congress.

Writing on Twitter, Pelosi called the closure “sad news” and said her family has been a part of the school community for years.

“Its creed – Pro Deo et Patria – is enshrined in our hearts,” Pelosi wrote, referring to the Latin phrase that means “For God and country.”

Mikulski said in a statement that when she learned of the closing, a “profound sadness” came over her.

“Baltimore is truly losing a treasured institution,” she said. IND continues to inspire a new wave of female leaders. Nicole Harris-Crest, a graduate of the class of 2003, is currently running for City Council in District 4, which represents a portion of North Baltimore.

Harris-Crest, the daughter of former city councilman Kenneth Harris, said she chose to attend IND despite living in walking distance of Mercy High School. She said her time at IND had given her “a roadmap” to becoming a leader by emphasizing empathy and kindness.

She said she even joked about becoming a member of Congress in her IND yearbook.

“The school really instilled a value that you can do anything,” said Harris-Crest, who is chief of external affairs to the Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City. “And you have all of these wonderful examples of people who’ve made these achievements. And then you also have this guidance and support from the community that helps you to achieve whatever your goals are.”

Longo said of the faculty at IND, “It’s an unbelievable group of women who have gone through the walls of that place. … They were very much interested in teaching girls to be smart enough to make decisions and be community leaders.”

While no decision has been made about the school building, Longo and Walsh worried about the fate of the historic campus. Walsh recounted the smallest details of the school – a slate staircase to be used only by seniors, hand-carved wood on the fifth floor and an embroidered message at the front entrance that reads, “School is not a playground. It is not a prison. It is time. It is opportunity.”

“There was something about that place that I find amazing. It’s a very, very spiritual feeling when you’re in that building, when you go upstairs and you can see the places where women 180 years ago were,” Longo said. “For that piece of history to be lost now, it’s a big blow to Baltimore City.”

The alumnae hope the building’s rich history can remain even after the school’s closing.

“The building belongs to the sisters. So, you know, it’s their decision. But please don’t tear it down. Don’t make it a parking lot. Please don’t tear it down,” Walsh said.

Email Tim Swift at [email protected]

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IND, oldest girls’ prep school in Maryland, closing its doors for good

The Institute of Notre Dame, which has educated girls in Baltimore since 1847, announced May 5 that it was closing its doors for good.

The oldest all-girls preparatory school in Maryland, the grades 9-12 institution was founded and sponsored by the School Sisters of Notre Dame, and served as the order’s flagship school in the United States.

School Sister of Notre Dame Charmaine Krohe, provincial leader, and School Sister of Notre Dame Patricia Murphy, chairwoman of the IND Board of Trustees and a member of the class of 1962, cited declining enrollment, the economy and an aging school building in announcing that the school would close, effective June 30, in a letter addressed to members of the IND community.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore does not have authority over the governance of the school, and was not involved in the decision to close the school, according to a spokesman for the archdiocese.

IND staff were informed of the decision at 3 p.m., during a Zoom online meeting.

Archbishop William E. Lori was informed of the school’s decision shortly before it was announced to the school community.

“It is with great sadness that we write to you today to announce that this school year will be our last,” Sister Charmaine and Sister Patricia wrote. “Our beloved Institute of Notre Dame (IND) will close on June 30.

“We had hoped to have a different outcome and have been trying valiantly the last several years to build a sustainable future,” their letter continued. “Several factors have contributed to our very recent decision: our enrollment continues to decline and is down 43 percent from five years ago; some of our major supporters have advised us they will no longer be able to provide us with financial contributions; and we currently discount our tuition almost 30 percent, through financial aid to our students with 90 percent of our student body receiving some assistance.

“Additionally,” Sister Charmaine and Sister Patricia wrote, “our building requires $5 million of repairs, just to allow us to continue to use it. It would require $34 million to make it a state-of-the-art facility. Identifying and moving to another campus would take time and significant resources. And now, COVID-19 has caused significant, added financial hardship.

“Taking all of this into account, to remain open we would need to raise many millions of dollars, immediately. And we would need to substantially increase our fundraising goals each year going forward or significantly increase the tuition, or a combination,” wrote Sister Charmaine and Sister Patricia, who noted the generosity of the Sisters of Notre Dame over the last several years. “The Atlantic-Midwest Province has contributed several million dollars to try to keep our school in operation – it has recently become clear that there is no way forward – in spite of the tireless efforts of the Sisters, the Board of Trustees and the school’s leadership team.” Christine Szala was the head of school at IND.

Tuition for the 2019-20 school year was $14,700. As recently as last September, IND announced a $2 million gift toward scholarships from Catherine Bunting, a prominent Baltimore philanthropist.

It marks the second closure in three years of a Catholic girls’ high school inside the Baltimore Beltway. The Seton Keough High School, which formed in a 1988 merger of Seton High School and Archbishop Keough High School, closed in 2017.

The area in and around the Beltway still has five girls’ high schools (The Catholic High School of Baltimore, Maryvale Preparatory School, Mercy High School, Mount de Sales Academy and Notre Dame Preparatory), compared to four for boys: (Archbishop Curley High School, Calvert Hall College High School, Loyola Blakefield and Mount St. Joseph High School).

Other Catholic schools in the region have faced similar decisions this spring. Citing “declines in student enrollment and local fundraising,” the Diocese of Camden, N.J., announced in April the closure at the end of the school year of five schools, including St. Joseph High School in Hammonton and Wildwood Catholic High School. The Diocese of Harrisburg, Pa., which has filed for bankruptcy, recently announced the closure of two of its schools, including Lebanon Catholic High.

All Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore have been closed to students and teachers since mid-March, due to the coronavirus.

“We recognize that this news brings with it many emotions in what has already been a very emotional year,” Sister Charmaine and Sister Patricia wrote. “We deeply regret that we cannot be together physically, to comfort and support each other. Hopefully, at a future date, we will be able to hold a closing ceremony, to allow all of us to come together as a community, to mourn, to celebrate and to remember all that IND has meant to us.”

Email Paul McMullen at [email protected]

Read more: Alumnae mourn the loss of Institute of Notre Dame, the ‘hidden gem of Baltimore’

Editor’s Note: This story was updated May 5 at 10:15 p.m. to clarify when The Seton Keough High School was formed.

Pandemic can’t keep Distinctive Scholars down

Even in trying times, the 19 high schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore continue their tradition of academic excellence, as evidenced in these four young people who would have been recognized April 23 at the Distinctive Scholars Convocation, an annual event of the Department of Catholic Schools.

Henry Hardart

Archbishop Spalding, Severn

Hardart spent portions of the last two summers volunteering in a research lab at Johns Hopkins Hospital, studying the benefits of a common chemical on infants suffering from abnormal brain flow. Mid-February found him at a medical conference in the Bahamas, where he helped present the Hopkins team’s findings in a paper titled “Oleuropein Protects White Matter After Neonatal Hypoxic Brain Injury and Hypothermia.” How did he find his way to neuroscience?

“I had a lot of different interests in middle school,” said Hardart, whose family worships at St. Mary and St. John Neumann in Annapolis.

His college decision – Massachusetts Institute of Technology over Yale – was delayed, along with his running career. In 2019 he set school records with times of 4 minutes, 18.08 seconds and 1:55.75 in the 1,600 and 800 meters, respectively.

“We’ve got a pretty strong running community online,” Hardart said. “After New Balance (the indoor prep nationals) was canceled, people lost a week gathering themselves. Then the runner’s mentality kicked in and we said, ‘let’s start training for cross country.’ ”

Diamond Jones

Cristo Rey Jesuit, Baltimore

With the pandemic suspending the corporate internship program at Cristo Rey Jesuit, Jones’ final day at Hunt Investment Management was March 10. She also had to cancel the fashion show she was planning to highlight CRJ’s “People of Power and Purpose” Club.

Jones has been vice president of the National Honor Society, a peer minister, math tutor and was manager of the school’s Step Team.

“I tried to get my hands into every single thing I could (at Cristo Rey), to my parents’ (Edward and Paulette) dismay,” said Jones, who chatted up classmates after the May 30 prom was canceled. “Everyone was a little devastated about that. We’re talking. Should we do something over the summer?”

She hopes to enroll at Loyola University Maryland, one of the seven colleges that have sent acceptances, and go into education. Jones’ track record as a middle-school tutor has her more in demand than ever.

“We do FaceTime, and they always have my phone number,” Jones said. “The kids who got study packets aren’t afraid to call me.”

Chandler Pagnotta

St. Maria Goretti, Hagerstown

It wasn’t the coronavirus that put Pagnotta’s auto racing on hold. A March 14 wreck at Lincoln Speedway in Abbotstown, Pa. – in which the rear of his Legends Series car (5/8-scale replicas of bodies from the 1930s and ’40s) was clipped, sent it airborne and left him with a concussion – was to blame.

“It stinks,” Pagnotta said. “But once we get through this (the pandemic), I’ll be back out there.”

Pagnotta, who raced go-karts around the yard at age 8, caught the bug from his father, Fran, a senior engineer for Volvo. He will study mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. Ironically, Pagnotta took the bus to St. Maria Goretti from his home in Chambersburg, Pa., where he attended Corpus Christi Catholic School and remains active in its Vacation Bible School.

At Goretti, he’s a member of the National Honor Society and Habitat for Humanity.

“We’ll get back out there sometime soon,” he said.

Katie Yurechko

John Carroll, Bel Air

Yurechko has eclectic interests, as she is considering majoring in chemistry or philosophy at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., while minoring in poverty studies.

“That’s always relevant, but now more than ever,” Yurechko said.

The captain of John Carroll’s Speech and Debate team can make her case on an array of subjects. That pursuit gained Yurechko berths in spring competitions in Kentucky and New Mexico, the first of which was held online.

Her empathy is grounded in her home and at St. Joan of Arc in Aberdeen. She began her education at its parish school, and continues to serve its Good Samaritan Food Pantry.

At John Carroll, Yurechko founded the “Friends Are Family” Club, which promotes mental health awareness. Her senior capstone project promoted mental health. The pandemic, she said, “is going to draw more attention to coping skills that we hadn’t thought of before.”

Her own include playing the piano, writing award-winning poetry and weightlifting, a pursuit that has seen the petite Yurechko squat 135 pounds.

The 2019-20 Distinctive Scholars

Archbishop Curley High School, Baltimore: Scott Giampa, Hunter Luers, Yazan Sawalhi

Archbishop Spalding High School, Severn: Kyra Farley, Henry Hardart, Brandon Shin

Bishop Walsh School, Cumberland: Cara Bako, Olivia Cooper, Patrick Strite

Calvert Hall College High School, Towson: Cole Johnson, Owen Koster, Casimir Pozecki

The Catholic High School of Baltimore: Julie Asbury, Natalie Field, Olivia Russell

Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Baltimore: Estefania Garcia Torres, Diamond Jones, Jaida Wilson

St. Frances Academy, Baltimore: Rajah Golden, Mya McPherson, Kehmanei Todman

Institute of Notre Dame, Baltimore: Tatiana Christopher, Mickella Harris, Molly Kihn The John Carroll School, Bel Air: Alexis Loder, Helen Lortie, Kathryn Yurechko

St. John’s Catholic Prep, Buckeystown: Katherine Goundry, Bridget Scherer, Chase Shapiro

Loyola Blakefield, Towson: Christopher Doyle, Bryan Rose, Emmanuel Spanos

St. Maria Goretti High School, Hagerstown: Lauren Lindsey, Bridget Nooney, Chandler Pagnotta

St. Mary’s High School, Annapolis: Luke Bonfiglio, Eden Fales, Mia Haschert

Maryvale Preparatory School, Lutherville: Karenna Aparece, Lyssa Kagel, Abigail Miller

Mercy High School, Baltimore: Olivia Goodwin, Elena Schutz, Heather Shanty

Mount de Sales Academy, Catonsville: Julie Claycomb, Julianna Mannarelli, Grace Wallace

Mount St. Joseph High School, Baltimore: James DeMaria, Robin Paranilam, Christian Woo

Notre Dame Preparatory School, Towson: Catherine Kinkopf, Julia Marine, Margaret Sullivan

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Essex: Kami Ciccanti, Taylor Mazan, Rachel Potter