Catholic Schools Week Supplement

Historic school receives support from many generations

Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein receives offertory gifts on Sept. 7, 2008, at St. Paul Church in New Alsace from Ryley Stonebreaker, a sixth-grader at the parish school, and (not seen) Gabby Meyer, a fifth-grader at the school, during a Mass that celebrated the 175th anniversary of the founding of St. Paul Parish. Assisting Archbishop Buechlein are altar servers Matthew Horner, left, and Andy Galle, both former St. Paul School students. This year, St. Paul School is starting its 175th consecutive year in operation. (File photo by Sean Gallagher)

By Sean Gallagher

Catholic schools have been a part of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis since it was founded 175 years ago as the Diocese of Vincennes.

The members of St. Paul Parish in New Alsace know that for a fact. Their parish school was founded the same year—1834—and has never been closed. It is the oldest continually operating school in the archdiocese.

For many members of the southeastern Indiana parish, it is more than just a historical fact. Many of the families who call St. Paul their spiritual home have been living in the rolling hills around New Alsace for several generations.

Marcella McCann, 71, went to the school during the 1940s. Her mother studied there when she was a child. Each of McCann’s eight children was educated at St. Paul School and, thus far, 18 of her 22 grandchildren have been students there. Six grandchildren are currently enrolled.

But with only 64 students currently attending the pre-school through grade 6 school, it can be hard to keep it open.

McCann, though, is up to the challenge. She thinks her parish, as a whole, is, too.

“We all strive to keep the school alive. That’s for sure,” she said. “We participate in probably everything we can do to bring money in to help keep the school going. It means a lot to me.”

It means so much that she does far more than simply help raise money for the school. She has also volunteered to clean its bathrooms on weekends, and to sew costumes for plays that the students perform. Her husband has volunteered to work on the school’s plumbing system.

St. Paul School principal Michael Monnig knows how important the volunteers are that come from throughout the parish, not just from parents who have children in the school.

“It’s definitely a necessity in order to keep things functioning, and to keep up with the demands of the modern world in regard to technology and modern facilities,” he said.

One of McCann’s daughters, Leah Schmidl, has inherited her mother’s dedication to the school. She taught there for six years during the mid-1990s, and has seen two of her children complete their elementary education there. Two more are currently students.

Schmidl sees the parish’s longstanding commitment to its school based in its faith.

“Religion is not just a tradition on the side where you go to church on Sundays,” she said. “For us, it’s life. We breathe our faith. We live our faith. We want to feed our children the faith.”

Father Brian Esarey, pastor of St. Paul Parish, appreciates how the laity of the parish is so committed to the school.

“They are very hopeful and trust-filled, faithful people,” he said. “The faith and the hope and the trust gives them that stimulus to continue to work and to give and to contribute [to the school].”

The hope of the St. Paul parishioners has allowed Monnig to look to the future of the 175-year-old school that he leads.

“I hope to continue building our enrollment from the bottom up,” Monnig said. “We were recently approved to go ahead and add seventh and eighth grades. I think that is a big draw for the younger parents to know that their kids can attend here K [kindergarten] through eighth [grade].

“The past is important, but we really need to give these kids a strong future. So you have to think about the future.”

(To learn more about St. Paul School in New Alsace, log on to www.stpauledu.com.) †