On the fourth day of this school year at Bethlehem Academy in Faribault Sept. 2, it was time to unload tomato plants from the back of teacher Casi Story’s Dodge pickup.
It was a bitterly cold night in the dead of winter 1868, and Bethlehem Academy was nearly out of firewood. The fledgling school in Faribault also served as a home to five Sinsinawa Dominican sisters and several boarding students, and on that night, Sister Gertrude Power, the 20-year-old superioress, sent the boarders to bed early. Then the sisters went to the chapel to pray for help.
When Bethlehem Academy senior Joseph Seidel’s plans to take a probability and statistics course through Northwestern University in St. Paul fell through last year, he took an independent study on saints’ writings instead.
Highland Park Catholic School kindergarten teacher Molly Stucker found a student’s comment surprising but telling as she drew blinds on the east facing windows of her classroom.
“We have not needed a written policy, but our approach is that all our students and coaches will come out and stand for the national anthem,” said Mike Streitz, the St. Agnes athletic director.
The courage and sacrifice of the first Sinsinawa Dominicans to serve in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis began a remarkable legacy of ministry that continues to this day.
The oldest Catholic school in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is gearing up for its 150th anniversary, remembering its humble start as a Dominican school and celebrating academic successes as well as students and faculty guided by their rich tradition of putting others first.
Three schools responded to The Catholic Spirit’s query of schools celebrating milestone years in 2015: Immaculate Conception in Columbia Heights, Bethlehem Academy in Faribault and Holy Cross Catholic School in Webster.
The archdiocesan Office for Marriage, Family and Life is organizing a trip to Washington, D.C., for high school students to participate in the annual March for Life. The trip, which runs from Jan. 21 to 25, will include the march, a day at the Students for Life Conference and a day visiting historical sites.
