Catholic Schools Day was marked in a special way in the Diocese this year, as we celebrated 150 years since the first Catholic school on the Diocese opened on Barbadoes St in 1866.
Mr Edward O’Connor started this first school, and had up to 400 boys and girls before Bishop Viard invited the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions to open the first Catholic Girls school on the same site in 1868. This was on the other side of the first wooden church that was eventually replaced by a larger wooden Pro-Cathedral prior to the construction of the athedral of the Blessed Sacrament.
When the Bishop asked the Marist Brothers to start a school for Catholic boys on Barbadoes St in 1888, Mr O’Connor stepped aside but continued to work for the Church in a number of capacities.
Kimberly Ricafort, a student at Catholic Cathedral College, designed this poster which incorporates all the Catholic Primary and Secondary schools in the Diocese as of 2016. As we celebrate the wonderful network of Catholic schools, we give thanks for the contribution of so many Religious Orders in the foundation of these early schools all over the Diocese, and the work of the lay teachers and principals who continue the Mission of the Church today.
Mr Edward O’Connor started this first school, and had up to 400 boys and girls before Bishop Viard invited the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions to open the first Catholic Girls school on the same site in 1868. This was on the other side of the first wooden church that was eventually replaced by a larger wooden Pro-Cathedral prior to the construction of the athedral of the Blessed Sacrament.
When the Bishop asked the Marist Brothers to start a school for Catholic boys on Barbadoes St in 1888, Mr O’Connor stepped aside but continued to work for the Church in a number of capacities.
Kimberly Ricafort, a student at Catholic Cathedral College, designed this poster which incorporates all the Catholic Primary and Secondary schools in the Diocese as of 2016. As we celebrate the wonderful network of Catholic schools, we give thanks for the contribution of so many Religious Orders in the foundation of these early schools all over the Diocese, and the work of the lay teachers and principals who continue the Mission of the Church today.