By Marlene Quaroni - Florida Catholic
Photographer: MARLENE QUARONI | FC
Our Lady of Lourdes seniors Sofia McGraw,17, Natalia Martinez, 17, and Diana Martinez, 18, join hands to pray the Our Father during Mass.
SOUTH MIAMI | Attending Our Lady of Lourdes Academy is a family tradition for Sophia Barbara, 17.
�My mother, my aunt, and my older sister went to school here,� said the senior, who is planning to attend Catholic University in Washington, D.C., in the fall. �I�m following a tradition in my family. I�ve made friends here that I hope to have for the rest of my life.�
The only all-girls school administered by the Archdiocese of Miami, Lourdes Academy is celebrating its golden anniversary this year. In honor of the event, Archbishop Thomas Wenski celebrated a 50th anniversary Mass at adjacent Epiphany Church on the feast day of the school�s patroness, Our Lady of Lourdes.
Msgr. Jude O�Doherty, Epiphany�s pastor, and Father Ireneusz Ekiert, Lourdes� campus chaplain, concelebrated the Mass.
The school�s principal, Sister Kathryn Donze of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, said that the school is built on the foundation of those who preceded the current 820-member student body, as well as faculty and staff who took part in the Mass.
�OLL had humble beginnings,� she said. �The school was founded in 1963 at the request of Msgr. Bryan Walsh to educate Cuban refugees who were under the care of the Catholic Welfare Bureau. Sixty-nine freshman girls and two teachers inaugurated the school. They were housed in one of two classrooms at neighboring Epiphany School.�
Today, Lourdes Academy is known for its strong academics, competitive athletics, spiritual service and extracurricular achievement. The school owes a lot of its success to the dedication and perseverance of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the pioneers and keepers of the school since its foundation.
�It was a marvelous but difficult experience,� said Sister Marie Clark, 87, the only surviving member of the original group of Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters who staffed the school.
Sister Clark now lives at the Sisters� motherhouse in Monroe, Mich., but plans to fly down for an alumni event later this year. She also is compiling a brief history of the school during the time she was there: 1963 to 1970.
�When we arrived, there was no school,� she said. �The trees were there on the property. Nothing had been done. So we called the mother superior and she said let me call the bishop. The very next day, bulldozers were there knocking down the trees.�
�We watched the property getting cleared, then the architects and contractors come in,� she said, noting that Miami�s first archbishop, Coleman Carroll, was very accommodating.
�Everything that we wanted � carpeting, close-circuit TV � he said, yes, yes, yes. We were very blessed. And now it�s a marvelous school,� Sister Clark said.
One of her students was Josefina Gomez Carbonell, who worked as assistant secretary for aging under the second Bush administration. Other high-profile Lourdes Academy graduates include singer Gloria Estefan and CBS4 Anchor Vanessa Borge.
The uniqueness of being an all-girls school allows girls has its benefits, said Sister Donze.
�Girls are able to become more assertive,� she said. �There�s no competition from boys so the girls don�t have to take a back seat.�
While on campus Feb. 11, Archbishop Wenski blessed the school�s new administrative offices, chapel, computer center and conference room. A gymnasium is under construction on the school�s six-acre South Miami campus.
�A Catholic education is about preparing ourselves for reality, the reality both of this life and the next,� Archbishop Wenski told the students. �Here, your teachers at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy want you to go beyond what you might think is possible. They demand excellence from you and you have to give your very best efforts. Jesus wants us to give the best of ourselves.�
For information about upcoming golden anniversary and alumni events, contact Martica Castellanos at [email protected] or Olga Martinez at [email protected].
�My mother, my aunt, and my older sister went to school here,� said the senior, who is planning to attend Catholic University in Washington, D.C., in the fall. �I�m following a tradition in my family. I�ve made friends here that I hope to have for the rest of my life.�
The only all-girls school administered by the Archdiocese of Miami, Lourdes Academy is celebrating its golden anniversary this year. In honor of the event, Archbishop Thomas Wenski celebrated a 50th anniversary Mass at adjacent Epiphany Church on the feast day of the school�s patroness, Our Lady of Lourdes.
Photographer: MARLENE QUARONI | FC
Lourdes Academy's principal, Sister Kathryn Donze, distributes Communion to freshman students during the Mass.
The school�s principal, Sister Kathryn Donze of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, said that the school is built on the foundation of those who preceded the current 820-member student body, as well as faculty and staff who took part in the Mass.
�OLL had humble beginnings,� she said. �The school was founded in 1963 at the request of Msgr. Bryan Walsh to educate Cuban refugees who were under the care of the Catholic Welfare Bureau. Sixty-nine freshman girls and two teachers inaugurated the school. They were housed in one of two classrooms at neighboring Epiphany School.�
Today, Lourdes Academy is known for its strong academics, competitive athletics, spiritual service and extracurricular achievement. The school owes a lot of its success to the dedication and perseverance of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the pioneers and keepers of the school since its foundation.
�It was a marvelous but difficult experience,� said Sister Marie Clark, 87, the only surviving member of the original group of Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters who staffed the school.
Sister Clark now lives at the Sisters� motherhouse in Monroe, Mich., but plans to fly down for an alumni event later this year. She also is compiling a brief history of the school during the time she was there: 1963 to 1970.
�When we arrived, there was no school,� she said. �The trees were there on the property. Nothing had been done. So we called the mother superior and she said let me call the bishop. The very next day, bulldozers were there knocking down the trees.�
�We watched the property getting cleared, then the architects and contractors come in,� she said, noting that Miami�s first archbishop, Coleman Carroll, was very accommodating.
Photographer: MARLENE QUARONI | FC
A student carries the Lourdes Academy banner into Mass at Epiphany Church Feb. 11.
One of her students was Josefina Gomez Carbonell, who worked as assistant secretary for aging under the second Bush administration. Other high-profile Lourdes Academy graduates include singer Gloria Estefan and CBS4 Anchor Vanessa Borge.
The uniqueness of being an all-girls school allows girls has its benefits, said Sister Donze.
�Girls are able to become more assertive,� she said. �There�s no competition from boys so the girls don�t have to take a back seat.�
While on campus Feb. 11, Archbishop Wenski blessed the school�s new administrative offices, chapel, computer center and conference room. A gymnasium is under construction on the school�s six-acre South Miami campus.
�A Catholic education is about preparing ourselves for reality, the reality both of this life and the next,� Archbishop Wenski told the students. �Here, your teachers at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy want you to go beyond what you might think is possible. They demand excellence from you and you have to give your very best efforts. Jesus wants us to give the best of ourselves.�
For information about upcoming golden anniversary and alumni events, contact Martica Castellanos at [email protected] or Olga Martinez at [email protected].
Photographer: MARLENE QUARONI | FC
Archbishop Thomas Wenski waves to Lourdes Academy students after celebrating Mass and blessing new school facilities.
