Pope Francis Preparatory School is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

co-educational

college-preparatory A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to state school, public, Independent school, private independent or parochial school, parochial schools primaril ...

high school in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

. It was originally opened as Cathedral High School in 1883 by the

Sisters of Saint Joseph The Sisters of St. Joseph, also known as the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, abbreviated CSJ or SSJ, is a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women founded in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, in 1650. This congregation, named for S ...

at the diocese's Saint Michael's Cathedral. In 2011 the school's building was destroyed by a tornado. In 2015, it was announced that Cathedral High School would merge with

Holyoke Catholic High School Holyoke Catholic High School was a private school, private, Roman Catholic high school in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Holyoke, Massachusetts, United States. It was located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts. In 2015, Holyok ...

to form a new regional Catholic school that was completed in 2016 as Pope Francis High School. Pope Francis High School was then later renamed "Pope Francis Preparatory School." The school's current building is on the site of the original Cathedral High School.

History

Cathedral High School

In 1883, the

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

's Bishop

Patrick Thomas O'Reilly Patrick Thomas O'Reilly (December 24, 1833 – May 28, 1892) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts from 1870 to 1892. Biography Early life P ...

sought a teaching staff for a high school in response to the growing number of Catholic immigrants in the area. Responding to the call, two members of the Sisters of St. Joseph from

Flushing, New York Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the i ...

came to Springfield to start up the school. In the years that followed Cathedral High School flourished in facilities on Elliot Street in downtown Springfield. By the 1940s the school had grown to nearly 1600 students. The school had outgrown its facilities, so the Diocese purchased a 30-acre (121,000 m²) farm on Surrey and Wendover Roads in Springfield and built a new school. It opened on September 9, 1959. In the first decade at Surrey Road student enrollment grew to more than 2600 students. In 2002 the school was re-accredited by

New England Association of Schools and Colleges The New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC) is a United States' regional accreditation association providing educational accreditation. NEASC serves over 1500 public, independent schools, and technical/career institution ...

. In an effort to consolidate the Diocese's educational resources in the wake of increasing financial difficulties, Cathedral High School was selected to host the newly establishe
St. Michael's Academy
which hosted students from Grades 6 to 8. From 2008 to 2009, Cathedral was extensively remodeled to accommodate the new facility, which occupied a full wing of the main school facility. On June 1, 2011, Cathedral High School was severely damaged in the tornado that struck Springfield, Massachusetts. The building was declared a total loss. The students had finished the remainder of the 2010–2011 school year at

Elms College The College of Our Lady of the Elms, often called Elms College, is a Private college, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic in Chicopee, Massachusetts. History The Sisters of St. Joseph and the Diocese of Springfield co-founded Elms as a g ...

, located in Chicopee, Massachusetts. The school was based out of Memorial Elementary School in neighboring

Wilbraham, Massachusetts Wilbraham is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb of the City of Springfield, and part of the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,613 at the 2020 census. Part of the town comprises ...

from the 2011–2012 school year until 2016. Demolition of the original Cathedral High School building was completed in 2015.

Pope Francis High School

During the inaugural 2016/2017 school year, the school operated out of the former location of Holyoke Catholic High School in Wilbraham. The new school was constructed on the site of Cathedral's recently demolished building. The school moved into its new building in September 2018.

Campus

The school's Surrey Road campus is in Springfield's East Forest Park Neighborhood on a green and hilly plot of land.

Original Building

The school was divided into four main sections. Most of the classrooms were in a building that, from the air, was shaped like a boxy eight with two courtyards in the open spaces formed by the eight. A small chapel took up part of the first floor in one of the courtyards. The school offices were near the main entrance, and the cafeteria extended towards the few athletic fields. Extending north from the main building was the science wing. Because of the hills the school was built in, the science wing's first and second floors were just above the main building's second and third floors. The auditorium abutted the main building and was the largest high school auditorium in the area. On a lower grade than the rest of the school, were the gymnasium, a parking lot, and playing fields which included a full size football field that doubled as a soccer and lacrosse field. Island Pond, on the eastern edge of the property, featured a rare

floating island A floating island is a mass of floating aquatic plants, mud, and peat ranging in thickness from several centimeters to a few meters. Floating islands are a common natural phenomenon that are found in many parts of the world. They exist less co ...

Students and faculty

As of the 2022/23 school year, 424 students were enrolled with an 11:1 student/teacher ratio.

History

Throughout its history, Cathedral High School had predominantly served the students of the City of Springfield. However, many of its students had come from the suburbs of the city and some as far away as

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Palmer Palmer may refer to: People and fictional characters * Palmer (pilgrim), a medieval European pilgrim to the Holy Land * Palmer (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Palmer (surname), including a list of people and ...

, and

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. Being a

Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

, a majority of its student had been Catholic. However, that had never been a requirement for admission. Before merging, the school has approximately 250 students. 70% of the students were from Springfield itself. The school had 45 faculty members and administrators. Most of the faculty had a master's degree. Many had taught at the school for 20+ years. For many years the faculty consisted of Sisters of St. Joseph and a small number of lay men and women. In later years members of religious communities remained a vital part of the school community, but in significantly smaller numbers. Nearly all the teachers were full-time. Cathedral High School also sponsored teachers who were in the Providence Alliance for Catholic Teachers, or PACT program, part of the University Consortium for Catholic Education. Through this program, young teachers are given the chance to earn a master's degree in education from Providence College, while devoting two years of service to the school where they are assigned. Before merging there was one teacher in the program at Cathedral and two graduates of the program taught at the school. In 2004, the school welcomed its first lay principal. With this, all Cathedral's academic leadership, including vice-principal, guidance director, business manager, librarians, and all department heads were lay people. Cathedral High School was a college-preparatory program, where 96% of the graduates furthered their education. Members of the Class of 2009 attended Boston College, Boston University, Fairfield University; Fordham University, College of the Holy Cross, Northeastern University, Bryant University, Providence College, Rochester Institute of Technology, St. Anselm's, University of Connecticut, University of Massachusetts, University of Rochester, The Elms College, Villanova University,

The Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution ...

, and others.

Academics

Pope Francis Preparatory School offers College Prep,

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

, and Honors classes within the STREAM (

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

Technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

Religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

Arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

and

Math Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

) program. The school also offers virtual courses and dual degree opportunities through nearby

History

Cathedral High School had religion, science,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

fine arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

& business, social studies,

foreign language A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a given country, and that native speakers from that country must usually acquire through conscious learning - be this through language lessons at schoo ...

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

and mathematics departments. Within their respective departments, Cathedral offered classes in

scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual prac ...

world religions World religions is a category used in the study of religion to demarcate the five—and in some cases more—largest and most internationally widespread religious movements. Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are always includ ...

earth science Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

, computer literacy,

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

(painting, drawing, and sculpture),

United States History The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densely ...

World History World history may refer to: * Human history, the history of human beings * History of Earth, the history of planet Earth * World history (field), a field of historical study that takes a global perspective * ''World History'' (album), a 1998 albu ...

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

algebra Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary a ...

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...

calculus Calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithm ...

, and

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...

. Many of these classes and others were available as college prep or honors. Advanced Placements were available in English, Calculus, Statistics, US History, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Latin.

Extracurriculars

Sports

As of the 2015-16 winter season, the school's teams played sports as the Pope Francis High School Cardinals. The Cardinals have 39 sports teams at three competitive levels (varsity, JV and freshman). *

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

Cross Country Running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

Field Hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

*Indoor

Track and Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

*Outdoor

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

History

Over the past 70 years Cathedral teams have won countless Western Massachusetts and state titles, including in football, soccer, cross country, basketball, hockey, indoor track and field, baseball, outdoor track and field and tennis. Before the merger, the school's colors were purple and white. Cathedral's mascot was a Panther, and the squads were often referred to as the Purple Panthers. With the exception of Field Hockey and Football, all sports at Cathedral had both boys' and girls' teams. Football, soccer, basketball, and baseball all had freshman, junior varsity, and varsity teams. The others had JV and varsity teams. In the years prior to the merger, the school was perhaps best known for its Ice Hockey team. The Panthers had the only Division 1 hockey program in Western Massachusetts. Cathedral High School hockey won their first state championship in 1996 when they beat Hingham High School 2–0 in a thrilling Division 2 Championship Game. In 2009, the Cathedral High School ice hockey team won the Division 1 State Championship for the first time since 2003, beating Arlington Catholic, the Division 1 North Champions, for the title.

Clubs

As of 2022, current clubs include

National Honor Society The National Honor Society (NHS) is a nationwide organization for high school students in the United States and outlying territories, which consists of many chapters in high schools. Selection is based on four criteria: scholarship (academic achi ...

, language clubs, choir, Outdoor Adventure club, and

Model UN Model United Nations, also known as Model UN or MUN, is an educational simulation in which students can learn about diplomacy, international relations, and the United Nations. At a MUN conference, students work as the representative of a count ...

Notable alumni

* Scott Barnes - Drafted by the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

in the 43rd round of the 2005 MLB June Amateur Draft and the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

in the 8th round of the 2008 MLB June Amateur Draft. *

Angelo Bertelli Angelo Bortolo Bertelli (June 18, 1921 – June 26, 1999) was an American football player. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1943 playing as a quarterback for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Early life Bertelli was born in West Springfield, Massach ...

- 1943 Heisman Trophy winner at Notre Dame *

Wayne Budd Wayne Budd (born November 18, 1941 in Springfield, Massachusetts) is senior counsel at Goodwin Procter, in the firm's Litigation Department, where he specializes in advising clients on business and commercial litigation matters. Past senior exec ...

- Former Assistant US Attorney General *

Nick Buoniconti Nicholas Anthony Buoniconti (December 15, 1940 – July 30, 2019) was an American professional football player who was a middle linebacker in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played for the Boston Patriot ...

- NFL Hall of Fame Linebacker *

Chris Capuano Christopher Frank Capuano (born August 19, 1978) is an American former professional baseball pitcher whose professional playing career spanned from 2000 through 2016. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Milwau ...

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher *

Bill Danoff William Thomas Danoff (born May 7, 1946) is an American songwriter and singer. He is known for “ Afternoon Delight", which he wrote and performed as a member of the Starland Vocal Band, and for writing multiple hits for John Denver, includin ...

- Singer & Songwriter, Member of Starland Vocal Band, Wrote John Denver's "Country Roads" *

Vinny Del Negro Vincent Joseph Del Negro (born August 9, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player. He was the head coach of the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls from 2008 to 2010, and the Los Angeles Clippers from 2010 to 2013. ...

- NBA Point Guard from 1988 to 2001 and former Head Coach of the Los Angeles Clippers * Paul Fenton - Former NHL player and current Assistant General Manager of the Nashville Predators * Mike Flynn -

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

offensive linemen * Nick Gorneault - Former

player (

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

) *

Derek Kellogg Derek William Kellogg (born June 20, 1973) is an American college basketball coach who currently serves as an assistant coach for UMass. Kellogg previously served as head coach of the Minutemen, his alma mater, being named to the position on Apri ...

- University of Massachusetts Men's Basketball Head Coach * John Leonard - Professional ice hockey player *

Tim Mayotte Timothy Mayotte (born August 3, 1960) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Professional career A tall serve-and-volleyer, Mayotte learned to play the game on the public courts of Forest Park in his hometown of Springfi ...

- Tennis Professional *

Larry O'Brien Lawrence Francis O'Brien Jr. (July 7, 1917September 28, 1990) was an American politician and basketball commissioner. He was one of the United States Democratic Party's leading electoral strategists for more than two decades. He served as Postm ...

- Advisor to President Kennedy, Postmaster General and NBA commissioner *

Thomas Reilly Thomas Francis Reilly (born February 14, 1942) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 45th Massachusetts Attorney General. He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to Irish immigrant parents. He was one of three candidates who ...

- Former Massachusetts Attorney General *

Joe Scibelli Joseph Albert Scibelli (April 19, 1939 – December 11, 1991) was an American football tackle and guard who played fifteen seasons in the National Football League with the Los Angeles Rams. He joined the Rams at the age of 21 in 1961 and did n ...

- 15-year veteran in the NFL as a guard for the LA Rams *

Tommy Tallarico Tommy Tallarico (born Thomas Andrew Tallarico; February 18, 1968) is an American video game music composer, musician, sound designer, television personality, live show creative director and producer. He and his company, Tommy Tallarico Studios ...

- American video game music composer and musician. *

Peter Welch Peter Francis Welch (born May 2, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician who is a United States senator-elect from Vermont, and the current U.S. representative for since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he has been a major figure in ...

- Democratic Congressman from Vermont *

Bob Kudelski Robert Richard Kudelski (born March 3, 1964) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1986 NHL Supplemental Draft. Playing career The Hill School Blues Kudelski played high school hock ...

- 9-year veteran in the NHL.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cathedral High School Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph Catholic secondary schools in Massachusetts High schools in Springfield, Massachusetts Educational institutions established in 1883 1883 establishments in Massachusetts Educational institutions disestablished in 2016 2016 disestablishments in Massachusetts