Century of Catholicism

Before the founding of St. Mary High School, the Catholic youth of the Cape Girardeau area studied at the historic college of St. Vincent for boys, and the Loretto Academy for girls. St. Vincent’s College was administered by the Vincentian Fathers, and the Loretto Academy by the Sisters of Loretto. 

The school was founded in 1925 by the Very Reverend Eberhardt Pruente, V.F., and ran by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. The S.S.N.D.’s ran the school until 1999, when the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn took over school operations for the next 20 years. Notre Dame Regional High School would not be where it is today without the dedicated School Sisters of Notre Dame and the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn.

For a century, St. Mary High School, Cape Catholic High School and Notre Dame Regional High School have stood as a pillar of faith, tradition and spiritual formation for students. Rooted in the teaching mission of Jesus Christ and the values of the Catholic Church, the school’s mission has been to develop the mind, body and spirit. Daily prayer, liturgical celebrations and retreats have shaped generations of students, instilling a sense of purpose, faith in action, and spiritual growth.

Michael Braun (‘32) and Mary Braun (‘34) were siblings that attended St. Mary High School, and some of the first graduates to enter religious life. Michael entered the Order of Oblate Fathers. He later left for duty in the Philippines, ultimately giving his life for God and country. On May 19, 1936, Mary was invested as a member of the Franciscan Order.

The class of 1937 wore their cap and gowns in a May Crowning procession during their senior year. This starts a tradition of May Crowning that still stands today.

In April 1939, the junior class formed a Catholic Youth Organization for St. Mary High School.

In March of 1941, the senior class took on the task of completing a religious census for Cape Girardeau, covering 24 blocks from Boulevard to Independence. The data gathered was given to Rev. Schuermann who delivered it to the Chamber of Commerce.

On October 15, 1941, students attended a Catholic Youth Conference rally in Louis.

In 1941, a larger bus was acquired that traveled a circuit of 105 miles a day, carrying 58 students. The goal was to make St. Mary High School a headquarters for higher Catholic education in the district. A transportation plan was expected to increase enrollment to 150 students. Also in 1941, a cafeteria was opened with parish women preparing food. 

During the 1943-1944 school year, the Young Ladies Sodality replaced the Catholic Youth Organization, and the Legion of Mary was also organized.

On October 6, 1944, St. Mary High School students participated in a Living Rosary outside on the high school campus, becoming a beautiful annual religious event. On November 22 of that year, sacred photos representing both the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus were added to each classroom to remind students they are under their care.

In March of 1945, the young men of the men’s Sodality opened a Club Room (or recreation hall), just south of St. Mary Grade School, for use by St. Mary High School students. It featured three rooms; one with a ping pong table, another with a pool table, and the third with card tables. It also included a stove, radio, basement and restrooms, and was a comfortable space for Catholic youth who were members of the Sodality to spend the evening in a wholesome environment.

During the 1946-1947 school year, the first spiritual retreat was held.

On December 29, 1946, Rev. Ellis Francis Wulfers offered his first solemn Mass on December 29, 1946, at St. Mary Church in Cape Girardeau. He was the first graduate of St. Mary High School to be ordained to the priesthood.

Forty-three students graduated from St. Mary High School in the class of 1950, with nine students then entering religious life. Mary Genevieve Keusenkothen became a School Sister of Notre Dame, and Rev. James Seyer was ordained.

Students formed a Living Rosary on October 13, 1950, marking the end of eight days of prayer for world peace. The ceremony was held on the school grounds.

In October 1953, St. Mary announced that a unit of the Catholic Students Mission Crusade will be opening at St. Mary with every student to be enrolled. Its purpose was to pray for and study the missions, and to make sacrifices for them.

The Stations of the Cross were erected in the student chapel in November of 1954 at the Ritter Drive building, featuring the work of artist Milton Frenzel.

St. Mary students observed Madonna Week in April of 1954, with special activities to honor the Blessed Mother during the Marian Year.

A Nativity Set was first erected in its place of honor on the porch over the gymnasium entrance for Christmas in December of 1955.

A convent to house 10 sisters and Cape Catholic High School faculty opened in January of 1956 on the Cape Catholic High School campus. For the past 30 years, they had been living, along with the sisters teaching at St. Mary Grade School, in the old St. Mary High School building.

In 1956, the southern Missouri portions of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and Kansas City were joined to form the new Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. Cape Catholic High School becomes one of three Catholic high schools in the diocese.

In 1958, several former students heeded the call to religious life. Edward Eftink (‘57) entered Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis; Martha Wulfers (‘54) joined the School Sisters of Notre Dame at Ripa in St. Louis; Bill Kuehn (‘55) was professed in the Jesuit Order; Ruth Ann Schonhoff (‘56) and Vicki McMullen (‘56) both took vows as School Sisters of Notre Dame; Mary Jo Yuracko (‘55) and Judy Popp (‘57) became novices in the Loretto Order; Pat Wissman, who attended St. Mary High School for two years, was received as a Benedictine novice; Bob Landewee (‘51) and Franklin Schmittzehe, who attended St. Mary High School for two years, were ordained deacons at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis.

On April 24, 1960, twenty-four seniors traveled to Washington, D.C. and New York City as part of the Catholic High School Education Tour to the East to see the sights, making the trip via the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads.

On March 27, 1966, the Most Rev. Ignatius J. Strecker, bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, celebrated a Jubilee Mass at Notre Dame.

On December 9, 1973, Notre Dame hosted a Mass and reception to welcome the newly ordained bishop of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Bernard Law.

Thirty Notre Dame girls participated in the National Pro-Life Convention in St. Louis in December of 1975.

A Mass on November 27, 1976, was celebrated at the school with the theme “Mary Our Mother.” Among those celebrating the Mass were Archbishop Jean Jadot of Washington, D.C., apostolic delegate and Pope Paul VI’s representative to the United States, concelebrating with Bishop Bernard Law and others. Following the Mass was a banquet and dance at the Holiday Inn Racquet Club.

The seniors constructed a life-size cross made of weathered cypress wood with Jesus’ body formed from wire in February of 1979. The cross, which symbolized hope, also features broken mirror pieces and was hung in the senior religion classroom upon completion.

The Christian Service Program was initiated in 1981 for juniors and seniors who volunteer at St. Vincent de Paul School, Parkview State School and the Lutheran Home, among others.

The Liturgy Worship Council was formed in 1982, giving students more opportunity to get involved in the celebration of the Eucharist.

As a graduation requirement in 1983, students were required to participate in either a family retreat, school-sponsored retreat, or Teens Encounter Christ (TEC) weekend.

On January 22, 1984, a group of Notre Dame girls boarded a bus to attend the 11th annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.

On April 3, 1984, Bishop Law celebrated his last Mass at Notre Dame to mark the end of Catholic Schools Week after being appointed Archbishop of Boston.

Missouri Governor Christopher Bond issued a proclamation in September of 1984, declaring the 1984-1985 school year as “The Year of the Catholic School.” Students from Notre Dame, along with St. Vincent and St. Mary grade schools, participated in a kickoff ceremony that featured a balloon launch in the Notre Dame parking lot.

Seniors in Religion IV were paired together as couples in an exercise to expand their knowledge of married life in the spring of 1986.

“Share the Spirit” is the theme of a 1988 Catholic Schools Week Mass, sponsored by Notre Dame and celebrated by Bishop John Leibrecht at the Arena Building in Cape Girardeau. More than 2,500 students from 14 area schools participated. This was the first time in the history of southeast Missouri that a Regional Catholic Schools Week Mass was held in the Arena Building.

On March 5, 1993, Notre Dame participated in its first-ever all-school retreat on Ash Wednesday.

A group of students departed from Notre Dame on August 10, 1993, to participate in World Youth Day in Denver, Colorado. Students participated in Mass at Mile High Stadium where they were among 90,000 people receiving a papal welcome from Pope John Paul II. They also attended Mass celebrated by the Pope.

Three Notre Dame students journeyed to the Philippines January 10-15, 1995, to participate in World Youth Day, which included attendance at a Papal Mass.

The Christian Service program began at Notre Dame in 1993 as an extracurricular volunteer activity with a junior varsity letter available for 80 hours of service, and a varsity letter for 120 hours.

Juniors and seniors participated in a retreat at Deerfield Lodge on February 24, 1995, with a freshmen/sophomore retreat held at Notre Dame.

On January 26, 1999, a group of Notre Dame students traveled to St. Louis. They were among 20,000 high school and college students at the Kiel Center participating in the Light of the World Papal Youth Gathering with Pope John Paul II.

Notre Dame hosted an honor ceremony and reception on October 10, 1999, marking the close of a 72-year legacy of School Sisters of Notre Dame teaching at the school. A plaque dedicated to the sisters was placed in the hallway, and a prayer service was held. The Mary Grotto at the end of the central hall inside the building was dedicated to the sisters, and the School Sisters of Notre Dame Legacy Scholarship was endowed in their honor.

In the fall of 1999, Brother David Migliorino initiated the blessing of team uniforms as a new Notre Dame tradition at the start of each sport season.

A stained-glass window was donated by Edgewater Glass and Bishop John Leibrecht in 2000 for the chapel.

Notre Dame students participated in a day of service as a part of Holy Week and in observance of the Church’s Jubilee year in April of 2000.

In the summer of 2001, Our Lady’s Grotto and the Brick Honor Garden outside the media center were installed. In addition to a beautiful statue of Our Lady, the landscaped area featured a fountain, meditation pool and an Honor Garden paved with commemorative bricks.

Notre Dame students participated, for the first time, in the Franciscan Mid-Winter Alternative in New York City in 2001. The trip, sponsored by the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn, gave students the opportunity to serve the less fortunate.

Forty-five Notre Dame students embarked on the first-ever summer mission trip to Chicago on June 6, 2002. The summer mission trip later became an annual service opportunity.

A group of seniors participated in the Kairos retreat at King’s House Retreat Center in Belleville, Illinois, in the fall of 2002. A second group of seniors made the retreat in spring 2003.

Notre Dame Chaplain Rev. Patrick Nwokoye started a new tradition with each class having their own class Mass on Thursdays during the 2004-2005 school year.

For the first time, the Acton Institute (later under the auspices of the Cardinal Newman Society) named Notre Dame to its Catholic High School Honor Roll as one of the nation’s Top 50 Catholic high schools in 2005. Notre Dame continued to annually earn this distinction through 2023 when the ranking program was dissolved.

Notre Dame celebrated 85 years of Catholic secondary education during Catholic Schools Week in 2010, with an all-class reunion and Mass at The Venue in Cape Girardeau.

Bishop Johnston celebrated a Mass at Notre Dame on November 4, 2010, with 1,500 participants, including students from Notre Dame and area Catholic elementary schools.

Catholic Schools Week 2011 kicked off with a Benefit Concert raising $5,400 for Whole Kids Outreach. Other events during the week included ice cream on Student Appreciation Day, presentation of the Marian Charities Scholarships, Career Day, a Dance-off competition and Grandparents’ Day.

Service and Retreat Days in 2012 offered students opportunities to sew “ugly quilts” at St. Vincent de Paul, assist at the Southeast Missouri Food Bank, mow lawn at Guardian Angel Grade School in Oran, clean the playground at St. Augustine School, clean equipment at various daycares, pull weeds at St. Dennis Church and visit residents at a local nursing home.

Students involved in the Franciscan Leadership class packed food at the Feed My Starving Children Event at the Osage Centre in Cape Girardeau in 2016.

More than 40 people participated in the Franciscan Volunteer Program at Notre Dame in February of 2019, working on a variety of service projects. Participants included nine students and chaperones from St. Francis Prep, 11 students and chaperones from St. Anthony’s High School and 12 students and a chaperone from Notre Dame High School.

During the 2018-2019 school year, 90 Notre Dame alumni wrote letters to new freshmen to welcome them to the school as part of the Letters from Clare program. The program was modeled on the hand-written communication between St. Clare and St. Agnes in which they shared insights about their spiritual life.

Ten Notre Dame students participated in the annual Franciscan Service Week February 16-21, 2020, in New York City, joining students from other Franciscan high schools in a week of service, prayer and community, while helping meet the needs of the underserved.

Bishop Rice celebrated a virtual All-School Mass and invited Notre Dame students to join him at 8:30 a.m. during COVID-19 on March 27, 2020. Later in the day at noon, Pope Francis invited Catholics from all over the world to join spiritually in prayer with him during this emergency for humanity.

The class of 2020 led a virtual Living Rosary in light of the pandemic on May 6, 2020.

Backstage Blue and Thespians collected 1,620 pounds of food during the Trick-or-Treat So Kids Can Eat Food Drive in the fall of 2020. Donations went to the Catholic Social Ministry Food Pantry in memory of Sister Lucille Zerr.

Notre Dame’s chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) was launched in the fall of 2022, and began hosting “Overtime” events consisting of games, food and sharing Jesus after athletic events.

Midweek Motivation was started in 2022 with a prayer experience every Wednesday morning at 7:00 a.m. in the Chapel.

Students participating in the Christian service program during the 2024-2025 school year volunteered in excess of 13,000 hours of service to local communities, parishes and schools.