Loretto Academy

Our organization is historically a school, but today it also serves the community as a whole by providing opportunities for partnerships with non-profits. Our student body is active in the community. From Pre-K3 to 12th grade our students take on service projects through out the year. We also often have volunteer opportunities that include volunteering for the various projects that the Sisters of Loretto have going on at various times of the year. Our Advancement office always has opportunity for those whom want to volunteer their time, talent, and treasure. With the Sisters of Loretto 200th Jubilee Year, we will be seeking volunteers to help specifically with our historical exhibit that we will have open to the community.

Founded by the Sisters of Loretto in 1923, Loretto Academy is an independent, Catholic institution committed to: Fostering relationships with God and all of creation, academic excellence, developing the whole person as individuals of conscience, respect for all individuals, styles and cultures, leadership through collaboration. Vision: Developing Leaders through Faith, Justice, Community, Justice, and Respect It was the foundation of a school in San Elizario, Texas, by the Sisters of Loretto that led to the establishment first of St. Joseph Academy and then Loretto Academy in El Paso. It came about through a request from Rev. Peter Bourgade, pastor of the church there. In 1879, Mother Magdalen sent five Sisters to open St. Joseph Academy in San Elizario. Sister Mary Bernard Doyle described her arrival in 1884 in this way. We were met [at Franklin, now El Paso] by two Sisters in a canvasssed-top spring wagon. The driver looked like he had never known soap, water or a comb. Finally, we reached San Elizario after dark the same evening. When daylight dawned upon us, really my impressions were not very encouraging, as it seemed we had reached God's forsaken part of the world. Some of the rooms had mud floors and were swept with a bunch of broom straws tied together . . . the church had no pews, a mud floor, the highways were full of ruts and holes . . . Our boarding and day school began to increase, so I found myself very busy trying to teach music and classes. We were only five Sisters. We had twenty-five boarders which required a great deal of extra work. Light in Yucca Land, p. 93 In 1892, a decision was made to move the Sisters to El Paso. Mother Magdalen Deitz, was convinced through the arguments of a local doctor, Dr. Walter Vilas, that there was a great need for someone to take the place of the Irish Sisters of Mercy who had abandoned their educational efforts in El Paso. The idea captured the imagination of the Sisters and soon five wagons of furniture, followed by a carry-all full of boarders, arrived at the building that was to become St. Joseph Academy, located in the downtown area. It was not long until Father Pinto, a Jesuit priest who was anxious to open a school in his parish, Sacred Heart, asked the Sisters to staff his school. It was the first of many parish schools that the Sisters would eventually minister to in El Paso - St. Mary's, St. Patrick's, St. Joseph's, Guardian Angel, and Assumption. The first bishop of El Paso, Bishop Schuler, was named in 1915. He was a great supporter of the educational movement begun by the Sisters of Loretto and knew there was now inadequate space in the St. Joseph's Academy building. He and Mother Praxedes Carty, the dynamo behind the construction of Loretto Academy, became good friends. She had been Superior General of the Sisters of Loretto before her appointment to El Paso in 1922 as local superior. She was well known as a builder from the very beginning of her career. The first possible site for the new academy was on Arizona Street but it was deemed to be "too far out. No means of transportation! No street car". Mother Praxedes conferred with Joseph Morgan and Gus Trost before deciding on the Trowbridge property. It consisted of 29 lots and two bungalows adjoining the grounds for the school. Mr. Trost was entrusted with drawing up plans for the new building. The school opened its doors to students in September of 1923. St. Joseph Academy became a residence for the Sisters who were teaching in the parochial schools in the city and continued as a day school until 1954. In spite of the great financial hardships of the time, the building process moved forward allowing for the laying of the cornerstone of the chapel in March of 1924, which was named in honor of St. Joseph in fulfillment of a promise made when St. Joseph Academy in San Elizario closed. It took fourteen years to complete the three main units of Loretto Academy. The arrangement of its buildings, by design, face Mexico and reach out in a welcoming gesture. Mother Praxedes was tireless in her efforts to obtain monies for the effort. She traveled to St. Louis against doctor's orders to secure a loan of $80,000 for the completion of the project. While there, she slipped and broke her hip, an injury from which she never really fully recovered. She returned to El Paso and directed the building from her bed until she died in 1933. Bishop Schuler, her long-time friend, celebrated her funeral Mass. Loretto Academy continued to grow in enrollment and to attract young women from Mexico and the surrounding states. Under the leadership of Sister Francetta, other buildings graced the campus - the cafeteria, elementary school, Hilton-Young Hall and the swimming pool. The convent housed nearly one hundred Sisters who staffed the Academy and various parochial schools throughout the city of El Paso. Boarders, from first through twelfth grade, lived on the third floor of the high school building. Many will remember with fondness, Sr. Rose Claire, who patiently taught so many little girls how to take care of their rooms and wash their clothes and her dear friend, Sister Teresa Claire, who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for so many years. The focus of all the Sisters was primarily in the area of education until Pope John XXIII called Vatican Council II in the early 1960's, the fresh air of which began to shape the ministry of the Sisters in new ways. Some of the expanded works included ministry to the gangs in South El Paso, work with Girl's Club, ministry to the very poor, a school which prepared students to enter and be successful in the public school system, ministry to the deaf, a tutoring school, catechetical work, ministry to the elderly, teaching English as a second language, adult education, and pastoral ministry. Most recently, the convent has been converted to a retreat center, opening up another form of ministry. The boarding school closed in 1975 and became a Middle School the following year. The all girls middle school guides young women through this most "trying" years. In this environment young women begin to expand their interests in drama, science, speech and debate and athletics. Though the number of Sisters has declined, there remains a very dedicated faculty who believe in what Loretto stands for and continue its mission.