Excerpted from Archbishop Miller’s homily at the 100th anniversary of St. Patrick’s Elementary in Vancouver on Sept. 8.
It was on this feast of the Birth of Mary on September 8, 1922, that Archbishop Duke dedicated St. Patrick Elementary school, just two days after the first students were enrolled. While we are commemorating the Birth of Jesus’ Mother, which took place more than 2,000 years ago, we are also celebrating another birthday: the centenary of your parish school. And so it is a day of counting the blessings that this Catholic school has brought to thousands of children and their families, to the Church and to society, since the founding of the school.
For a hundred years, families from this parish and beyond have been graced by having a superb Catholic education available for their children. This morning, I join with all you gathered here in thanking our Lord for the good fruit which this school has produced for so many years. For decades now, its teachers and graduates have enormously enriched the Catholic Church in Vancouver and our local community.
Let me express my profound gratitude to all those who, over many years and at great personal cost, tirelessly dedicated themselves to ensuring that every student at the school got an education that addressed their intellectual, physical, psychological, and religious needs. More than just teaching the skills appropriate to their age, which has been done expertly here – they formed children in prayer, the importance of the sacraments and in Christian virtue. Through their personal guidance, the boys and girls were assured that they were loved, understood, and listened to, and so prepared for a fulfilling and happy life.
For a century, St. Patrick’s has been committed to the development of the whole person of every student and has put Jesus Christ at the centre of its life. It has been – and is – a place where students not only learn about their faith but learn to love Jesus himself. Faithfully proclaiming the Good News in all its integrity and beauty, the school has helped generations of students to be joyful followers of Jesus. He is the solid foundation of this school that was laid a century ago.
Boys and girls, I want to give you just a few details of the fascinating history of your school. It has a thrilling story to tell. The founding of the school begins in Paris, France, where Monsignor Louis Forget was born in 1874. After spending time in the French army, he came to Canada and taught school in Alberta. He later entered the seminary and was ordained a priest in 1908.
In 1917, Archbishop Timothy Casey appointed him to the recently established St. Patrick’s parish. The new pastor soon realized that, if the parish was going to flourish, it needed a school. He set to work immediately, and began fund-raising, even going to California to drum up support. And he invited the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto to staff the school, which opened on September 6, 1922, and was officially blessed two days later.
It was a parish school, both elementary and secondary and both continued in the same building until 1938, when the current St. Patrick’s high school was built.
Monsignor Forget was a marvellous inspiration for priestly and religious vocations. It is said that, because of his influence, more than 100 men and women undertook to follow Christ in this way. After 1964, many other pastors continued their support of the school: most recently Father Bill Somerville of happy memory, Father Don Larson, Father Vincent Hawkswell, Father James Hughes, Father Robert Masternak and now Father Yarek.
Particularly noteworthy is the fact that since the 1970s, thanks to the multicultural makeup of the parish, the school has flourished. A testimony to its honoured place in the community is the number of multi-generational families that have made St. Patrick’s their educational home.
