Our long and winding path
"building faith and academic excellence for sixty years"
| "a long and convoluted history" |
What is now Holy Spirit School has a long and convoluted history dating from 1947 when St. Gerard’s first opened its doors. In 1963, Sts. Peter and Paul School opened, soon followed by Holy Family School in 1966.
Beginning in the mid-1970's, Great Falls was affected by a nationwide trend of declining Catholic school enrollment. Also, a thorough study revealed that Great Falls had far more Catholic churches per capita than any other city in Montana. Responding to these trends and information, Bishop Thomas Murphy strongly recommended that the three schools consolidate in 1985 as a first step in joining all three parishes into one. Though the merger was painful, the consolidated school, Blessed Trinity, thrived.
When the consolidation of the parishes was finally accomplished in 1999, the newly formed parish took the name Holy Spirit Catholic Parish. What could seem more logical than to name the parish school the same as the parish? And so we became Holy Spirit Catholic School.
The many changes we’ve encountered along the way have made us strong and adaptable. Our extended Holy Spirit family is always ready to welcome new faces and include them in our community. Soon we’ll occupy classrooms once more adjacent to the church which, by the way, was dedicated October 21, 2007. We invite you to come see it on 44th Street and 2nd Avenue South, across the street from the old Sts. Peter and Paul Church. Come see us at the school too (currently still at our 2820 Central Avenue location) when you are in town.
This page was last modified on November 02, 2009