'Religious Values, Academic Excellence, Commitment To Service'
As he spoke Jan. 5 to the Reitz Memorial High School student body – more than 700 strong – Bishop Charles C. Thompson condensed the school’s mission statement into those concise phrases.
“But I also read in that mission statement that all that is happening through a Christ-centered environment,” he added. “It says that in your mission statement: Christ-centered environment. It is that Christ-centeredness that allows us to gather here today to celebrate.”
Bishop Thompson celebrated Mass in Memorial’s auditorium on the 90th anniversary of the school’s opening – Jan. 5, 1925. Concelebrants included Father Alex Zenthoefer, Memorial chaplain and pastor of Annunciation of the Lord Parish in Evansville; Father Tom Kessler, former Memorial chaplain from 1981 to 1991 who is pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Newburgh; and retired diocesan priest Father Joe Ziliak – the first editor of The Message. He attended St. Meinrad Seminary for high school, but four of his brothers attended Memorial – and he is an honorary member of the class of 1954.
“The treasure of the school is you,” Bishop Thompson said. “You’re the reason it exists. You didn’t come along for the school; the school was created for you, those who came before you and those who will come after you.
“This school exists to develop you as citizens of both Heaven and Earth.”
Memorial President Brother Lawrence Murphy opened the celebration before Mass began with some history, noting that, in 1922, Francis Joseph Reitz committed $1 million to buy 13 acres of land and build what is now Memorial High School. “He demanded that the location be accessible for streetcars so students could come to school,” he noted, “and that it be near light, gas and water lines.”
Memorial opened in 1925 with 18 classrooms, a stage, library, cafeteria, candy store, parlor and a large recreation area, Brother Murphy noted. Physical expansions in 1969, around 2000 (work actually began in 1998, he said) and over the past few years have produced the Memorial High School of 2015.
“We have a lot to be grateful for,” Brother Murphy said. “Today we come to celebrate the 10,000 alumni and to be thankful for all the people who have made the school what it is today – students, parents, faculty and community. Let us pray in celebration and thanksgiving for the great gifts that we have been given as we look to the future of Memorial High School.”
He then invited nine students to come forward with yearbooks from each decade of Memorial’s existence, which were placed at the altar near a photo of the original school.
Principals of Evansville feeder schools also attended the Mass, as did several alumni.
