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Students at Sacred Heart Catholic School saw a sight Wednesday most haven’t seen before — nuns in their classrooms.
Ten of the 87 nuns who have taught at Sacred Heart through the years returned to campus, where the school honored them for their service.
Today, all the teachers at Sacred Heart — the oldest school in Rowan County among those now operating — are lay people hired as teachers.
Sister Mary John Madden and Sister Josephine Maria Thomas were the last nuns to serve the school, both leaving in 1997. Sister Mary John served as the school’s principal, and Sister Josephine was a teacher.
Besides Sister Mary John and Sister Josephine, the other nuns attending Wednesday’s ceremony were Sister Mary Rosalind Picot, Sister Mary Gerard Donovan, Sister Mary Eugenia Hartman, Sister Maureen Dees, Sister Teresa Susana Dandison, Sister Ann Marie Wilson, Sister Jill Katherine Weber and Sister Mary Robert Williams.
Sister Mary John made the decision to become a nun 70 years ago. “It was different,” she said Wednesday. “Children were much more docile and in tune with education.”
Retiring first-grade teacher Rachel Dunn has been at Sacred Heart for 22 years. An Episcopalian, she transferred to Sacred Heart from a public school when her two sons were students and at a time when women robed in black and white cloth were still in the classrooms.
“We’ve missed their presence, but we’ve continued to grow and meet the needs of the students,” she said. “... Our school is built on a strong foundation. Our roots are deep.”
Wednesday, the nuns who have served at Sacred Heart were honored with a bronze plaque that will be placed in the school.
“The Sisters of Mercy provided a meaningful Catholic school education to generations of students in the Sacred Heart community,” it reads. “... They proclaimed God’s truth and message to so many and gave of themselves exhaustively in the pursuit of furnishing a quality religious education.”
Sister Rosalind Picot, president of the Sisters of Mercy of North Carolina in Belmont, the order of nuns that serve North Carolina, attended Wednesday’s ceremony. She said fewer Catholic women today are willing to commit their lives to their faith, and those that do tend to make the decision later in life.
“It’s an issue that we’re not getting new members. We know this,” she said.
Opened in 1882 with Rowan County’s first and only Catholic Church,Sacred Heart is one of 10 private, parochial schools in Rowan County.
Thirteen local Catholics began the parish in a county largely settled by Protestants of German descent who traveled here from Pennsylvania. Records indicate that Richard Roueche, who came here from France in 1838, was Rowan County’s first Catholic resident.
The Sisters of Mercy came in 1910 to run the school. A new church building was built in 1940, and a new school, designed by Anne and Doug Tennent, was erected in 1965.
Sacred Heart now has about 255 students enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grade. Seventy percent are Catholic — up from about 50 percent many years ago.
Most Catholic schools throughout the country today have no nuns as teachers. The Vatican has encouraged Catholic schools and churches to rely more upon the services of their congregations, said Sister Jill Webber, principal of Sacred Heart from 1984 to 1988.
But schools such as Sacred Heart still incorporate Christianity into the classrooms.
“I think women weren’t always the first to get education. As time went on and they became educated, the Vatican encouraged involvement from the laity,” Nancy Webber said. “Times are different. A lot of times people don’t see what committing your life as a sister and doing works of mercy is like.”
Contact Brad A. Hodges at 704-797-4266 or bhodges@salisburypost.com
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