By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — An all-school alumni reunion for graduates and former students of Sacred Heart Cathedral School will be June 24 — the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
Pictured is the former Sacred Heart Cathedral School, now the parish center.
Jim Tiedje of the Sacred Heart Cathedral (SHC) alumni committee said all are welcome to walk through the former school before it is taken down this summer or fall to make way for a new parking lot for the diocesan center. The open house begins at 3 p.m. Mass will follow at 4 p.m. During Mass, the school will be closed. A picnic will be held afterwards on the parish grounds until 7 p.m. All food and drink will be provided. Also, the time capsule that was inside the cornerstone will be opened at this event.
“Don’t expect to see the shiny floors,” he said. With construction of the diocesan center ongoing and the school being used for construction material and offices, it’s not as clean as students will remember.
But the classrooms, gym and auditorium are still visible. Cathedral parishioners will be on hand to help people through the school. “This will be your last chance to visit the school,” Tiedje said.
The first class graduated from Sacred Heart School in 1908. The existing building opened in 1914 and was dedicated by Bishop James Davis on Jan. 17, 1915. After nearly 90 years, Sacred Heart School was merged with Holy Family School to form All Saints Catholic School in 2004. St. Alphonsus School joined the following year.
Tiedje said an invitation will be sent — just once — to 900-plus Assumption High School graduates who attended Sacred Heart School. All alumni and their families can visit the reunion website at http://shcdavenport.org/
sacred-heart-alumni. The site includes a link to fill out an alumni form and to make reservations for the reunion. For those without internet access, contact the cathedral staff at (563) 324-3257 for information or reservations.
The event is free, but reservations are needed so that enough food will be provided. Alumni are encouraged to contact planners with memorabilia to donate for a display that day. Items will be returned. Also in the works is a book featuring the history and photographs of the school. “We have every graduating class photo from 1908 to its closing,” he said. Not all photos will be published in the book “or it would be real big.”
Even though the Sacred Heart Cathedral School building will be coming down, Tiedje is proud that the tradition of Catholic education continues at All Saints Catholic School. “It is a melting pot of the Quad Cities. It’s a wonderfully diverse place to learn,” he said.
If you would like to participate in the planning reunion or have any questions, contact Mary Schepker Kellenberger ’58 at Mkelliowa@gmail.com or (563) 340-0164, or Tiedje at jtiedje48@gmail.com or (563) 343-6058.
