Beginnings of the School
In September 1898, Loretto Academy opened a school for young ladies and for girls in elementary grades. A parish school for boys, taught by the Sisters of Loretto opened in the old church. Enrollment, 25 pupils. In the autumn of 1901 a new school room was erected at the rear of the former church. By 1904 the enrollment was 40 pupils with two rooms operating. In 1907 there were eight grades and the enrollment had climbed to 66 pupils. In 1909 the sisters of Loretto withdrew and the Dominican Sisters of Sparkhill, NY took over and brought the school from its humble beginnings to its present position.

A group of very dedicated volunteers from the parish have been working on this revision for some months , and we are now proud to present it to the public. Whether you are just browsing the site as a visitor or you are a member of the HR family, we are happy to greet you. We have tried to make the site not only more attractive but much more user friendly. On the site you will find not only times for mass and information about our school, you will be able to register in the parish, connect with our alumni organization, or make an online donation. And that’s just the beginning.

Holy Redeemer History

Beginnings of the Parish
Holy Redeemer was formed in 1886 when 45 families of the Webster Groves area petitioned Archbishop P.R. Kenrick to organize a new parish in their locality. Approval was given and a lot purchased for the proposed church and rectory on the southwest corner of Lockwood and Selma Avenues. Reverend Cornelius O’Leary, a controversial and outspoken social reformer who had been pastor in DeSoto, MO was appointed the first pastor. In 1897 a new stone church, located at the corner of Lockwood and Joy Avenues, was completed and dedicated.

Beginnings of the School
In September 1898, Loretto Academy opened a school for young ladies and for girls in elementary grades. A parish school for boys, taught by the Sisters of Loretto opened in the old church. Enrollment, 25 pupils. In the autumn of 1901 a new school room was erected at the rear of the former church. By 1904 the enrollment was 40 pupils with two rooms operating. In 1907 there were eight grades and the enrollment had climbed to 66 pupils. In 1909 the sisters of Loretto withdrew and the Dominican Sisters of Sparkhill, NY took over and brought the school from its humble beginnings to its present position.

I enjoyed seeing many of you on conference day this past week. I hope the time spent with your child’s teacher was meaningful and productive. I know the teachers spent a great deal of time preparing for the conferences, and we are all grateful for their efforts.

Since my last letter, we had the Wild for Holy Auction. I would like to thank all of the parents who worked so hard in preparing this great night. The evening was so much fun, and I do believe everyone who attended enjoyed themselves immensely.

I would also like to thank Eagle Scout and Holy Redeemer graduate Peter Venker who built a beautiful Flag Box and Lost and Found Box for the school. The Flag Box is located in the office and is designed to store flags that need to be retired. There are already several flags housed in the box. When the box is full, the Boy Scouts will hold a flag ceremony to properly dispose of the flags. The Lost and Found Box is located near the stairwell closest to the office. Peter built the box on wheels and with a lid so it could be used as a display table in the gym if the need should arise. Thank you, Peter, for being so kind and generous.

The children and staff of Holy Redeemer would like to extend our gratitude once again to Mrs. Lisa Mueller for preparing and submitting all of the paperwork for the Missouri Arts Council grant. Once again Holy Redeemer is the recipient of the MAC grant. During the second semester we will have a Shakespearan performance and subsequent workshop for the 4-8th grade students. In addition, all of the children will see live performances of classic tales and hear a historical storyteller as well. We are very grateful for Mrs. Mueller’s hard work because these are extras which we would probably not be able to provide without the benefit of the MAC grant.

Within the last couple of weeks I received a lovely letter from a volunteer at the Sts. Peter and Paul Soup Kitchen. Two eighth grade Moms, Amy Zawalski and Marie Ottenlips, took several students to work at the soup kitchen. These students were 8th graders: Tommy Zawalski, Greta Mueller, Henry Byrne, Connor Doran, Drew Ottenlips, and Katherine Zaber. The letter informed me that these students were extremely hardworking and friendly. In fact, the author of the letter indicated she had never seen a group of students work so diligently. Thank you to all of these students for representing Holy Redeemer so well out in the community. We are very proud of all of you.

This Tuesday, November 13, we will have a special surprise visitor at lunch time. The honor of this special visitor was won by 2nd grader Maggie Borgard in a contest she entered last spring. Our visitor will bring a special treat for all of the students. Be sure to ask your child who came to visit when they get home on Tuesday. I can guarantee that all of the students will be pleasantly surprised by this visitor.

Last year’s eighth graders left a nice sum of money for us to spend as we see fit. I will be ordering five or six new desktop computers to replace some of the older computers at school. We are very grateful to these students and parents for being so generous with the money they had raised. Although these computers will be a nice addition, we still have a need to replace even more computers as we have quite a few older models. If you have a gently used computer at home or work that is going to be replaced in the near future, we would love to have them.

I would like to offer a special thank you to the PTO for funding the pastor/principal lunches with the 8th graders. During the month of November Father Brown and I meet with a group of five 8th graders at a time for a special lunch in the rectory dining room. This is a time for us to ask the 8th graders what are some of the best things about Holy Redeemer and what are some things which they would like to see improved. Since most of these students have been at Holy Redeemer for quite awhile they are the experts on all things Holy. Father Brown and I gratefully appreciate all of the feedback these students are willing to share, and we all appreciate the generosity of the PTO.

Speaking of the PTO- I encourage everyone to support the PTO’s gift card program especially as we near the holiday season. Many of the shops represented in the program will be the stores you will be shopping at anyway so why not let Holy Redeemer benefit from your shopping by purchasing the gift cards from them ahead of time. A big thank you to those who are already supporting this fundraiser.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who has supported the Papa John’s Pizza Night and the McDonald’s McTeacher’s Night. We recently received a $102. check from Papa John’s and a $641. check from McDonald’s. All of these checks add up over time and allow the PTO to be able to do some special things at school.

In closing if at any time this year you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me. I will have an open door policy. I look forward to continuing to serve this school and getting to know all of you.

Prayerfully yours,

Pam Galluzzo

Application for Feb. 2013 Mission trip