History

A Roman Catholic college preparatory high school for boys and girls, Joliet Catholic Academy traces roots back to 1869 as an institution proud of its heritage and tradition.

In 1869, the Joliet Franciscan sisters opened St. Francis Academy as an all-girls school serving the Joliet area. Nearly 50 years later, De La Salle High School for boys was founded by the Christian brothers. In 1933, the Carmelites of the Most Pure Order of the Heart of Mary assumed the leadership of De La Salle and changed the name to Joliet Catholic High School. These three high schools are the cornerstones of what is now JCA.

Mother Alfred Moes, a well-known Franciscan sister for having laid the foundation for the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, founded St. Francis Academy in 1869 in a small stone convent on Broadway and Division streets. In 1882, SFA moved to a new building on Plainfield Avenue, and a new wing at Taylor Street was completed in 1915. Prior to this date, most students were boarders. The curriculum offered six specific courses of study, while English, mathematics, Latin and religion, of course, were the required subjects.

In 1923, a building on Wilcox and Taylor streets – which is now the University of St. Francis’ Tower Hall – opened. Sister Thomasine, OSF served as the first principal. During the 1923-1943 period, SFA ceased to have boarders. The first varsity basketball team was formed, tennis courts were opened, courses were added, and a drama club formed. Sister Borromeo, OSF was principal from 1944-1956, expanding curriculum that received national recognition. Increased enrollment meant plans for a new building.

St. Francis Academy moved to 1200 N. Larkin Avenue, the current site of JCA, in 1956. This allowed for the expansion of academic programs in science, math, language, religion and physical education. Sister Hilary Tures, OSF was named principal. Lay teachers and modern trends in education enriched the school. Modular scheduling, team teaching and four-year sequences in language, science, math and fine arts complemented religion, and advanced senior classes for college credit also were initiated, all occurring by 1966.

Under Sister Jane Marie Meara, OSF, principal from 1968-74, and Sister Martha Connor, OSF, principal from 1978-85, significant changes were made. The emergence of girls athletics, a retirement program for employees and the first co-ed classes being held were notable. SFA’s pom-pon program won four national championships from 1986-1990.

 

Meanwhile, following SFA being chartered, Cardinal Mundelein of Chicago directed the Christian Brothers to renovate the old parish hall of St. Patrick’s Church to open De La Salle. Prior to this time, there was no Catholic high school for boys living in Will County.

Beginning in 1918, 45 boys occupied the two classrooms on “The Hill” overlooking the City of Joliet. In 1922, Cardinal Mundelein attended the first De La Salle graduation. A new building on the hilltop overlooking Bluff Street was built in 1927. DLS won the national basketball championship that same year, but by 1933, the Depression hit.

The Carmelite order assumed ownership of De La Salle and, as a tribute to the people of Joliet, renamed the school as Joliet Catholic. In 1934, JCHS won the National Catholic Basketball Championship. By 1956, under Father Shane Tahney, O. Carm., the school expanded, with a new wing for students and a new priory built for the Carmelites. In 1958, the golf team became the first Catholic high school in Illinois to win a state title.

Father Niles Gillen, O. Carm., was appointed principal of JCHS in 1961. JCHS was one of the first high schools in the country to begin a shared-time industrial vocation program with its public school counterparts at Joliet Central. Father Bob Colaresi, O. Carm., was appointed principal in 1975. The school experienced great growth and notoriety, and under legendary coach Gordie Gillespie, won four state football titles in a row from 1975-78.

 

Joliet Catholic Academy was established as such on July 1, 1990.
The President of the Congregation of the Third Order of St. Francis in Joliet and the Provincial of the Order of the Carmelites of the Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary announced in 1990 the formation of Joliet Catholic Academy, with the new school opening in the summer of 1990 at the corner of Larkin and Ingalls avenues. JCA was born to carry Catholic, Christian, social and educational principles into the 21st century.

Joliet Catholic Academy’s first academic year began in August 1990, with an enrollment of nearly 1,000 young men and women under the leadership of its first President/CEO Sister Lucille Krippel, O.S.F. and Principal Fr. Bernhard Bauerle, O.Carm. JCA’s first year was an amazingly smooth one, considering the countless details required in establishing a new school. This was especially critical as the year was characterized by a series of emotional “highs” and “lows” including the Plainfield tornado on the one hand, and the winning of JCA’s first state football championship on the other. The strength of the JCA community was tested time and time again, and in every instance, the community displayed an amazing capacity to work together as community, to reach out, to share, and to look beyond the purely external.  

Sister Faith Szambelanczyk, O.S.F. was named President/CEO in 1994, and over the next 17 years JCA was transformed. The campus grew from the completion of a state-of-the-art computer center and additional classrooms to the 25-acre mega-sports Field of Dreams complex and the Student Activity Center. Six more football state championships were won, a second baseball state championship was won, and the first girls state title in school history – with two more to follow – were earned by the volleyball program. Academic and athletic programs would excel side-by-side.

Upon Sister Faith’s retirement, Dr. Jeffrey Budz was named the first lay person as President/Principal of JCA, effective on July 1, 2011, and continues to lead the institution today. Over the past fifteen years, we have seen incredible additions to the campus thanks to the Honoring our Past and Building our Future capital campaigns. Additions including Heritage Quad, the Mary, Our Sister Chapel, and the Warning Innovation Research Center have enhanced the student experience for current Angels and Hilltoppers. The campaigns also included new windows, air conditioning, and upgraded Wifi infrastructure. Like it’s predecessors JCHS and SFA, JCA has continued to lead in the college preparatory landscape, enhancing a cutting-edge curriculum by being officially named a Microsoft Showcase School for the past three years. 

JCA completed a lengthy application process to graduate from the Showcase School Incubator Program and become a full-fledged Microsoft Showcase School. JCA proved that it’s leading the field in various areas, including thought leadership, personalized learning, and technology usage, while providing a culture of learning and growth.

Microsoft states, “Microsoft Showcase Schools are pioneers in education. You are part of an exclusive global community, recognized and celebrated for educational transformation that includes vision and innovation in teaching, learning, and preparing students for the future.”

For over 155 years, Joliet Catholic Academy has continued to “Inspire Growth in Knowledge and Faith” in Joliet, Will County, the United States, and across the globe. 

 

Joliet Franciscans have lived the challenge and dream given to St. Francis of Assisi by Jesus, “Rebuild my Church,” since our founding in Joliet in 1865 by Mother Alfred Moes with help from her spiritual advisor, Father Pamfilo da Magliano, OFM. During the young Congregation’s first 11 growth-filled years, Sisters were sent to 36 different missions in Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Ohio. The Sisters taught children in parish schools and played integral parts in the parish life of the Catholic Church as it grew strong roots in America.

At home in Joliet, these first Illinois Franciscans built a motherhouse, took in orphans and boarding students, staffed parish schools, and welcomed new members into their novitiate. They used precious resources to establish a variety of ministries and built a number of Catholic institutions that continue to serve the people of Joliet including the University of Saint Francis and Joliet Catholic Academy (the former Saint Francis Academy).

From the earliest days, our Sisters served various ethnic groups who were adjusting to American life. Sisters learned to speak whatever language was required in order to teach the children in their care. They studied and mastered every academic area in order to provide a well-rounded education through their schools. The Congregation soon moved beyond the Midwest, accepting invitations to minister wherever the needs were great: Alabama in the South, Colorado and Arizona in the West, Indian reservations in the North, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC in the East.

In 1963, Joliet Franciscans listened to a call that led us to Brazil, where we soon established several missions and a novitiate, welcoming Brazilian women to join our life and work. Our Brazilian community continues to flourish.

While traditionally trained as teachers, we eventually broadened the scope of our ministries to serve as nurses and holistic health practitioners, social workers and jail ministers, and an ever-expanding variety of other service professions.

We invite other dreamers, builders, initiators, encourages, believers and animators to be part of our unfolding history and our challenging future as Joliet Franciscan Sisters, Associates and Volunteers.

To learn more about the Joliet Franciscans visit www.jolietfranciscans.org.

 

Living in God’s Presence

What we call “Carmel” is really a way of life in which we try to be aware of the Presence of God in the most ordinary, everyday things. We’re contemplative, but we live out our service in the world. We’re prayerful, but we’re also practical. We were founded 800 years ago on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land, but we have our feet firmly planted in today’s problems and concerns.

“Carmel learned to tell the story of the human heart as a love story. Thinking they were searching for something missing in their lives, Carmelites discovered they were being pursued by a loving presence whose desire for them gave them increased life, greater freedom, and a trustworthy relationship for their guidance.”
-The Carmelite Way*

Living in Community

Carmelites live together in community so that we can support one another in our desire to live up to what God wants of us. We share prayer times, meals, concerns, and, sometimes, work. We are brothers to one another and call each other to accountability for our way of life.

 

Living in Service to Others

Carmelite friars are pastors, teachers, and spiritual directors. But, we’re also lawyers, hospital chaplains, musicians and artists. There is no one ministry that defines a Carmelite. We pray for the freedom to respond to needs wherever we find them.

*The Carmelite Way, John Welch, O.Carm.
(Paulist Press: 1996)

No matter what we are engaged in, the Carmelite ministry is to help people find God’s presence in their lives and in the world. We help people find God in every aspect of life. The God of all life is everywhere and we find — and help others discover — God’s presence in every person, experience, and event.

You’ll find us in 19 states, from New Jersey to California, Illinois to Texas. We’re also in Ontario, Canada, Torreon, Mexico and Lima, Peru. We sponsor 33 parishes, six high schools: Joliet Catholic Academy (IL), Mount Carmel High School (IL), Carmel Mundelein (IL), Salpointe Catholic High School (AZ), Crespi Catholic (CA), and  three spiritual centers, and two shopping center chapels.

“I am moved by zeal for the Lord, the God of Hosts…”
– The Prophet Elijah

Diversity of Missions & Ministries

From college campuses to military chapels, and from high school teaching to psychotherapy, Carmelite friars live out our commitment in a wide variety of services. Whatever the job, we bring zeal for the Lord.

As Carmelites, we don’t focus on one ministry, such as teaching, or one way of service, such as pastoral work. Instead, we ask each friar to discern with the community where his talents can best be used for the needs of the world and the Church.

We’re AIDS ministers, college teachers, communications professionals, counselors, foreign missionaries, hospital chaplains, peace and justice coordinators, police and firefighter chaplains, prison ministers, retreat directors and spiritual directors.

We work in cities and rural areas, institutions and streets, colleges and migrant farms. We minister with those who have much and those who have almost nothing. Like Elijah, we continue to ask others to make a choice — for God, life, growth, and wholeness — until the reign of God is established.

The faith of those who journey with us inspires us and gives us hope for the journey.

We invite you to learn more about our service in your world. Visit www.carmelites.net for more information on the Order of Carmelites.