- December 27, 2022
ST. LOUIS (Dec. 25, 2022) ---The board of Rosati-Kain Academy has reached an agreement on terms for a renewable multi-year lease with the Archdiocese of St. Louis that allows the region’s most diverse all-girls Catholic high school to remain open at 4389 Lindell Blvd., its home since 1911.
St. Joseph Educational Ministries (SJEM), a lay sponsoring organization founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (CSJs) and designated as a juridic person by the Vatican, will be Rosati-Kain Academy’s Catholic sponsor. SJEM also sponsors Fontbonne University and St. Joseph’s Academy in St. Louis, Avila University and St. Teresa’s Academy in Kansas City, and St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis and Indianapolis.
The lease agreement with the Archdiocese for use of all current school and parking facilities and the Catholic sponsorship agreement with SJEM were the final steps in the groundwork for establishing Rosati-Kain Academy. Rosati-Kain Academy incorporated as a Missouri nonprofit and elected an initial governance board in October. It filed for federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in November.
“This is a milestone moment that launches a strong, bright future for the Rosati-Kain community and for the St. Louis region. We are elated to be able to assure our students, our families, and our teachers and staff that Rosati-Kain will remain open,” said Rosati-Kain Academy Board Chair Cynthia Goudy. “We are grateful to continue at our landmark location in the Central West End and to affiliate with one of the two orders of religious women who have served Rosati-Kain students with excellence, generosity and dedication for more than a century.”
"It's inspiring to see the community rally around Rosati-Kain," said St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones. "Our schools are anchors for our neighborhoods, and I am thrilled that Rosati-Kain will continue to serve a diverse student body in the coming years."
“St. Joseph Educational Ministries is inspired and excited by the opportunity to serve Rosati-Kain Academy as its Catholic sponsor. Rosati-Kain is a natural addition to the SJEM community of sponsored institutions based on its Catholic, CSJ and social history; its tremendous and celebrated diversity; its committed faculty and staff; and its core values of knowledge, virtue, humility and love,” said Cara McMahon, executive director of SJEM. “Rosati-Kain and SJEM share a common legacy in the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Now we share a common future in strengthening the landscape of Catholic education in St. Louis.”
“We believe we will be strengthened in our spirituality and sustainability through this intentional association with SJEM and its other sponsored institutions that are likewise formed in the CSJ charism,” Goudy said. “We gratefully continue to work with educators among the SSNDs also who have contributed so greatly to Rosati-Kain over the years.”
"We are pleased that members of St. Joseph Educational Ministries (SJEM), with the blessing of the St. Louis Province Leadership of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, have approved a request by the newly formed Rosati-Kain Academy to become the school’s canonical sponsor,” said Todd Sweda, Ed. D., superintendent for secondary education and senior director, Office of Catholic Education and Formation, Archdiocese of St. Louis.
More than 325 members of the CSJs and the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSNDs) served Rosati-Kain students as educators, leaders and staff for a combined total of more than 2,000 years of service from 1911-2021, including the first nine years without pay. The collaboration of two strong religious orders in one institution was a radical move at the time, according to former President and Principal Sister Joan Andert, SSND, noting that the partnership established Rosati-Kain’s strength rooted in diversity that continues today.
Sr. Joan Andert retired in 2018 after leading the $8 million capital campaign that modernized and expanded the school’s facilities in the mid-2010s. Alumnae and community members were generous in funding the school’s commitment to its original location, which attracted diverse students, rather than move to a new location.
In the three months since learning of plans by the Archdiocese to close the school at the end of this academic year, hundreds of volunteers organized a path forward and completed the initial steps needed to form a new independent, all-girls Catholic school to sustain Rosati-Kain’s long success.
“Through far-reaching collaborations, we have solidified our spiritual partnership and physical location. Now we will expand our focus to working together with faculty and staff, students and families, alumnae and the St. Louis community to build a strong long-term future. Our immediate attention turns to student retention and attraction, internal and community relationships, and both short-term and long-term financial needs,” Goudy said. “We are immensely grateful to continue our long association with the CSJs through St. Joseph Educational Ministries and look forward to a productive partnership with the Archdiocese, especially the Office of Catholic Education & Formation, to smooth our transition.”