Bishop Dwenger High School

1963 – present

Founded: Dwenger opened on 4 September 1963 at 1300 East Washington Center Road, the north-side half of Bishop Leo Pursley's two-school answer to a crowded Central Catholic. By 1956 Central Catholic downtown held more than 1,400 students, and Pursley launched the drive that built Bishop Luers on the south side and Bishop Dwenger on the north. Ground was broken on 21 October 1962 on a 23-acre tract at Washington Center Road and North Clinton; Pursley officiated at the cornerstone on 8 September 1963. The first class was 210 freshmen and nothing else, and the school grew a grade a year.

Course: Dwenger opened coeducational but in separate departments: diocesan priests conducted the boys' department, the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ supervised the girls', the first principal, the Rev. Edward J. Krason, served as dean of boys, and Sister M. Hedwigis as vice principal and dean of girls. Central Catholic closed in the spring of 1972 as the two new schools drew its students, and its remaining students transferred to Dwenger or Luers. Campaigns in 1995 and 2005 added a media center, cafeteria and auxiliary gym, then the school's first separate band and choir rooms, art classrooms and renovated science labs. The Golden Traditions campaign of the fiftieth-anniversary year, $8.5 million, renovated all 36 original classrooms and expanded Our Lady Queen of All Saints Chapel from 70 to 284 seats. In 2019 a donor's $3 million gift built a stadium around Shields Field, and the Saints played their first home game there that August. A diocesan Career Academy opened at the school in 2026, which the school describes as one of only three Catholic high school career and technical academies in the nation.

Namesake: Joseph Gregory Dwenger, second Bishop of Fort Wayne, who served from 1872 to 1893 and was a zealous promoter of the parochial school system. He headed the first American pilgrimage to Rome in 1874 and founded orphan institutions at Lafayette and Fort Wayne. He is buried at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The two Pursley schools carry the diocese's first two bishops in order: Luers the first, Dwenger the second.

Programs: The school is organized on Four Pillars, Academic Life, Spiritual Life, An Active Life and a Life of Service, under the motto of becoming Citizens of Two Worlds. Students perform ten service hours each semester in their theology class. Dwenger was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2004 and to the Catholic High School Honor Roll in 2006, and reports that 91 percent of its graduates go on to post-secondary schools.

Athletics: The Saints play in the Summit Athletic Conference. The IHSAA record gives the football team six state championships: 1983, 1990, 1991, 2015, 2018 and 2025, the last a 36-29 defeat of Roncalli. Girls soccer has won three titles (2005, 2006 and 2020), and girls gymnastics six (1995, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2012 and 2025), all under coach Rose Nix.

Today: Dwenger is a four-year Catholic high school owned and operated by the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, one of the three largest Catholic high schools in Indiana. The Indiana Department of Education counted 917 students in 2023-24; the school rounds its enrollment as nearly 1,000. Its principal is Jason Schiffli.

Sources:

1. Bishop Dwenger High School, About Dwenger and Career Academy pages: the founding, campaigns, chapel, stadium and programs.
2. Dwenger Golden Memories yearbook, 1964, and Aureate retrospective, 1974: the groundbreaking, cornerstone, first staff and departments.
3. Today's Catholic, Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend: the 1956 Pursley drive, Central Catholic's closing and the 2025 football title.
4. Catholic Encyclopedia, Diocese of Fort Wayne: Bishop Dwenger's career and parochial school work.
5. Indiana High School Athletic Association record books: the football, girls soccer and girls gymnastics titles.
6. Indiana Department of Education: 917 students, 2023-24.