St. Charles Borromeo School

Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, 4910 Trier Road; preschool through eighth grade; the Cardinals; opened September 1958 with two hundred forty seven students, and now the largest Catholic grade school in Fort Wayne on the counts gathered here

A Parish of 1957, a School of 1958: St. Charles Borromeo parish was established on June 7, 1957, with Father Edward I. Hession as its first pastor and two hundred fifty two families on its rolls. The school is not a foundation of the parish's year. Fifteen months later, in September 1958, it opened to two hundred forty seven students in six classrooms, grades one through six, taught by the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart and lay teachers, as the parish history records. The school's own principal writes the same year in his letter to families: the school "was founded in the fall of 1958 under the direction of our first Pastor, then Father, and later Monsignor Edward Hession." One directory figure stands against the pair: Private School Review's profile carries a Year Founded field of 1959. It is printed here as the directories' figure, unreconciled; the parish and the school agree on 1958, and this entry keys 1958.

Building Around the School: The parish kept building around its school: further facilities in 1959, 1960, 1963, 1965 and 1977, and a convent completed in 1962. Fire gutted the church at midnight on December 28, 1963; Hession restored it, and the charred crucifix at the entrance of the present church is kept as the fire's memorial. The first Mass in the larger new church was celebrated at midnight on Christmas Eve 1975, in a church seating one thousand four hundred. The Hession Parish Center, its ground broken in 1996, gave the school office space, a gymnasium and multipurpose room, and expanded classrooms. A new kindergarten wing opened for the 2009 to 2010 school year. When the sanctuary renovation was completed in June 2022 and dedicated by Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, Masses had been held in the school gymnasium through the winter of the work.

The Daughter Parish: In 1969 the parish gave up nearly three hundred of its families to a daughter church, Our Lady of Good Hope, established that year on Saint Joe Road; that parish's own school, opened in 2016, has its entry in this same wave. Hession retired in 1986 after twenty nine years as pastor; he was made a Monsignor in 1995 and died on February 14, 2006. Father John N. Suelzer, the second pastor, died on August 24, 2016; Father Tom Shoemaker became the third pastor on October 1, 2016.

The Cardinals: The school's teams are the Cardinals, and the diocesan newspaper's Catholic Youth Organization coverage gives them a record to carry. In December 2016 Today's Catholic recorded the Cardinals as the boys' Gold League basketball champions, in an account that also marks their coach's twentieth season with the team. Two months earlier the paper counted a football winning streak of twenty six games, the Cardinals beating the St. Vincent Panthers thirty to nothing on October 16, 2016, to stand six and zero on the season.

Today: Rob Sordelet is the school's principal, on the school's own letter, on the diocesan newspaper's account of Bishop Rhoades's pastoral visit of August 26, 2022, and on the Indiana Department of Education's nutrition review for program year 2025, which names Mr. Robert R Sordelet and carries the school's state code, K009. At the 2022 visit the assistant principal was Sister Genevieve Raupp, OSF, the last Franciscan sister remaining at the school her order had staffed from its opening. The counts stand with their instruments: the school's own site says over eight hundred forty students in preschool through eighth grade, and that the school is accredited by the State of Indiana and by Cognia; the federal private school survey counts eight hundred fifty two students with forty four teachers; the diocesan newspaper counted roughly seven hundred fifty in 2022.

Sources:

1. St. Charles Borromeo parish history (stcharlesfortwayne.org): the parish established June 7, 1957, Father Edward I. Hession first pastor, 252 families; the school opened September 1958 to 247 students in six classrooms, grades 1 through 6, staffed by the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart and lay teachers; additional facilities in 1959, 1960, 1963, 1965 and 1977; the convent completed 1962; the fire of December 28, 1963 and the charred crucifix; the first Mass in the new church at midnight, Christmas Eve 1975, seating 1,400; Our Lady of Good Hope parish established in 1969 as a daughter church, taking nearly 300 St. Charles families; Hession retired 1986, made Monsignor 1995, died February 14, 2006; Father John N. Suelzer, second pastor, died August 24, 2016; Father Tom Shoemaker third pastor from October 1, 2016; the Hession Parish Center, ground broken 1996; the kindergarten wing opened for the 2009-2010 school year; the sanctuary renovation completed June 2022, dedicated by Bishop Rhoades, with Masses in the school gymnasium that winter.
2. St. Charles Borromeo School, the principal's letter (stcharlesschoolfw.org), Rob Sordelet, Principal: the school "was founded in the fall of 1958 under the direction of our first Pastor, then Father, and later Monsignor Edward Hession," with the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart; over 840 students in PreK through 8th grade; accredited by the State of Indiana and by Cognia; 4910 Trier Road, phone 260-484-3392.
3. Today's Catholic, August 30, 2022: Bishop Rhoades's pastoral visit of August 26, 2022; Principal Rob Sordelet; Assistant Principal Sister Genevieve Raupp, OSF, the last Franciscan sister remaining at the school; roughly 750 students, preschool through eighth grade.
4. Today's Catholic, December 6, 2016 (the Cardinals' boys' Gold League basketball championship; the coach's 20th season with the St. Charles Cardinals) and October 18, 2016 (the Cardinals' 26 game football winning streak; the 30 to 0 win over the St. Vincent Panthers on October 16, 2016).
5. Indiana Department of Education, school nutrition review, program year 2025: principal Mr. Robert R Sordelet; school code K009; 4910 Trier Road.
6. National Center for Education Statistics, as republished by Private School Review (verified school update): 852 students, 44 teachers, average class size 28; the profile's Year Founded field of 1959, printed against the parish's and the school's 1958.