St. John the Baptist Parish

Northwest-side parish, 3616 Saint Johns Way — parish school opened 1 September 1957

The parish and school: St. John the Baptist Parish serves South Bend’s northwest side from a ten-acre campus on Saint Johns Way; its school teams are the Spartans. The school opened on 1 September 1957, and Bishop Rhoades chose it for his first school visit of the 2017–18 year on its 60th anniversary, when it enrolled 66 pupils in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Paintings from the parish’s former convent were preserved when the building became a residence for nine Franciscan Friars Minor serving at the parish. The parish’s own current account describes a community rebuilt from ashes, literal and spiritual, with growing enrollment and ministries; the dated founding record of the parish itself is carried in the notes to this section rather than asserted here, because the parish and diocesan sources consulted give the school’s 1957 opening but no parish erection year.

Sources:

1. Today’s Catholic, “St. John the Baptist School: small school, big spirit,” 5 September 2017 — the school’s 60th anniversary on 1 September 2017, its enrollment, and the Franciscan Friars Minor in the former convent.
2. St. John the Baptist Parish, “Welcome to our Parish,” stjohnspartans.com — the parish’s present self-description and renewal.