St. Aloysius meets goal, will move into former Pius building in 2017
POTTSTOWN >> Ever since it was founded in 1904, the St. Aloysius parish school has operated in the same location, next to the church on North Hanover Street.
But when the 2017-18 school year starts in September, plans will have the students getting their Catholic education in an entirely new, and very appropriate location — the building that once houses the former St. Pius X High School on North Keim Street.
That’s thanks to an ex- traordinary effort that raised more than $500,000 in just six months to cover the repairs to the newer school building.
It all started with a conversation in early 2016 that the Rev. Joseph Maloney, pastor of the parish, had with officials at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which had been trying, unsuccessfully, to sell the Pius building every since it closed six years ago after the construction of Pope John Paul II High School in Upper Providence.
In June, Maloney told parishioners that theywere getting help.
The Pennsylvania Foundation for Catholic Education offered to buy the St. Pius X building from the Archdiocese for $1.2 million and lease it to St. Aloysius indefinitely for $1 a year.
The only catch was that the parish had to raise the money to upgrade and repair the building so it could be occupied again as a school.
The price tag for that was $500,000.
Although the campaign was supposed to end in September, the parish was getting so close to its goal, it was extended to the end of the year.
In November, Patricia Kerwin, the school’s director of advancement, revealed that the parish was just $100,000 short of its goal and that an anonymous donor had offered to match the next $100,000 raised.
There is still more to do, as the extent of the repairs has not been outlined in detail, but the announcement that the goal had been reached brought excitement among the parents, staff and children of the school.
Currently, the school operates out of four separate buildings at the site of the church, at the corner of Hanover and Beech streets.
No specific plans have been announced for what the buildings will be used for once themove to Keim Street is completed.