By Pete Hand, RCHS Class 1974
The year is 1890. On the northeast corner of Broad and Vine Streets, a new school opened. The first school of its kind not only in Philadelphia but in the U.S. The first steps for up to 500 students walking through the doors into a Catholic high school called Roman!
Thomas E. Cahill’s dreams came true as the founder who, in his last will and testament, endowed financial support to build a Catholic high school in Philadelphia.
Cahill was the son of an Irish immigrant who was a very successful businessman selling ice, coal and wood. He also was a goodhearted simple man who practiced his religion.
On Sunday Nov. 29, 2015, the alumni of Roman Catholic High School (RCHS) attended their Annual Communion Breakfast and Mass. The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul was filled with over one thousand alumni to remember the one hundred and eight alumni who died since last November.
The Mass was also the year-end celebration of 125 years of RCHS which provides an enriched cultural, racial and religious diversity at Broad and Vine. A school whose doors were almost closed in the 1980s is now the leader of education and academics in the Philadelphia area.
After Mass, everyone headed over to the Sheraton for the breakfast. The guest speaker was Senator Pat Toomey; the toastmaster was Phillies announcer Dan Baker.
Talk among fellow alumni, it was always about school expansion. We always heard that it was going to happen. But when? Well, when it was time for the Rev. Joseph Bongard, rector of Roman, to speak—it came out — “Vison of Promise!” That is the name of the expansion project. The vision to the future and a promise of the students to do their best to represent Roman. The $25,000,000 expansion will make this education facility one of the best in the city.
Roman had purchased the city morgue a few years ago transforming it into the alumni office, weight room and wrestling training facility. In the last few months the school purchased property on 13th street. This will become the music and arts center with parking for 30 cars. Added onto the school will be a math and engineering center, and with the expansion of the cafeteria, a new gym will be built. Yes, for all of you who remember going to Roman’s gym for a basketball game, those days will be gone. This new facility will hold 1,200 spectators and an indoor track.
The old gym will be converted into a theater for shows and assemblies. And a bigger chapel will also be built on the old gym area. So the dream of Thomas E. Cahill, a good Irishman, will be growing tenfold in the near future. Who would have thought the way things are going today with other schools closing that this would be happening.
Many thanks to the alumni of Roman Catholic for their support in the past and in the future, and to all the supporters in this City of Brotherly Love, who will help make this happen.
For we stand by the flag, the young and the old.
It’s colors are yours the Purple and Gold.
A smile on the lip, a tear in the eye.
Salute ye the colors of Catholic High!