Cathedral High School (Indianapolis)


Cathedral High School is a private [Roman Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Church|Catholic] high school in Indianapolis, Indiana. The school serves approximately 1,200 students in grades 9 to 12. The school was founded in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis by Bishop Joseph Chartrand in 1918 and was run by the Brothers of Holy Cross until it became independent by the late 1970s. Holy Cross returned to the school in 2011.
WWW cathedral-irish.org

History

The school was founded as a boys high school by the Brothers of Holy Cross in 1918. In the 1970s, with the departure of the Brothers, a non-profit trust was developed by Robert V. Welch, other parents, and a lay board in an effort to keep Cathedral alive. As part of that change, the school moved from its longtime home in downtown Indianapolis to its present location at 56th and Emerson streets, the site of the former all-girls Ladywood St. Agnes Academy. This change also facilitated the admission of girls to Cathedral High School. The original location of the school at 1400 North Meridian Street is today the headquarters for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. On September 13, 2011, Cathedral celebrated its 93rd birthday and was formally re-affiliated with the Brothers of Holy Cross.

Academics

The school offers several levels of academics, including Advanced Placement and Dual Credit courses. Cathedral was honored as a Blue Ribbon School four times, in 1988, 2004, 2016, and 2022. Cathedral was the only high school, public or private, in the state of Indiana to receive a Blue Ribbon designation in 2016. No other high school in the state has received the Blue Ribbon award more times.
There are 11 academic departments providing more than 188 course offerings. Three instructional levels are offered-honors, academic, and college preparatory-as well as honors-level independent study in nearly all disciplines. Emphasis is placed on technology in the classroom. In 2012, Cathedral introduced a nationally recognized 1:1 iPad program. Honors and academic-level English students are required to take two years of foreign language. College preparatory English students and students enrolled in the Language Support Program are not required to meet the foreign language requirement, except in unusual circumstances.
The Learning Resource Center, encompassing Cathedral's Language Support Program, is available to meet the special needs of students with diagnosed learning differences such as ADD, ADHD, and autism-spectrum disorder. The Language Support Program is designed specifically to meet the needs of dyslexic students preparing for college entrance. In this program, courses are taught at the academic level of instruction with appropriate accommodations.
  • Language Support
  • Composition 1
  • Economics 1
  • English 8
  • Fine Arts 2
  • Foreign Language 4
  • Geography 1
  • Government 1
  • Health Education 1
  • Mathematics 6
  • Modern Technology 1
  • Other Electives 3
  • Physical Education 1
  • Religious Studies 8
  • Science Electives 4
  • Social Studies Electives 2
  • Speech or Debate 1
  • U.S. History 2

Athletics

Football

For the 2008 Sunday Night Football season on NBC, Cathedral High School's football program was featured because even though the school has more football victories than any school in the state of Indiana, they do not have a home field. Though several games throughout the schedule each year are designated home games, they are played at different fields which are not directly affiliated with Cathedral itself. Its two segments aired on November 2 and 9, 2008.
As of the end of the 2013 IHSAA football season, Cathedral had more wins than any other school in the history of the sport in the state of Indiana. The Irish have won over 750 in program history.
As of 2021 Cathedral ranks first on the all-time list for State Finals appearances in Indiana, having reached the title game a total of eighteen times. They won in fourteen of those eighteen appearances.
The football team was led by Rick Streiff who coached the team to 9 state championships which ties him for the most championships for a high school football coach in Indiana. In addition to Streiff, the coaching staff is heavily compiled of former NFL and NCAA players such as Mike Prior and Darrick Brownlow.
Since 2017, the football team has been coached by Bill Peebles, who has led the Fighting Irish to two back-to-back 5A IHSAA State Championships in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The Fighting Irish competed in 5A IHSAA Football Division from 2013 to 2021, which was two classes above their enrollment numbers. As a result, they now will compete in Class 6A, the largest of the six classes and two classes above.

Girls lacrosse

The Cathedral girls lacrosse team has won two State Championships.

Girls volleyball

  • The Cathedral Lady Irish volleyball team was coached by former Ball State University All-American Jean Kesterson, who amassed more than 800 wins and eight State Championships in her tenure at the school.
  • The Cathedral Lady Irish volleyball team won state in 2015. They were named National Champions by MaxPreps.
  • The Lady Irish also won state in 2016, and finished first in the national tournament two years in a row.

Boys volleyball

  • Cathedral is one of a group of Indianapolis high schools which fields a team and competes in the Indiana Boys Volleyball Coaches Association. Since boys volleyball is not yet a sanctioned IHSAA sport, the IBVCA stands as the sport's sanctioning body.
  • Cathedral has won the championship eight times and placed runner-up five times.
  • Between May 2006 and March 2009, Cathedral had an 82-match win-streak, which is a state record.
  • Following the conclusion of each season, various members of both the Varsity and Junior Varsity squads will form one or more club teams. These clubs travel to the USA Volleyball Boys' Junior Championships and compete against hundreds of other boys' volleyball clubs from around the United States of America. In 2007, the Irish Juniors finished a school record 5th in the national tournament.

Other sports

  • Boys and girls Soccer
  • Boys and girls Swimming & Diving
  • Boys and girls Basketball
  • Baseball
  • Softball
  • Boys and girls Lacrosse
  • Boys Golf
  • Boys Hockey
  • Boys and girls Cross Country
  • Boys and girls Track & Field
  • Boys and girls Tennis
  • Bowling
  • Gymnastics
  • Boys Rugby
  • Wrestling

History

  • Cathedral was the first all-white school to play Crispus Attucks High School, at the time an all-black school, in athletics.
  • Before 1942, Cathedral was not a part of the IHSAA so any titles they won prior to this were not accepted by the IHSAA.

Extracurricular activities

Performing arts

The Performing Arts department at Cathedral is a student driven program. Since 1999 the season had comprised five shows: The Festival of One Acts, the Fall Production, the Children's Play, the Rookie Show, and the Spring Musical. Beginning in the 2008–2009 school year the theater program has comprised a season of three theatrical productions and one musical per year. During the Fall Semester, students have performed the Fall Play and the Children's Show. During the Spring Semester, there has been the traditional musical and the new Rookie Showcase. The Children's Show and the Rookie Showcase are student directed, while the Spring Musical and the Fall Show are teacher-directed. The school has light and stage design, a newly renovated Scene Shop, Costume Department, Green Room, and Dressing Rooms. All productions are created by the students. They build the sets, sew the costumes, design lighting, and acquire props.
Academic classes in the department include the independent study technical classes and the Advanced Acting and Directing classes producing the leads, directors, ADs, stage managers, and lighting and sound designers for most of the shows. The majority of students who take these upper-level classes will at least minor in some aspect of theater or performing arts, with students matriculating to, among others, Ball State University, Columbia University in Chicago, Indiana University, and Purdue University.
The school is a member of the International Thespian Society.

The Pride of the Irish Marching Band

The school has a marching band, the Pride of the Irish. The band marched in the Dublin, Ireland St. Patrick's Day parade in 2000, 2008, and 2023, and in 2015 and was featured on national TV in the Hollywood Thanksgiving Day parade in 2005, marched in the King Kamehameha Parade in Honolulu, Hawaii in 2002; performed on board the Music on the Seas Royal Caribbean cruise in 2004, and performed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1998.

Mary sculpture

The sculpture Mary is mounted in a limestone niche on the main school building facade. Created by an unknown artist in 1963, the statue is painted and appears to be made of concrete. The statue is a full-length robed representation of the Virgin Mary, standing with her hands outstretched with her palms facing upwards. The sculpture was surveyed in 1994 by the Smithsonian's Save Outdoor Sculpture! survey program and its condition was described as needing treatment.

Controversy

In June 2019, Charles C. Thompson, the Archbishop of Indianapolis, asked the school to fire a teacher involved in a same-sex marriage or else the archdiocese would end its association with the school. Cathedral noted that they would have lost permission to refer to itself as a Catholic school, the ability to celebrate the Sacraments, and its status as an independent nonprofit organization.

Notable people