St. Mary’s School launches $3 million capital campaign for upgrades

By Gene Fadness

For the ICR

By outward appearance, St. Mary’s Catholic School in Boise looks old. It is.

Built in 1949, the square red brick building lacks the contemporary look of today’s schools as well as the modern infrastructure.

But the foundation of the school, inspectors note, is as strong as ever, stronger than schools built three and four decades later. Just as resilient are the teachers, staff and parishioners with the spiritual foundation to keep the school going, even through recent upheavals.

Just three short years ago, school staff and parishioners wondered whether their school would last to celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2024. Enrollment was significantly down. Some grades were combined into one classroom with one teacher. There were rumblings that the diocese might close the school.

In 2023, the downward trend in enrollment reversed. For nearly three years, the percent increase in enrollment has been in the double digits. A school that less than three years ago had fewer than 100 students now has 151, and there is no end in sight to the growth.

“To quote a parishioner, ‘The people here are faithful and resilient,’ ” said Father John Kucera, pastor at the parish.

Bishop Peter Christensen agrees.

“With the recent school growth, the timing is providential for a renewed commitment to strengthening the foundation of Catholic education and parish life,” the Bishop wrote in a letter that launched a $3 million capital campaign to replace dated, drafty windows with energy-efficient windows, improve the building’s air conditioning and air flow as well as its lighting and accessibility.

Also planned is an upgrade to the kitchen with a modernized warming kitchen, giving the school and parish the ability to host gatherings with greater hospitality and ease.

The parish’s commitment to the school became very clear when a survey of parishioners asked them what improvements they deemed most important: the school upgrades, new parish offices and meeting spaces, or a new gymnasium.

Parishioners ranked each of the projects with a high, medium or low priority. Of 240 responses, the vast majority chose the school upgrades. Even 60 percent of parishioners who did not have children or grandchildren or were alumni of the schools ranked the school upgrades first.

The Omaha-based Steier Group that conducts fundraising campaigns for Catholic parishes scored the responses from one to 10 in priority. The school improvements came in with a score above 9, according to John Samson of the Steier Group.

“Even those with no direct connection to the school came in at 9,” he said. “You might see that high a response in only about 20 percent of the projects we do.”

To date, parishioners are backing up their choice of projects with their pocketbooks. By the time of the campaign’s official launch the weekend of Nov. 15-16, $480,000 of the $3 million had been pledged, the result of one-on-one meetings with some of the parish’s most involved families. The rest of the parish, sensing the enthusiasm, added their pledges after the launch weekend. By Nov. 21, the pledged amount was $914,300, almost a third of the goal.

The response is reminiscent of the hardy families who raised the funds needed to build a church on farmland on Boise’s “western” end nearly a century ago, not long after the Great Depression. Located at 26th and State streets, the original church was built in 1937 and expanded in 2009.

Pledges coming in so quickly means work on the projects can begin now rather than at the end of the three-year campaign. Samson said there is a good chance the windows will be replaced as soon as school gets out next summer.

As parishioners walk by the school on their way to Mass and see their money already put to use, that should spur even more support for the campaign. Drivers passing by on busy State Street will see work being done on the school, sending a strong message that the now 76-year-old school is here to stay.

Depending on the cost of the initial improvements – the projects still must be let out for bid – and the amount ultimately raised, there is a possibility that the parish offices and meeting and meeting space can be upgraded as well. The offices are in the former convent immediately west of the school, which housed the Benedictine nuns from St. Gertrude’s Monastery, who founded the school in 1949.

Monsignor John J. Creegan served as pastor of St. Mary's Parish from 1937 until his death in 1974. (Courtesy photo)

A tentative long-range plan is to raze the convent to build a new gymnasium and add desperately needed meeting and classroom space for the growing parish. Just more than 200 families joined the parish in 2024-25, a factor in contributing to the growth of the school.

While pleased with the increasing enrollment, Principal Kevan Grant doesn’t want the school to exceed 200 students and lose the appeal of its low teacher-student ratio.

Samson is impressed by the close collaboration between Grant and Father Kucera, an indicator that the parish and school communities are united, not always the case in some parishes when priests may want something different than principals.

“These two collaborate well and are remarkably united,” he said.

Neither Father Kucera nor Grant are surprised at the early success of the campaign.

“Knowing how generous the parishioners are here at St. Mary’s, I cannot say I am surprised,” Father Kucera said, although the young priest who previously served smaller parishes as pastor is new to fundraising of this magnitude.

“I must admit, starting a capital campaign was a little nerve-racking at first, but I have an incredible team of people advising me,” he said, adding, “I also believe that if we are doing the will of the Lord, the money will follow our mission, which is to help others know and encounter Jesus Christ.”

In other words, a strong foundation, just like the old building that is St. Mary’s Catholic School.