Our Lady of Lourdes Church and School

The last Sunday in January traditionally marks the beginning of Catholic Schools Week, and here at Lourdes we have a lot to be both grateful for and proud of. When Msgr. Stroup arrived in Northridge in 1958 to establish the parish at the behest of Cardinal  McIntyre, the first thing he did was to seek out catholics living within the parish boundaries. Like most pastors, the first priority was to build a school and a convent, and to secure a religious congregation to teach in the school. Msgr. Stroup’s efforts and the incredible work of our first parishioners saw to it that our school opened in 1959 under the administration of the Immaculate Heart Sisters.

So much has changed over these almost 60 years here at Lourdes, but our commitment to Catholic Education continues to be evidenced. Education is a constitutive part of what it means to be Catholic. We teach. We pass on faith. It is part of what defines us as a people of faith, as a community of believers. Because of the sacrifice that was paid forward by our founding parishioners and the vowed religious who labored without salaries, our school has benefitted generations of young people, and we continue to enjoy the benefit of their investment today.

Subsequent generations of parents and parishioners have built on the foundations laid by our founders. As the needs of our students have evolved, as our world changed before our eyes, so too Catholic Education has evolved. Catholic Schools provide a solid faith-based education that embraces the best of educational praxis. Catholicism has always embraced real-world education and values the sciences. We stand in a proud tradition that includes the Augustinian Monk, Gregor Mendel (Father of Genetics), Msgr. Georges Lemaître (Big Bang Theory), Alessandro Volta (inventor of the battery), among countless other men and women of our faith whose scientific work has transformed our world for the better.

Today's students deserve the best educational foundation we can offer, given our resources. In recent years, the partnership between our school administration and our school families has continued to yield some wonderful fruit. Student curriculum development and a commitment to ongoing staff development continues to see improved student performance. Our school was recently re-accredited with a full six years of accreditation, the maximum achievable. I am very proud of the achievements of the administration and faculty here at Lourdes. I am also proud of our students and their accomplishments, both in the classroom and outside of it.

None of this success happens in a vacuum, however. The commitment of the entire parish community, and especially the parents of our school children, is critical to the ongoing success of our school and to our catholic legacy of education. Even parishioners who do not have children in our school continue to have a stake in our commitment to having a catholic school as part of our parish life. The world is a better place when our young people are afforded a quality education, and that is part of what we strive for here at Lourdes. Our commitment to fostering young men and women with a good sense of faith and citizenship is a wonderful contribution of our parish to the wider community and to the world.