By Sister Phyllis McNally, SSND
Answering the need for Catholic education in Western Maryland, the School Sisters were invited by Monsignor Edward Wunder to take charge of elementary education at St. Patrick Parish in Cumberland, Maryland. The sisters arrived in Cumberland on August 19, 1907. During that time the school known as St. Edward School also housed the sisters. In 1923, the parish built the new St. Patrick School on the property adjacent to the old school, which was then converted into a convent for the sisters. Also in 1923, the sisters opened a high school for girls, known as Catholic Girls Central High School, in the newly constructed building.
As time moved on, the sisters opened elementary schools in Mt. Savage, Frostburg, and Midland, Maryland and branched out into Keyser, West Virginia. Hundreds of School Sisters of Notre Dame have taught in these schools. Countless students have benefitted from their dedication and devotion to the area. They brought their talents and training in school administration, teaching, library work, counseling, music, child care, parish work and religious education.
As the pastoral needs of far western Maryland and Cumberland began to grow, the sisters were invited to work in Oakland as religious education teachers, and they helped in the development of housing for the poor.
In 1966, with the opening of Bishop Walsh High School, the sisters closed Catholic Girls Central and moved to Haystack Mountain to work with the Ursuline Sisters and the Christian Brothers in the only Catholic high school in Western Maryland. In 1981, St. John Neumann Elementary school opened under the direction of the School Sisters. In 1985, the move of all Catholic middle school students to Bishop Walsh created Bishop Walsh Middle High School. Finally, in 2002, Bishop Walsh became the destination school for all Catholic education in Western Maryland, from pre-Kindergarten through grade twelve. The administration of this new adventure was under the direction of the School Sisters from 2002-2011.
The spirit of the School Sisters of Notre Dame continues to keep the light of Catholic education burning brightly in Mountain Maryland.
