BY GREG WALTERS
Bits and Pieces
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church Closes

A packed church of nearly 500 parishioners and former parishioners attended the last Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes this Sunday. Bishop James Johnston celebrated the Mass with the Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes, Fr. Adam Haake and Fr. Sean McCaffrey of St. John Francis Regis Parish.

The Diocese has decided to combine Our Lady of Lourdes Parish with St. John Francis Regis Parish.

INTERIOR OF LOURDES / PRESENT DAY
Our Lady of Lourdes was founded as a Parish in 1946.

The first masses of the Parish were held at Blue Ridge Roller Rink until a large military building was converted to be used as a church. In 1952 Our Lady of Lourdes Grade School was opened along with Convent to house the Sisters of St. Joseph who did most of the teaching in those early years. The school would double in size in the 1960’s with the addition of a gymnasium and an additional 12 class rooms.

In 1959 a new church was constructed to accommodate Our Lady of Lourdes as its numbers in both the school and church continued to grow.

Our Lady of Lourdes School would continue until 2012.

Catholic Churches and Schools are an extended family. Once the school was closed, and its students had moved on to other choices for their Catholic education, Lourdes experienced a steady decline in active membership as parents began attending the Church where there child went to school.

Raytown lost a jewel in its crown when Our Lady of Lourdes Grade School was closed. The church will be missed as well.

Homeless in Raytown
It was probably only a matter of time until the homeless situation reached Raytown. The photo at left shows what turned out to be an abandoned tent that was serving as the home for an individual located southwest of Aldi’s Grocery Store.

This is not the first incident of homeless activity in the Raytown area. A couple of weeks ago, someone erected a tent on the Green Space in Downtown Raytown. Business owners in Downtown Raytown told us it took over a week before it was removed.

The Police Department asks that any homeless situations be called to their attention by calling 911. The Raytown Fire Department through its ambulance service is working with the Raytown Police to find a solution for housing so the homeless can be given a way to get back on their feet.

Raytown School District News

One of our regular readers sent us the following information. It is the summary page of a study of the future of the Raytown School District as regards the downward trend in the number of students attending school in the District.

The study report is very clear in its findings as to the number of schools that will remain open in the Raytown School District in the future. 

No doubt the patrons the School District would be interested in what was published. So we decided to publish the document without comment. According to the letter the final report was released on January 12, 2022. This may be old news to some. But case it is not the report follows.

USE THIS LINK TO Comment OR VIEW COMMENT PAGE

Comments

Anonymous said…
I didn't realize the school had been closed 10 years already. It seems like it was just a couple of years ago. Time sure does fly!
February 6, 2022 at 10:09 PM
Anonymous said…
Since it might be a possibility that Raytown will close some school, then our real estate taxes for the school district should go down, not having to pay for the upkeep of the buildings and salaries. I feel for the people who could lose their jobs!
February 9, 2022 at 4:44 PM
Anonymous said…
Taxes go down? Keep dreaming!
February 10, 2022 at 6:19 AM
Andy Whiteman said…
February 9, 2022 at 4:44 PM, are you assuming that there will be no upkeep of vacant buildings? Vacant buildings require upkeep but not to the extent open schools would require. Failure to provide upkeep would allow the buildings and properties to become dilapidated! Hopefully the vacant buildings could be repurposed for another use by the School District and/or sold. HOPEFULLY property taxes should go down, but I wouldn't count on it.

Andy Whiteman
February 11, 2022 at 11:08 AM
Anonymous said…
Not to be disrespectful, but I think Mr. Smith's assessment of the potential school closing needs are way overblown.
A complete waste of money to hire such a mis-informed consultant.
Close five elementary schools in 2022 !!, Really?? Maybe he forgot that it is already 2022.

Have a nice day, RN
February 14, 2022 at 8:40 AM
Anonymous said…
That is a good point about 2022 already being here. I think they may have been talking about 2022 /2023 school year. What I do not understand is why school district would hire a consultant in the first place. The data from the consultant was probably taken from census information. The same information can be found by professional list makers who crunch numbers to create targeted groups for mailing lists, etc. It is not very expensive and extremely accurate way to make current and short term future predictions.
February 15, 2022 at 5:43 PM
Anonymous said…
Geeeez Greg. What did you do to make the Mayor so angry. His tirade at the end of Tuesday nights meeting made no sense at all. All I can say to you is keep up the good work. You have always had our back in Raytown. I promise. We will have your back.

Mr. Mayor. Take a chill pill. Being mayor does not mean you have license to continually attack and insult people who do not agree with you politically.

February 15, 2022 at 8:52 PM
Anonymous said…
You report on the homeless situation, but what are you doing about it? I take food and clothing to the homeless so they don't freeze in this weather. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
February 16, 2022 at 6:33 AM
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