A $5M investment will power Cabrini’s future

By Kim Roberts
Clarion Herald

The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, founders of Cabrini High School, have committed $5 million to the school over the next three years to be used for improvements to campus facilities and curriculum advancements.

“This monumental investment in Cabrini by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart will have a profound impact on our students, faculty, staff, alumnae and the entire Cabrini community,” said Thomas  J. Long, board chair of Cabrini High. “This gift will allow us to advance our vision for the school, which includes improvements to enhance the learning, growth and well-being of the young women who attend Cabrini.”

Deacon Uriel Durr, interim president of Cabrini, said he believed the decision was made to invest in Cabrini and the school’s mission because it is the only all-girls’ Catholic high school in the congregation’s system in the United States.

Grateful for commitment

“The Missionary Sisters visited the campus a year or so ago, and we brought several things to their attention,” Deacon Durr said. “We are grateful they’ve graciously decided to go ahead and commit to this investment, both for the academic side as well as all the construction and buildings that we need to update.”

Improvement projects have already begun on campus, starting with work on the air conditioning system in the library, updating the foyer, repainting the halls and adding new student lockers throughout the Moss Street building. Deacon Durr said these upgrades should be complete before the girls come back from Christmas break in January. Upgrades to the gymnasium will follow in the new year.

“We’re going to give them their Christmas present when they walk in the door,” Deacon Durr said. “We are moving ahead and making Cabrini a first-class facility, not just upgrades to the building, but also updates academically in the various departments and providing some things the teachers need to enhance the educational experience for our girls.”

Deacon Durr said everything historical that Mother Cabrini laid her hands on would be preserved during the process.

“Anything we do in updating the campus, we have in mind the mission of Mother Cabrini,” he said. “So, we will preserve the history and make sure her legacy is still here and alive with us.”

“This is huge for us because this place hasn’t been updated for many years,” Deacon Durr said. “It’s a breath of fresh air. The board, the faculty and staff, we’re going to be really great stewards of the investment and do the things that need to be done to enhance the education and the well-being of our more than 300 students and 53 faculty members.”

The school’s board of trustees said the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus recognized that the New Orleans school is the last Cabrini school in the country and wanted to invest in its care and wellbeing.

“St. Frances Xavier Cabrini’s legacy continues through Cabrini High School’s educators, alumnae and the young women who walk the same halls, pray in the same chapel, and call Cabrini home – a feeling easily sensed because Cabrini was ‘home’ to the first American canonized a saint,” said Missionary of the Sacred Heart Sister Diane Olmstead, provincial of the Guadalupe Province. “As protectors of that legacy, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus are dedicated to continuing what Mother Cabrini began. Our investment will help ensure that future generations of young women benefit from a Cabrinian education.”

Interim president

Long, the board president, also announced that Deacon Durr, who has served the Cabrini High School community for many years as campus minister, has been appointed interim president/CEO following Sheri Salvagio’s resignation from the position.

“We are grateful for the work and care Sheri has demonstrated in her role,” Long said. “We wish her great success in her future endeavors.”  

The board has engaged a search committee to begin a nationwide search for new leadership.

“Mother Cabrini has given me many surprises in my life, and I’ve been here for so long (as chaplain for 21 years), I humbly accepted from the board and the sisters the interim position for the time being,” Deacon Durr said

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