About Central

Shortly after the Most Reverend Hugh C. Boyle was elevated to the episcopacy, he began a secondary school expansion program in Pittsburgh.

To support the development of centralized, well-equipped high schools, the Bishop organized a campaign in 1923 to raise funds. The first fruit of the campaign was the erection of Central District Catholic High School and faculty house in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh.

The architectural style is Flemish Gothic, whose soaring towers and buttresses express strength and solidity. In the auditorium, the large stained glass windows represent the various countries from which the Catholic population of Pittsburgh originally migrated.

Inscribed on each window is the seal of the country, the names of its patron saint and two of its notable Catholic citizens. The countries represented on the left side of the auditorium (moving from front to rear) are Ireland, Spain, Germany, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Switzerland. On the right side, moving in the same order, are England, Italy, Poland, France, Bohemia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

The new high school was dedicated by Bishop Boyle on September 11, 1927. On the following day 488 boys, from 42 parishes in the central section of the city, registered in the ninth grade, the only grade functioning that year. On the original faculty were fourteen Christian Brothers.

In the 1950s, enrollment reached a peak of 1,800. A concentrated effort by the school administration brought the enrollment down to a size more consistent with the physical facilities and modern educational trends.

The average class size has been reduced from 45 to 21 students. Today, the student body numbers about 700 boys, taught by 5 Christian Brothers, 62 lay faculty, and two priests.

The students have approximately 100 course offerings from which to choose. The academic program remains at the forefront of contemporary educational approaches.

In 1978, Alumni Hall was opened. The building provided long-needed, expanded facilities for the school’s physical education, intramural, and athletic programs. Academic facilities were upgraded with biology, physics, and chemistry laboratories. Donated by Mr. & Mrs. John Ryan, Jr., the Ryan Science Center met the demands of the contemporary science curriculum. In addition, some of the proceeds from the annual Viking Victory Auction were used to renovate classrooms and faculty offices, create a computer lab, and
equip the building for computer technology programs.

In 2000, the Blue & Gold capital campaign was established to renovate the athletic field, the old gym, and Alumni Hall. The campaign also provided a synthetic grass field to accommodate year-round usage.

The remodeled old gym now includes the Coaches’ Pavilion, a fitness complex, and the Peter J. Spadaro Performing Arts Center, accommodating the music and drama programs.

In 2003, after 75 years, the building’s center tower was replaced. The former art and music area was renovated to house the Brother Richard Grzeskiewicz, FSC Center. This efficacious facility contains the Bishop McDowell Program and Writing Center. An attractive walkway in front of the building allows natural light into these rooms. In the spring and summer of 2005, the auditorium underwent a $1.8-million renovation and restoration, the generous gift of John, ’56, and Mary Ita McGonigle and their sons,
Kevin, ’82, and Michael, ’85.

The renovated Clifford E. Brown Library opened in 2008 and allows students great opportunities for research and learning. Central Catholic completed a major, multi-year Classrooms of the Future renovation of the Academic wing.

In 2008, Central Catholic was incorporated with its own two-tiered Board of Directors who has responsibility for the governance of the school.

In 2016, Central Catholic opened its Zupancic Family STEM Center. The 30,000 square-foot facility was made possible by the generosity of Central Catholic alumni and friends. To provide space for Central’s expanding STEM curriculum, rooms that accommodate lectures and labs, facilitate group work and project-based learning are easily re-configured for other needs. The new center also enables increased partnerships with nearby University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, Carlow, Chatham, and Duquesne Universities.

Since Central Catholic High School opened in 1927, the administration and faculty have been composed of Brothers of the Christian Schools, popularly called “The Christian Brothers” in the United States. This religious congregation of the Roman Catholic Church is a society of celibate laymen who profess vows of stability associated with the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and are dedicated solely to the ministry of Christian education.

John Baptist de La Salle, a young priest of seventeenth-century France, founded the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Concerned about the lack of appropriate education for sons of the poor and the working class of Rheims, he opened a free school for boys in 1679, with the aid of two teachers and a parish priest. Within six months he opened a similar school in a neighboring parish. As these free schools prospered, more young men joined De La Salle, and the Brothers of the Christian Schools have been in existence ever since. To perpetuate his work, De La Salle resigned his position at the Cathedral of Rheims, distributed his wealth among the poor, left his own home to live with the teachers in a rented house, and vowed to devote his entire life to the Christian Schools. With the help of the Brothers, he wrote a Rule for the community, prepared textbooks for the students, opened training schools for teachers, and composed a manual on teaching and school management that is still consulted today.

De La Salle died in 1719. His Institute, the Brothers of the Christian Schools, was officially approved by the Church in 1725. The Brothers’ society was suppressed in France during the Revolution, but it was reorganized in that country in 1803. Since then the Brothers have opened schools in nearly every part of the world. Today nearly 3,350 Brothers of the Christian Schools teach hundreds of thousands of students in 80 nations. De La Salle was declared a saint by Pope Leo XIII in 1900 and was named “Patron of All Teachers of Youth” by Pope Pius XII in 1950.

The Christian Brothers at Central Catholic, members of the congregation’s Eastern North American Province, live in the faculty residence on campus. Their community life as vowed religious men, their LaSallian vision of the ministry of Christian education, and their professional training contribute actively to Central Catholic’s consistently excellent program of studies and extracurricular activities.

T he administration, faculty, and staff of Central Catholic High School affirm that the primary purposes of a LaSallian Catholic education are the training of the student’s intellect and the formation of his life of faith within a school community, based solidly on Christian principles and the school’s tradition of excellence.

We strive to provide each student with realistic challenges according to his capacity for intellectual growth, creativity, and spiritual development. During these formative years, we strive to stimulate his mind, guide his critical thinking, promote competent self-expression, and develop his faith. We will help the student to make choices likely to provide personal fulfillment beyond high school.

A Central Catholic education should provide our students with a Gospel-based understanding of our society’s strengths and values as well as its conflicts and failings. We foster a sense of community that demonstrates respect for each person as a unique individual. We strive to provide our graduates with the skills to live responsibly within society and the Church, now and in the future.

We establish the following objectives to implement our school philosophy:

(1) To develop in the student a sense of Christian community
The student is encouraged to open himself to the presence of God. He participates in communal experiences of worship, celebration, and dedication, allowing him to experience the Christian dimension of Central Catholic.

A spirit of community permeates the school, fostering acceptance and understanding of each student by his instructors and his fellow students. The student experiences the benefits of cooperative effort and active participation. In addition, he is encouraged to recognize and develop his qualities of leadership.

The emergence of a global culture and economy requires an emphasis on the realities of modern life that transcend the boundaries of neighborhood, region, or nation. A further emphasis on social responsibility, in many possible contexts, should be the natural corollary to the goals of developing each student’s leadership potential and instilling in him a sense of the living reality of the Church as a community of concern and loving service to others.

(2) To develop in the student an appreciation of the continued pursuit of knowledge
Within the school an atmosphere of intellectual curiosity is encouraged. The student should be prepared and encouraged to cultivate competent habits of logical thought and systematic inquiry. In addition, the student should be provided opportunities to develop his ability to deal with the practical realities in his life.

(3) To develop in the student an appreciation of culture
The student is assisted in becoming a gentleman of culture ‒ receptive to beauty, truth, and goodness ‒ possessing taste and social grace.

(4) To develop in the student an appreciation of physical well-being
The student is taught the principles of good health and physical fitness. He is encouraged to acquire a sense of pride and confidence in his physical abilities and be taught to appreciate sportsmanlike competition.