DONATION HELPS PARISH BUY OLD NOTRE DAME

The old Notre Dame High School is now the De Paul Center. Wanda Drury donated $300,000 to St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Parish to buy the building at 1912 Ritter Drive that housed the Catholic high school until 1998, the parish priest said.

"We are very excited about the possibilities this is affording us," said the Rev. Milton Ryan, priest at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church.

Full utilization of the 14-acre site, which includes the high school building, a 10-bedroom convent building and baseball and soccer fields, are in the planning stages, Ryan said.

For now, he said, the parish is using the building for adult religious education; Sunday school classes, which the church has not had room for before; and hospitality gatherings each Sunday. In addition, St. Vincent School is using the high school building's art and music rooms for its fine arts program. The gym is in use nearly every night of the week for games and practice, Ryan said.

St. Vincent bought the property, which Ryan estimated is worth $3 million, for $300,000 from the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, which gave Notre Dame $300,000 for the property when the Catholic high school moved to its new location at Route K and Hitt Road in August 1998.

The diocese encouraged St. Vincent Church to buy the property since the church has a growing congregation and little room on its property for expansion, Ryan said.

Last June Ryan asked parish members to support a fund-raising effort to buy the property. A week after his plea Drury stepped up with the entire amount, Ryan said.

"I just about fell out when she handed me the check," said Ryan, who added no announcement had been made about the purchase nor has a dedication been planned. The church just quietly began using the building.

Drury, who is a member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, said she had just sold some properties when Ryan made his plea and thought this would be a good use for that money.

"Now instead of raising money to buy the building, the parish can concentrate on upgrading the building and keeping it maintained," she said.

Drury said she has a sentimental attachment to the old Notre Dame building since her children went to school there.

She also does what she can for her church, although she emphasized many parishioners make contributions as well.

"I just thank the Lord that I can do this," she said.

Ryan said the addition of the Notre Dame property should help with the growing pains St. Vincent has felt the last few years. In the 4 1/2 years Ryan has been pastor, he said, the congregation has grown from 1,100 families to 1,500 families, about 5,500 people.

The church is now in the midst of a strategic planning initiative to decide how to deal with growth in the parish and St. Vincent School.

"This building is allowing us to start dreaming about many possibilities," Ryan said.

Some of those possibilities include renting out space in the high school building to help cover its maintenance costs of about $50,000 per year, Ryan said. He said Procter and Gamble used part of the building for a training center last year.

He said the church also is looking into the possibility of leasing the convent to a government program to offer emergency housing to the poor.

"This would put poor people in proximity to our church so we could attend to their needs easily," Ryan said.

He said the parish decided last year to embrace the mission of St. Vincent de Paul to look out for the poor and those in need. He attributes this emphasis on the growth the church has enjoyed.

"People are looking for ways to think out of the box, to stop thinking of themselves all the time and start looking out for the community around them," Ryan said.

Ryan said he would like to have a portrait made of Drury to hang in the De Paul Center in honor of her donation.