Your participation will help raise needed funds to supplement the budget, provide enhancements to classrooms, purchase up-to-date educational tools and technology, as well as continue music, foreign language, theater, and art enrichment programs. For more information, please visit our web site at www.sanjosecatholicschool.com. We invite our families, our parishioners, our alumni and all friends of the San Jose Catholic community to help us foster, grow and maintain excellence in catholic education.
San Jose Catholic School is dedicated to fostering Catholic identity and academic excellence through faith, love, and knowledge. Our Catholic school has been serving the San Marco, San Jose, Southside, and Mandarin communities of Jacksonville, FL since 1961.
Philosophy
San Jose Catholic School is Christ-Centered and Child-Centered. Our Catholic School strives to develop the whole child, through the fostering of Christian community and demonstrating fidelity to the Catholic faith. We work to achieve this in an atmosphere in which personal growth and Gospel values are linked.
Our families, students and faculty work together interdependently, each with specific responsibilities for nourishing the learning and growth in all areas of a child’s life. It is our conviction that we are working together as one educational community. We achieve this in a loving atmosphere in which personal growth and religious values are strongly linked.
Historic Foundations
Nestled in the historic south Jacksonville neighborhood, and dedicated to St. Joseph from which both get their name, San Jose Catholic School, like its surrounding area, is steeped in rich heritage and strong traditions. The vision and goals of the pastors, sisters, and faithful people of San Jose Parish more than fifty years ago is very much alive and reflected in the school, staff, and student body.
SJCS began educating students in August 1961, under the guidance and direction of Monsignor Danaher and the Navan Sisters of Mercy. Mother M. Therese, Sister Enda, Sister Patrick, and Sister De Montfort, along with three lay teachers, opened the school with 184 students in six grades. These devout and dedicated sisters from Ireland brought with them a belief that Catholic education was a lifelong process. It was their mission to provide students with a strong Catholic foundation that would nurture and educate the whole person – spiritually, intellectually, physically, and socially. This same commitment to Catholic values remains the mission statement of San Jose Catholic School.
With architecture reflecting the Spanish influence of the area, the sprawling, untamed twenty-five acres in 1961 have given way to a beautiful and serene campus. State-of-the-art classroom buildings, science labs, media center, early childhood learning center, gymnasium, athletic fields, cultural and community centers are all a tribute to the many families who have made SJCS their apostolic mission for a half-century. Dedicated on Thanksgiving Day in 1968, the Shrine of the Holy Family, its altar, fountains, and bell tower remains symbolic of that commitment to faith, family, and community.
San Jose Catholic School’s diligence in building an academic and spiritual legacy that goes beyond the doors of the school continues to grow. Through faithfulness and a willingness to share the gifts of Christ’s love with others, students, families, faculty, and administration strive to seek opportunities to serve. SJCS students are passionate about helping others. Since 1999, the annual SJCS Musical has enabled the school to make donations of over $40,000 to The Guardian Catholic Schools scholarships. In 2004, students raised over $14,000, which was used to build homes for seven families in Jamaica. Each year, our school supports local organizations and families is need through monthly service projects. These donations and service to our community help model our core values of Faith, Love, and Serve.
At SJCS we are proud to be “fifty-nine years young.” SJCS is thankful for all the many blessings we have received. We continue to seek new ways to grow and renew through rediscovering and sharing values and traditions that have been our foundation since 1961. As we reflect on the past, live in the present, and look to the future, the San Jose Catholic School family will continue to be devoted, faithful, and committed people of God who strive to do His holy will in all things.
Ensure The Legacy
As tuition alone does not cover all of SJCS Operating budget, we must bridge the difference through direct subsidy from our parish, grants, private donations and our own fund-raising activities including this event. The launch of our “Ensure the Legacy” fund, formerly known as “Bridge the Gap”, will provide the most important source of funds available to SJCS and will supplement our budget as we work towards keeping tuition increases to a minimum.
Thanks to the generous financial support we receive from our parents, extended family, alumni, parishioners, friends of the School and Church and the San Jose Golf Classic, these donations also help fund many school-wide initiatives including enhancements to our classrooms and providing up-to-date educational tools and technology. Your tax-deductible donations allow our school to do more for every child we teach.
This year’s gap is $350 per student. We need support from people like you – Your generous contribution is tax deductible and will help us continue to empower our children through education and faith.
A Catholic education is unlike any other, and this is an opportunity for everyone to help our parish school. If you can contribute to this fund, wonderful! However, we understand that everyone may not be able to assist with treasure at this time. We ask that you pray for us in your daily prayers as we continue in our vocation to educate our youth in the Catholic Faith.
We at SJCS are grateful to you, our wonderful San Jose Catholic School Community. Together, we hope, we dream, we persist, and we love as we educate our children. It is this belief in each other that allows us to accomplish miracles.
God bless you all.