St. Joseph’s High School: Classrooms to Bedrooms in the City of Lowell, MA

Sr. Lillian Lamoureux, SFCC (Grey Nun)

What brought you here to St. Joseph’s for the Open House?

My heart!

My heart.  Anything that has to do with St. Joe’s always touches a special chord for me.  St. Joe’s is where I went to high school—although it wasn’t in this building.  I taught here, I was a supervisor here, I replaced the principal for a few weeks.  This whole complex—the convent, elementary school, high school, church—was my life.  I can trace my life from my baptism at the church to when I decided to become a nun.  All that happened within this parish and this building.

It has been a wonderful time for me to read about what’s happening in this building, that it’s going to be preserved, that it’s going to be saved, and that it’s going to be used for housing poor people.  I was a Grey Nun, and the Grey Nuns were founded to take care of the poor.  So throughout the whole history of the order—from the 18th century to now—the Grey Nuns have served the poor.  And CBA is going to do that!  They are providing housing that’s desperately needed, especially by those who are low income.  It’s like somebody is doing all the things I wish I could do.  I asked them downstairs how much this project is going to cost and when they told me how many millions, I said, “well, I guess my social security isn’t going to do it.  It’ll take a little more than what I have.”  But if I can do anything, other than my prayers, I’m definitely going to vote.  They say we can vote everyday, so I’m going to vote everyday! It’s the only time in my life that I can stuff the ballot box!

I think it’s an excellent idea to convert this building into affordable housing. First of all, there’s no chance that this building will ever become a school again.  There’s only one Catholic school left in Lowell.  At one time, we had five, but not any more.  The only alternative would be to tear it down and that would be a crime.  This is an historic building, it’s a solid building.  Its impact on the community is too significant to tear it down.  What would they replace it with… a parking lot?  Good heavens.  Whereas this building is going to provide good, comfortable, clean, beautiful housing for people who probably can’t afford it any other way. I think that’s the best way to use this building.  CBA did it with the elementary school, and they did a great job.

Some years ago I belonged to an Acre organization, which was a rival to CBA.  The other organization doesn’t exist anymore, and I was thinking about that this morning.  CBA has survived.  CBA has kept its charisma, its mission.  They started to help the poor and the Acre, and they are still doing it today.  I think it’s a wonderful thing.  I know they are applying for this grant for $100,000.  I wish the grant were for one million dollars and that they could get it tomorrow.

- Sr. Lillian Lamoureux, SFCC, is an alumnus and former a teacher of St. Joseph’s High School. She was also a resident of both the convent and Acre neighborhood.