Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph welcomes Our Lady’s Montessori as first new school in more than 20 years and third Bright Futures Fund School

January 5, 2023 – The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is pleased to welcome Our Lady’s Montessori School (OLMS). Beginning with the 2023-2024 school year, OLMS will welcome students to its new location at 58th and Michigan Ave. on the St. Therese Little Flower campus in Kansas City, Mo.

The school is an apostolic work of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) offering an authentic Catholic Montessori education to preschool and elementary aged children of all faiths and backgrounds. It has outgrown its current location on South 7th Street in Kansas City, Kan., so its board of directors recently voted to relocate to a larger building in Kansas City, Mo.

OLMS Executive Director, Sister Maria Laudem Gloriae, SOLT, said, "Our Lady's Montessori School has been growing considerably over the past few years, and after exploring different ways to accommodate our increasing enrollment, Bishop Johnston graciously and generously offered us an opportunity to relocate to his diocese. We are grateful for the warm welcome we have received from St. Therese Little Flower Parish and at the chance to open in the historic school building on its grounds. We are also grateful to Bright Futures Fund for their abundant help and support as we transition to this new location. We're eager to continue serving our current families as well as welcoming new families to our wonderful community at Our Lady's Montessori School. We are humbled by the way Our Lord has generously provided a new home for our growing school in a way we never expected."  

This is the first new elementary school to open in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph since 1999, punctuated by a nearly 10% increase in enrollment in diocesan Catholic schools over the last year. 

Dr. Karen Kroh, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, said, “Over the past two years our Catholic schools have experienced tremendous growth. The opportunity to expand the blessing of Catholic education in partnership with Our Lady’s Montessori School is a gift to our Diocese and the neighborhoods on the east side of the city.”

Our Lady’s Montessori School joins Holy Cross Catholic School and Our Lady of Hope Catholic School as one of three Bright Futures Fund schools serving communities in vital need of good, dependable education.

Jeremy Lillig, executive director of Bright Futures Fund added, “Bright Futures Fund is excited to work in collaboration with Our Lady’s Montessori as they open in our Diocese.  Bright Futures is excited to help provide a quality education at this location renewing its long legacy of Catholic Education.”

Our Lady’s Montessori School will locate in an existing school building adjacent to St. Therese Little Flower Church at 5814 Euclid Ave. in Kansas City, Mo. 

Father Don Farnan, pastor of St. Therese Little Flower Parish, said, “What an incredible blessing for our Catholic community. After several recent losses and closures, it is great that our diocese is opening its first elementary school in nearly a quarter century. It’s a bonus that it will be in the heart of Kansas City, where educational needs and spiritual expression are so great. After some dormancy and important reflection, people are eager to rally around the church doing what she has done well for centuries.” 

Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop James Johnston has envisioned a new Catholic school for the neighborhoods of Kansas City’s east side, serving an area that has experienced closures of Catholic parishes in recent years.
 
Bishop Johnston said, “One of the greatest opportunities we can provide for families and children is a Catholic education. Few things can impact the future of a child as much. I am grateful that Our Lady’s Montessori School will be bringing their beautiful and growing school onto the Saint Therese Little Flower campus as the newest member of the Bright Futures family.”

​Piece originally posted at: https://kcsjcatholic.org/2023/01/our-ladys-montessori-school-becomes-first-new-school-in-two-decades-to-open-in-kcsj/