St. James School Legacy Foundation What should an education give a child? The ability to think clearly. The courage to choose what is good. A faith that gives direction to a whole life.
The purpose we share
St. James exists to form the whole person in Christ. Learning, prayer, friendship and service belong to that one purpose. The child who is learning to read is also learning to listen. The child discovering their abilities is also discovering their responsibility to others.
Academic ambition and Catholic faith belong together. We want children to grow in understanding, develop their gifts and learn to use them with wisdom and generosity. An education succeeds most deeply when what a child knows becomes part of how they live.
That is the mission a new home must carry forward.
“Catholic education offers a special partnership between home, school, and the Church.”
Holiness begins in a relationship with Christ. It grows through prayer, worship, a well-formed conscience and the practice of loving others. Catholic education helps a child recognise that this calling belongs to their own life.
Explore formation in faithA changing world calls for people who can pay attention, reason carefully and judge well. A rich education opens the inheritance of literature, art and thought while developing the knowledge and habits that make further learning possible.
Explore our philosophy of learningReligious sisters, priests and bishops helped establish and sustain schools, colleges and universities in Canada. They taught, led institutions and brought supporters together to give learning a lasting home.
In 1639, Marie de l’Incarnation and two fellow Ursuline sisters arrived to educate girls. Their community’s work is one example of the part religious women played in creating and carrying an educational institution across generations.
Read the history at Parks CanadaFrançois de Laval founded the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 to train priests. The seminary’s educational work later broadened, and it founded Université Laval in 1852. The university became an independent secular institution in the early 1970s. Its history shows both the reach of Catholic educational foundations and how institutions change.
Read Université Laval’s historyAt the invitation of Toronto’s bishop, Basilian priests began teaching in 1852 and directed the studies of the new St. Michael’s College. A gift of land from John Elmsley helped provide its campus. Religious leadership, teaching and patronage worked together to establish a place for Catholic learning.
Read St. Michael’s College’s historyThis history also includes Catholic participation in the residential school system. Church-run schools, funded by the federal government, separated Indigenous children from their families and cultures and caused lasting harm. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation preserves this history and the experiences of Survivors.
To carry an educational mission forward is to accept responsibility for the dignity of every child, the place of families and the truth of the past.
Parents are a child’s first educators. Teachers help children discover what they can do and expect them to give their best. Parish life brings families into a community of worship and service, linking generations through a shared faith.
St. James has served Vernon since 1957. Today it is a Catholic school for Kindergarten to Grade 7. The project concerns the home that will support its mission into the future.
A patron joins this shared responsibility. Their generosity can help give another generation a place to learn, grow in faith and discover what it has to give.
