LIVING HISTORY
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Treasure Coast Education
“The nuns were just wonderful and Monsignor Beerhalter
loved children. When we went to Mass we all wore
hats or veils. It was mandatory for a woman to cover her
head in church. After Mass, we would all gather outside in
that big yard and talk, and catch up with friends. You knew
everyone.”
One of her memories was attending midnight Mass on a
night when the power went out. “We just had to sit there and
wait for the power to come back on,” she says.
Bill Wolf was baptized at the church in 1931. He became an
usher when he was 16 and has been one ever since. “Many
of the men went off to World War II and so they had us high
school boys do much of the ushering,” he says. He fondly
remembers the old church and the large yard where the congregation
gathered afterward to visit. “It was such a beautiful
church,” he says.
But termites were attracted to that wooden church, too.
It was replaced by a new building dedicated in 1975 on the
South 33rd Street property donated by parishioner George
Guettler. The original stained glass windows and some statuary
were moved from the old church.
St. Anastasia School expanded, too. A new elementary
school and convent were dedicated in 1960. John Carroll
High School is on an adjacent piece of property.
Today, the convent is a $3 million media center. Only one
nun, Sister Helen Dom Pierre, still teaches at St. Anastasia.
She is the last representative of an order that had a profound
influence on the education of thousands of area students.
CELEBRATING THE CENTENNIAL
Events celebrating St. Anastasia’s 100th anniversary
include a cowboy-themed dinner and dance on Saturday,
April 17; a youth rally on Saturday, Sept. 24; the Second
Annual Golf Tournament, on Saturday, Nov. 6; and the
Centennial Anniversary Mass celebrated by Bishop Gerald
M. Barbarito on Saturday, Dec. 11, followed by a special
reception. For more information, call 772.461.2233.
The offices of St. Anastasia Parish on the campus on South 33rd Street. The
first floor on the west side of the building for decades housed an auditorium
where parish Masses were celebrated.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ST. ANASTASIA CATHOLIC SCHOOL
Students at St. Anastasia Catholic School celebrate the feast day of Saint Therese. Daily classes in religion and weekly Mass attendance are a vital part of
the school’s curriculum.