LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — We think of people as “heroes”, but sometimes, something as simple as a building can make a difference.
“I guess everybody who went to school here felt like family because we had the nuns," says James Weathers. “And they would greet you as you came in and it was just a pleasant experience.”
St. Peter Claver Church is a place of worship for hundreds of Catholics from all different backgrounds today, but in 1875, the building was constructed for one purpose – to educate Lexington’s African-American children.
“Our school was set aside for us because we could not attend St. Paul’s and St. Peter’s, which was two blocks away from us, because of segregation”, says Weathers, who first attended St. Peter Claver in 1952 after his family had moved from Springfield and who today serves as the church deacon.
His family was just one of hundreds touched by this school, with rooms that housed several grades at once, in its some 90 years in operation.
“This particular space that we’re sitting in used to be the third, fourth, and fifth grade. And they took a portion of that room and that was the first chapel," says Weathers.
“So we’re actually in the original chapel where we’re sitting now? Of St. Peter Claver?” I asked.
“Yes. So that’s good history. To see it grow from this small area into this church that we have now is goodness, yes.”
“I think it was welcome in the neighborhood because the priests and the pastors who were here in the church, they were entrenched in the bigger neighborhood. They knew the families around the church, regardless if their child came to school. And I think for that era, it was uncommon because it was still during segregated times.”
Even after desegregation, St. Peter Claver still educated the neighborhood’s children.
“Some of the nuns that were still here decided to start the Montessori concept here at the school”, Weathers says. “Our kids were able to; my own family, my three, went to Montessori here in the same building. So we had another generation of kids being educated.”
Today, the original building is used for office space and conference rooms, all supporting a brand-new, multi-million dollar church sanctuary that was two decades in the making.
“You can feel yourself being on the shoulders of ancestors. When you see what’s happening today, they paved the way and we’re just fulfilling some of their dreams.”
