Our Savior Parish, a historical Catholic church in Covington’s Eastside neighborhood, was commemorated with a Kentucky State Historical Marker over the weekend, honoring the opening of both the church itself in 1944 and a Black Catholic School in 1943.
“My whole reason for doing this is to honor the history of the only all-Black Catholic school in Northern Kentucky and the only alternative school for Black Catholics,” said Divine Providence Sister Janet Bucher, pastoral administrator at Our Savior Parish, in a press release. “It’s important that this history be remembered.”
Covington’s fifth Bishop, Reverend William Howard, directed the construction of the school and church beginning in 1943. The structure itself is a combination of a converted single-family house, which would eventually serve as a worship space, and a two-family house, which would become the school and a convent for the Sisters of Divine Providence. The nuns would operate the school when it opened in September 1943. 56 students, only 14 of whom were Catholic, were initially enrolled between grades 1 through 12.
The school closed in 1963 due to declining enrollment; however, the church continues to operate. Bucher retired as the pastoral administrator on Monday. Father Michael Comer, a pastor from Mother of God Parish, assumed the role of pastor at Our Savior Parish on Tuesday.