Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic School

OUR MISSION

St. Mary Magdalene Catholic School (StMM) is a community that proclaims the gospel by our dedication to quality instruction while fostering our commitment to the needs of others.

OUR BELIEFS

• Each of us is a child of God graced with special gifts and talents that must be recognized and nurtured in order to minister to others, bringing forth the Kingdom of God.
• Each student is a unique individual who can learn.
• Each student's academic and developmental needs shall be provided for through a commitment to spiritual learning and cultural awareness.
• Each student has the potential for success and academic self-confidence through active learning experiences.
• Varied approaches to both teaching and learning assessments meet the different needs of each student and allow them the opportunity to demonstrate essential knowledge and skills.
• The entire school community shall complement and support the role of one another in promoting the success of each student.
• Varied learning assessments shall allow each student the opportunity to demonstrate essential knowledge and skills.
• The commitment to ongoing improvement is vital to our continued success as we nurture confident, faith-filled citizens.

THE HISTORY OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE PARISH

In 1997, Bishop Joseph Gossman appointed Father Donald Staib to begin a new parish in Apex. Father Staib’s first task was to work with pastors of St. Andrew’s and St. Michael’s in Cary to build two new Catholic elementary schools. 

In 1997, the three pastors and committees of lay people began work with architects to design the buildings, establish curriculum and guidelines for the schools and form a search committee for two principals. The next task was to raise funds for the construction. Ground was broken for the two new schools on June 6, 1999. One school was built on the campus of St. Michael’s and the second school became the beginning of our parish. 

When it came time for the groundbreaking, a name was needed for the parish. Father Staib had asked various groups and individuals for suggestions but no strong contenders were proposed. Father Staib strongly favored a Biblical name and suggested Mary Magdalene to Bishop Gossman. There are no other Catholic churches in North Carolina with this name. 

In the New Testament, Mary Magdalene is mentioned four times: she was healed by Jesus of an affliction; she and other women supported Jesus and the Apostles in their ministry; she stood with Jesus’ mother at the cross; she was the first witness to Jesus’ Resurrection. Because she took the news of the Resurrection to the Apostles she is often called “Apostle to the Apostles.” 

St. Mary Magdalene Parish began to hold Sunday Mass at Apex Middle School. The first Mass was celebrated on September 12, 1999. On December 5, three months later, a second Mass was added. 

Our new building was completed, and Bishop Gossman came to bless the St. Mary Magdalene campus at Mass on Sunday, August 13, 2000. In keeping with the background of St. Mary Magdalene, the street address for the parish is Magdala Place; Magdala is the town in the Holy Land from which Mary of Magdala came. By August 2000 the Parish had grown to over 200 families. A Saturday Mass was added to the weekend schedule on October 14, 2000.

The school principal, Bob Cadran, had worked for the previous year in hiring faculty, ordering the desks and all equipment for the school and watching over the final process of the school construction. The colors of the parish and school are burgundy and gray with gold accents and the mascot is the St. Mary Magdalene Monarch Butterflies.

St. Mary Magdalene School and St. Michael School are governed by a Board appointed from the three parishes who support the two schools.

St. Mary Magdalene School opened for class in September 2000 with an enrollment of 330 students in Grades Pre-K through 8th grade. It was a unique experience for the students; they had never been in the building and never met their teachers or administrators and many had never worn school uniforms before. It did not take long for them to get used to their new surroundings.

St. Mary Magdalene is most grateful to all its members and those in the parishes of St. Andrews and St. Michaels who contributed to Campaign 2000 to fund the incredible beginning of our Parish.

In October 2001, the Parish began a second fundraising campaign, “God’s Work ~ Our Challenge” to raise funds to meet the growing needs of our Parish and School and groundbreaking for a second building was held in March of 2003.  The new building added additional classrooms, adult meeting rooms, a dining hall and a multipurpose room which is used as our current worship space and a gymnasium. The building was dedicated by Bishop Gossman on September 19, 2004.

By the summer of 2005, we had grown to over 1000 families and baptized nearly 400 children in our Parish.

We look forward to the future as a community that can grow as a Parish in service to one another and to others. This directory provides information on the numerous ministries that make up our young and exciting Parish. Please contact the Ministry Coordinators to become involved in a ministry or ask for additional information.