James
I came across this old picture online and had to share it. It’s a snapshot of life at Saint Rita’s School, which was located on Milwaukee’s East Side. The year is 1966 and you see the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joan Antida (Photo credit). (My aunt is actually in the background, standing at attention in the Girl Scout honor guard.) It offers a captivating view of Catholic identity at our schools in Milwaukee back in the day. This part of town was Ground Zero for Milwaukee’s Italian (mostly Sicilian) immigrant community. An echo of that era remains in the bakeries, restaurants and occasional Italian flag you’ll see tattooed on a forearm, but the ship of authentic community, centered around parish and school life, left port long ago.