Cristo Rey Jesuit High School History
The Jesuits
The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is a religious order of priests and brothers in the Roman Catholic Church.
It was founded in 1540 by a small group of college roommates at the University of Paris with a desire to be of greatest possible service to the mission of the Church. When the Jesuits arrived in the United States in the late 18th century, they had already been in the business of quality education for almost 200 years.
Today, the network of American Jesuit high schools educates approximately 44,000 young men and women yearly. Well over 95% of their graduates continue education at the college level. Almost all of the schools are in major metropolitan areas. However, all but a few serve mostly upper-middle class populations.
Cristo Rey Network
The Cristo Rey model was developed back in 1995, when then-Chicago Archbishop Joseph Cardinal Bernadine challenged the Jesuits to find a way to provide quality Catholic secondary education for the impoverished immigrant Hispanic population of Chicago’s near southwest side.
The Cristo Rey Network of schools was established in 2001 when philanthropist B.J. Cassin established the Cassin Educational Initiative Foundation, to “blueprint” and replicate Cristo Rey-model high schools and similarly innovative grade schools.
Students in Cristo Rey model schools earn between 50-70% of the cost of their education while providing real value to their employers. This renders the schools financially viable, even while enrolling students exclusively from low-income families. A distinct bonus is that the work experience gives these students a whole new vision of themselves, of their education, and of their own potential.
Due to inexorable financial pressure, inner-city Catholic schools are closing all around the country. Going against this trend are the new “Cristo Rey model” high schools – 24 established in the last 15 years and five more in development.