Our Mission & History

Our History

Founded in 1966 by Bishop James L. Connolly, Bishop Connolly High School began as an all-boys Catholic school staffed by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). In the fall of 1969, Fall River’s Msgr. Prevost High School became part of Bishop Connolly, and its Brothers of Christian Instruction joined Connolly’s educational staff, bringing with them the rich tradition of academic excellence for which they had been known since 1927. Ten years later, in 1980, Bishop Connolly High School became coeducational and the successor to Bishop Gerrard High School. Bishop Gerrard’s vibrant history of Catholic education for young women had its traditions founded in Jesus Mary Academy, Sacred Hearts Academy, Dominican Academy and Mount Saint Mary Academy, reaching back to the early years of the 20th century. Today, as a Catholic college preparatory high school in the Diocesan educational system of Fall River, Bishop Connolly serves students from over 30 cities and towns throughout Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

our core beliefs

• Each member of the school community has the obligation to live out the Gospel value of love and service to others.
• All students can come to know and have a personal experience with Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church.
• A standards-based curriculum, rooted in the Gospel, facilitates academic, spiritual, physical, cultural and social growth among students.
• Ongoing professional development in the spiritual, academic and pedagogical domains cultivates a more skilled and nurturing faculty.
• All students can learn provided they are given the appropriate contextual support.
• Critical thinking can be taught and nurtured.
• Students learn best in an environment that is safe, secure and accountable.
• A Catholic, holistic approach to education facilitates the development of lifelong learners who become leaders in the secular world.
• Families are a vital component of the school community.
• Personal integrity, respect for diversity and multiculturalism should permeate the entire school community.
• There exists an obligation to attend to the health and well-being of members of the school community.

Our vision

• The Jesuits’ long association with Connolly, from 1966 to 1995, laid a strong foundation upon which Connolly continues to build.
• That tradition calls young men and women to find God in all things, to experience their own value in God’s eyes, and to respond to that experience with generous service to God and others.
• This vision, which is the heart of Connolly, remains the central focus and mission of our faculty, staff and families.
• In order to appreciate and develop their talents, students are challenged to excellence—through academic classes, extracurricular activities, religious instruction and team cooperation. Interwoven throughout these experiences is the principle that to know God is to learn more about loving oneself, so as to love one’s neighbor.
• Consequently, our graduates—as people touched by the Spirit of God in the tradition of St. Ignatius—are prepared to be “not only hearers, but doers of the Word.”