Bishop Luers High School is a Catholic high school located on the south side of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Bishop Luers is owned and operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. The school was founded in 1958 by the Franciscan Fathers of Saint John the Baptist Province in Cincinnati, Ohio, along with the Sisters of Saint Francis Province in Mishawaka, Indiana. The first bishop of the diocese, John Henry Luers, is the namesake of the school.
In August of 1857, John Henry Luers was selected as the first bishop of the diocese of Fort Wayne, primarily because he was a native German speaker and a successful pastor of a large urban and German parish in Cincinnati. Catholic life in Indiana was changing with the influx of German immigrants.
In February of 1956, Bishop Leo A. Pursley announced a fundraising campaign in Allen County for the construction of two new high schools. By then, Central Catholic High School was crowded, with 1,438 students taught by 35 sisters of four women’s religious communities, 9 lay teachers and 4 priests, under the principal, Reverend Edmund Moore. Its size and the prospect of more “baby boomers” reaching high school age made the need for two high schools critical.
In 1957 through 1958, the campaign funded the purchase of the south-side site at Paulding Road and U.S. Highway 27 for the new school named for Bishop John H. Luers. Pursley blessed the school’s cornerstone in August of 1958 to make the school’s opening for a freshman class of 150. A class was added each year until four years of schooling were offered.
Today, students come from twelve Catholic feeder schools and numerous public schools. Bishop Luers is accredited by Advanced Ed and the State of Indiana.
Bishop Luers is credited with the first ever Show Choir Invitational in the nation (1975) and will host their 50th Annual Invitational in the spring of 2024. Bishop Luers has numerous state championships in a wide variety of athletics and has claimed several state finalist awards in Academic Super Bowl competitions. There is a rich tradition of extra-curricular involvement, including Key Club, Catholic Intelligence Agency (CIA), Theater, Band, Bowling, and numerous other sports and clubs.
