Name Paul Schulte Posthumous style none | Religious style Bishop Spoken style Your Excellency Died February 17, 1984 | |
 | ||
Reference style The Right Reverend | ||
Paul Clarence Schulte (March 18, 1890 – February 17, 1984) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Indianapolis from 1946 to 1970.
Biography
Paul Schulte was born in Fredericktown, Missouri, to Frederick and Anna (née Priggel) Schulte. After graduating from St. Francis Solanus College in Quincy, Illinois in 1912, he returned to Missouri and studied at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 11, 1915. He was made vicar general of Indianapolis on February 13, 1910.
On May 29, 1937, Schulte was appointed Bishop of Leavenworth by Pope Pius XI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following September 21 from Archbishop John Glennon, with Bishops Christopher Byrne and Christian Winkelmann serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of St. Louis.
Schulte was later named the second Archbishop of Indianapolis (eighth Bishop) on July 20, 1946. Archbishop Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, the Apostolic Delegate to the United States, formally installed him on October 10 of that same year. Schulte's tenure saw the Catholic population of Indianapolis rise from 44,000 to 92,000 over a twenty-year period. He also concentrated on building churches in new suburban areas of cities and expanding educational opportunities. When Fr. Raymond Bosler, former editor of the Indiana Catholic and record, wrote a scathing article about Pedro Cardinal Segura's attitude toward Protestants entitled "The Cardinal Called the Cops 400 Years Too Late," the Archbishop responded by saying, "I thought your headline was a little flippant".
Schulte was appointed an Assistant at the Pontifical Throne on February 3, 1961, and attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. After twenty-three years of service, he resigned his post as Archbishop on January 3, 1970, the same date on which he was made Titular Archbishop of Elicroca.
Schulte died at the St. Augustine Home for the Aged in Indianapolis, at the age of 93. He was buried five days later at the Calvary Chapel Mausoleum on February 22, 1984.
St. Patrick’s Parish in Terre Haute, Indiana operated a small high school for a number of years. However, many people across Terre Haute began petitioning Archbishop Paul Schulte for a new high school. On January 9, 1952, Archbishop Schulte approved the new school to be named Paul C. Schulte High School; ground was broken on Nov. 16, 1952, for the new co-educational Catholic high school that would serve all the parishes of the city.
The school was placed under the patronage of The Immaculate Heart of Mary, and opened Sept. 14, 1953 with 256 students. Rev. Joseph Beechem was the principal; the faculty consisted of six nuns and five secular teachers, in addition, an assistant pastor from each of the Terre Haute parishes taught religion.
The school began to experience financial problems in the 1971-1972 school year. In response, parish assessments and student tuition were raised. However by February of the 1975-76 school year, conditions were such that the Terre Haute Deanery Board voted to close the school.
The student body organized a fund-raising drive that made it possible to continue for one more year. In May 1977, the Board decided that the school would have to close at the end of that summer.
By 2010, portions of the school building were being razed as the building had reached the end of its useful life.