Stars of Stage and Screen

The Monsignor W. T. Flannery Radio and Television Broadcasts, known as the “School of Christ,” was a radio and television program that aired from 1939 to 1963. It was the brainchild of Monsignor Flannery, of the Diocese of London. The Sisters of St. Joseph played an instrumental role in the formation and operation of the program. Sister Constance Dunn encouraged the formation of the program during her term as the Congregation’s General Superior. Sisters Marie Brebeuf Beninger, Mary Margaret Childs, and Maureen Dalton participated in the direction of the show’s choirs, while Sister Callistus Arnsby provided accompaniment.

 Originally a local broadcast, the School of Christ became syndicated in Toronto, Chatham, and Windsor in 1940. Soon after, it extended into the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New York. At one point, the program was estimated to have had a potential listening audience of 10 million people.

Starting in the mid-1950s, the programs were taped in advance and broadcast on CFPL-TV until 1963.Although the primary forum for these choirs to perform was through radio and television, they also gave annual live concerts in a variety of venues, including London’s Grand Theatre, the auditorium at H.B. Beal Technical School, and Toronto’s Massey Hall Theatre in 1964.

-The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada Archives

Photo: Sister Marie Brebeuf Beninger and Choir. © The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada Archives