the increase in indiana's catholic population that triggered the splitting of the indianapolis diocese in 1944 also caused an increase in the need for catholic schools. it was clear that one high school would not be sufficient to provide for indianapolis' massively expanding catholic population. to this end, the archbishop of indianapolis, paul clarence schulte, ordered the construction of three new catholic high schools in the city. the first of these, bishop chatard, would serve the north side of indianapolis. the two other new schools, roncalli high school and cardinal ritter high school, would serve the south and west sides of indianapolis respectively. scecina would continue to serve the east side of the city.