It is this merger that results in the school's shared affiliation with the Carmelites and the Joliet Franciscan Sisters.

It was founded by James Dalton.The Joliet Franciscan Sisters opened St. Francis Academy in 1869 as an all-girls school.

George Cardinal Mundelein, Archbishop of Chicago, had the De La Salle Christian Brothers create a new high school for boys as a part of their renovation of St. Patrick Church in Joliet.

[2] A college preparatory high school, JCA places students in different academic programs based on their middle school grades, scores on the incoming freshmen placement exam, and scores on other applicable exams.

The school sponsors teams for men and women in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, track and field, volleyball, wrestling, and bass fishing.

Although new data is unavailable, JCA "touts [a high] drug testing success rate" of 99.996 as of 2012.