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Demand growing for Catholic high school here
Fredericksburg-area Catholics are tired of waiting for construction of a high school backed by the Catholic Diocese of ArlingtonDate published: 10/2/2004
Every morning a group of students gathers in the sanctuary of Nativity of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church in Spotsylvania County to pray, read a biblical passage and listen to any school announcements. But the 34 students don't attend the church on Spotswood Furnace Road. They aren't even Greek Orthodox. The seventh- to 10th-graders are enrolled at Mariamante Academy, the first school in the Fredericksburg area that offers a Roman Catholic education but is not associated with the Catholic Diocese of Arlington or a religious order. The private school is temporarily located at the Greek Orthodox church. Though the school is not affiliated with the Arlington diocese, it hopes to be someday, said Louise Desilets, the school's headmaster, who also teaches religious courses. "If we're going to teach the Catholic faith we have to defer to their [diocesan] guidance and wisdom," she said. Mariamante Academy is also the only Catholic school for high school students in the area. The next diocesan high school is scheduled to be built in Prince William County. A construction date has yet to determined. Frustrated with waiting, some local Catholic parents have enrolled their children at Mariamante, while others have joined a separate initiative sponsored by some Catholic business leaders who want to build a high school in Stafford County. St. Michael the Archangel High School is scheduled to open in fall 2005 west of Stafford Courthouse. But are these truly Catholic schools? Unless they are run by a religious order or recognized by the diocese, they aren't allowed to have the word "Catholic" in their school names, said Soren Johnson, spokesman for the Arlington diocese. Building a Catholic schoolEstablished in 1974, the Diocese of Arlington includes over 394,000 registered Catholics living in 21 counties. It is bordered by the Potomac River on the north and east and by West Virginia on the west. Its southern border runs from Shenandoah County down to Spotsylvania. There are about 28,000 registered Catholics in the Fredericksburg area. The diocese, which has built 10 schools in the last decade, has seen Catholic school enrollment grow 32 percent during that time. There are now more than 18,000 students in the 42 Catholic schools in the diocese, Johnson said.
Date published: 10/2/2004
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