Friday, February 6, 2009
Reopening our Parish School
St. Therese Parish School was merged into a multi-parish school decades ago. Sadly, it closed at the end of the 2007-2008 school year, a result of years of decline, loss of focus on its mission, and poor management. The Pastoral Council has endorsed an effort by parishioners to re-open the Early Childhood Education Center focused on serving children of working poor families in our parish, zip code and deanery. Our dream is that this would be the first step in reopening the possibility of Catholic education for poor and minority residents of the inner city. Catholic schools used to open doors of evangelization for African-Americans and prepare the way for success in school and in life. Catholic Nativity-Miguel and Cristo Rey Schools are making Catholic education accessible for many. We are currently applying for a grant that would help us develop a business and educational plan to reopen our Early Childhood Education Center as a first step.
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4 comments:
Is there any chance of an Anglican Use parish in Wichita?
The key ingredients are having a committed group of Catholic converts including a priest from the Episcopal/Anglican tradition, along with the support of your local Catholic bishop and Archbishop Meyers. We'd be pleased to have a group from Wichita visit us.
Isn't there already a early child hoood center 4 blocks away run by the school district? Wouldn't your program merely duplicate the program with the district and increase the debt that the church owes?
I have a great respect for the hard work done by many public school teachers and there are some great public schools in the KCMSD. But most are sub-par. But Catholic schools used to offer an alternative for minority inner city students. Catholic schools stress faith, values, discipline and service, and are some of the best schools in the state academically. I think we can afford to offer the opportunity to inner city residents by helping students get started right and supporting them along the way. Look at the Nativity-Miguel schools sometime and see what you think.
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