Okay, I’ve just learned to not ever say in a blog what my next post will be; here I am changing the topic – but only for a quick note. I know of only four Catholic classical schools in the country that are parish (or diocesan) schools. Here they are:
The Atonement Academy – San Antonio, TX
Saint Theresa Catholic School – Sugar Land, TX
Saint Jerome Classical School – Hyattsville, MD
Holy Child Catholic School – Tijeras, NM
If you are aware of others, please post a comment with name, city, state. Thanks
Look into NAPCIS. Some of their schools may not be diocesan but they are classical.
Kathleen, thanks for your comment. I am familiar with NAPCIS. They are doing good work. However, their schools are private, not parish or diocesan, schools. There are many private classical Catholic schools and this goes to my point. Why are there so many private classical schools and very few parish ones? If educators within the Church were responding to the legitimate desire of parents to have this sort of classical education those numbers would be reversed. However, things are as they are, I believe, because virtually all Catholic educators are operating from a secular educational philosophy that is not, for the most part, compatible with the classical model – a model that has served the Church for its entire existence until the secular educational philosophy took root in our Catholic schools when lay men and women replaced religious as the leaders of our schools.
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Add to the list St. Pius X Classical Academy in Nashville, Tenn. (see http://www.stpiusnashville.org/ ), a traditional diocesan school which converted to a classical curriculum several years ago.
Also, please note that the permanent Web address for St. Jerome Classical School is http://stjeromes.org/stjeromeschool.htm . The temporary address in the link above will be shut down soon.
What is unique about St. Jerome is that it developed an entire K-8 curriculum based on the Classical model that can be downloaded at the Web site at no charge. From evidence at classical education forums on the Web, quite a number of homeschool parents are already using that curriculum. Also, whole dioceses are currently investigating implementing the curriculum in some or all of their schools (seven, at last count, including one of the nation’s largest archdioceses).
Contact me at crcurrie (at) gmail if you’d like more information on the curriculum or St. Jerome Classical School (I’m on a temporary contract as director of institutional advancement and also enrolled three children there this year).