When I was a younger Catholic school principal and talked about the importance of the Catholic faith, I tended to describe it as one of the “pillars” of the school, along with a strong academic program, a vibrant fine arts program, and a vital athletic/extra-curricular program.
But that’s wrong. Catholicism isn't a pillar of the Catholic high school. It’s the foundation upon which every other pillar stands.
I’ve been reflecting on that idea as we complete our third year as a school at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Al and as I finish my 30th year as a Catholic high school principal, president or headmaster.
First, a quick autobiography: Growing up, my parents were devout Catholics, and lived out the gospel in a remarkably authentic way, making Jesus’ mandate to love the “least of these” as a core value in our home. It was common to have recovering alcoholics as honored guests for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners. A drug addict, fighting through his addiction, once lived with us for six months, as did once an unwed mother, needing support through her pregnancy. Many times in my childhood, I remember helping my father do last minute evacuations for families evicted from their apartments, or repairing things in other people’s houses, or helping people who couldn’t afford a mechanic on their cars. Every summer for many years, my father loaned our V.W. bus to a migrant workers camp, so they could get back and forth to their jobs each day, leaving us with one car for a family of 7 all summer. My family began each day with morning prayer before school, which included (not very enthusiastic!) singing. None of this seemed heroic, “weird” or even different to my sisters and me, and it certainly didn't make us saints! But it was the family my parents created, and it was the only family we knew.
Catholic education, too, was important to all of us. I attended Catholic schools straight through, from kindergarten through 12th grade, and then for undergraduate and graduate school. I majored in theology, then even earned a master’s in it. I’ve been a practicing Catholic all my life.
So it’s odd to me, looking backwards, why I understood the faith of the Catholic high school merely as a component part of the broader whole.
Perhaps it was the residue of 70’s and 80’s, which tended to over-emphasize the importance of “academic freedom” in Catholic education, fearing that a full throated embrace of the authority of the Church somehow compromised the school’s academic integrity. Better to have the “faith piece” in “conversation” with the other important aims of the school, holding each other in some sort of “check and balance” system to keep one from dwarfing the other.
Or perhaps it was a result of an ecumenical sensitivity; indeed, the first two schools I led were 40% non-Catholic, so it was important to speak as inclusively as possible, driven partly by the John Paul II’s statements that ecumenism was central to the Church’s mission, yes, but also driven partly to widen our market appeal.
Or perhaps it was because the first two high schools I led were shepherded by good and holy bishops, but whose administrative style was “hands-off,” allowing the boards and I to operate without a sense of immediate accountability to Church authority.
I suspect it was some combination of all of those things. But whatever the cause, coming to Fairhope and starting a new school at St. Michael has forced to rethink my prior assumptions.
First, I am the first principal of a school that had been built and designed by the bishop, vicar general and superintendent’s office of our archdiocese. Long before I was hired, most of the fund-raising, the choosing of the site, the architect, design, bids, contractors, the name of the school, its mascot and its color scheme had been settled. These were the decisions of archdiocesan leadership—assisted by the good people of Baldwin County to be sure—but with bishop at the helm. So from the beginning, this has been “his” school, the school that he founded. He is rightfully proud of us, something I find endearing now, though I wasn’t too sure early on.
Second, unlike my two previous bishops, my current archbishop continues to play a very active role in the life of the school. He wants constant communication, and often emails me to get the latest enrollment numbers, asking questions like the percentage of 8th graders enrolling from the three Catholic elementary schools, or wanting me to explain some rumor he’s heard. If anything new is going to be built, he wants to understand why, how much, and to be engaged in the discussions prior to his green light to go forward. He takes his pastoral responsibility for the school quite seriously, saying mass with our kids early in the year, and teaching every theology class in the school (two full days) later on, so that the kids get to know him and can ask him questions. About two months before our first graduation, he asked me if we had written an alma mater yet, and when I said we had not, he handed me some music, saying "this would make a nice tune, see if you can put some words to it--it would be special to have an alma mater ready for graduation." So we used the music and wrote the words, and singing it that night was yes, quite special.
Third, certainly more so than my second school, we have the full backing and support of the 12 area pastors. In fact, the bishop named them all “co-chaplains,” and while some may argue that having twelve chaplains is the equivalent of having none, they've been remarkably enthusiastic and supportive, rotating through each week for our school-wide Wednesday mass, or coming out in great numbers for school reconciliation services, riding with students to Washington for the pro-life trip, or attending sporting events.
Fourth, generations of Catholic families in this area wanted a Catholic high school for a long time, dating back to the 1970’s when a local Catholic family deeded property to the archdiocese to build one. When it was finally becoming a reality—40 years later!— the Catholic community poured itself into it, giving generously, devouring news about the first principal, the first teachers, the curriculum we were building here. And for these people, it is of greatest importance we are a great Catholic school.
The truth is, I found all this a little jarring when I first arrived the year before the school opened. Things happened I didn’t expect. I proposed a tuition figure the year before we opened in 2016, but when it went to the bishop and the finance committee, they lowered it by $1,000/child. When I proposed 32 credits for graduation to include two years each of language and music as a core requirement, I became embroiled in a four month debate with the Office of Catholic Schools (to their credit, they let me do it). When I inadvertently (I promise!) misinterpreted a hiring policy of the archdiocese one year, I was called before the superintendent and archbishop and reprimanded. When I wanted to introduce a couple of non-traditional courses in the second year, I was told (politely) “no.” In my first twenty-six years of being principal, I can’t recall being told “no” before, as long as I had gone through the right process! And I’ve never been reprimanded. So it’s been a bit humbling, and taken me a while to adjust.
But here’s the thing—we’ve embraced it. I’ve embraced it. Sometimes I’m the conductor of the band, sometimes I’m not! We just completed the school’s first graduation in May, and it was a glorious event. For the community of faith here, for the archdiocesan leadership, for the archbishop himself, it felt like a loop was being closed—the “completion” of a long dream, finally realized. We’ve all been building this school together.
St. Michael is a deeply Catholic place, under the clear authority of the archbishop, fully supported by active pastors, managed by the Office of Catholic Schools, supported by the Baldwin County Catholic community.
And the result?
We are absolutely thriving, by any metric. Enrollment has been growing very quickly, so much so that we balanced the budget in our third year, one year ahead of schedule. Despite our unambiguous Catholicism, we continue to attract non-Catholic families, now comprising 25% of our student body. Students are generally devout in their faith, as evidenced by reverence at weekly masses, attendance at retreats, piety during morning prayer and before ball games. We even had two young men enter the seminary after graduating. Our athletic and music programs are successful. 70% of our first graduates received scholarship offers for college. Fund-raising has been fantastic, evidenced by the fact we’re just about to reach our ridiculously ambitious goal of five million dollars for an athletic complex as we continue to build the campus.
And my sense is—that because of our full embrace of our faith and the authority of our Church, that despite the fact we are just three years old, our base is BROADER, DEEPER and STRONGER than many long-established private schools. Our faith is not “one pillar among many.” It’s the firm foundation.
As for me? Still learning after 30 years. It's been both challenging and wonderful.
