Archbishop Approves Future Elementary School at Church of Holy Spirit

Following the recommendations of the Institute for Parish Services, which conducted a six month study for the future of Catholic education in Montgomery in the spring of last year, and the subsequent recommendation of Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School’s Board, Archbishop Lipscomb has asked Church of the Holy Spirit to include a preK-6 elementary school in conjunction with its need to build classroom facilities for religious education. Currently, Holy Spirit parents whose children attend C.C.D. classes must drive their children to Montgomery Catholic’s middle school each Sunday. An elementary school would alleviate that need and place a Catholic school in the center of the city’s fastest growing area.

Fr. Troncale, pastor of Holy Spirit, explains what’s next: “A new elementary/religious education facility is an important part of a broader plan for the development our twenty acre property. What our long range planning committee has been asking is: ‘What will our parish need for the year 2020?’ Census projections estimate we will grow from our current 835 families to as many as 1300-1500 families by then. So over the last three years, we’ve conducted a series of surveys and meetings that indicate in addition to classrooms, the parish needs multi-use facilities for large meetings, better youth facilities, and other rooms for various parish ministries. We’ve hired a local architectural firm to develop a master site plan to incorporate these needs, and have just recently paid off the debt for our Church, built five years ago. Now, with Archbishop Lipscomb’s decision confirmed, we can proceed in finishing the site plan and decide on a time line for the construction of each phase.”

It will be the first new Catholic school in our diocese since St. Patrick’s in Robertsdale opened in the late 1970’s and the first ever regional elementary school Catholic school built to serve our diocese.

Godspell Production Set for March 4 & 5

DON'T MISS "GODSPELL"
Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School presents the exciting musical "Godspell." This Tony-award winning Broadway show is based on the Gospel of St. Matthew. Middle & High School students from Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School will be performing, and members of the Holy Spirit Life Teen band will be providing the music! Performances are Saturday, March 4 at 7 PM and Sunday, March 5 at 2 PM at Aldersgate United Methodist Church's stage at 6610 Vaughn Road (within a mile of CHS). Tickets can be purchased by calling Chris Ceponis at 271-1470.

$5 students, $10 adults."

Seventh Grade Student Dances in the Big Apple

Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School seventh grader, Mary Allison Tyner, recently traveled to New York City with the Backstage Dance Center of Birmingham. Tyner and nine other dancers spent four fun-filled days of dance and voice lessons with many New York professionals. Mary Allison participated in “The Rockette Experience” which offers aspiring dancers the opportunity to study up close and personal the world famous Rockette precision dance technique and learn choreography from the Rockette repertoire, including the world-famous Rockette kick line. She also received voice lessons from the Broadway Dance Center. Mary Allison Tyner is a dancer with The Alabama Armory Dance Center in Montgomery.

Pictured above, Mary Allison poses with a Swing Dancer for the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.

Ben Szatanek Wins Montgomery County Spelling Bee

Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School’s Ben Szatanek was named the Montgomery County Spelling Bee Winner after correctly spelling the adjective “eremitic,” which means “religious recluse” according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Ben is no stranger to spelling bee competitions, having won the Montgomery County Spelling Bee in 2005. He is looking forward to his second trip to the state level spelling contest in Birmingham on March 11, 2006. Ben is currently a seventh grade student at Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School’s Middle School Campus and the son of Major and Mrs. Jeff Szatanek.

Archbishop Approves Structure Change

Archbishop Lipscomb recently approved the Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School Board’s recommendation for the financial and administrative merger of the St. Bede, Middle School, and High School campuses. In addition, the Archbishop has approved Our Lady Queen of Mercy’s request to be removed from Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School and function as an independent Kindergarten through Sixth grade school once again. Both changes go into effect on July 1, 2006.

Currently, all campuses of Montgomery Catholic, including St. Bede, Our Lady Queen of Mercy, and the Middle and High Schools, are run as separate financial institutions and are led by separate school councils, each of which has the authority to pass policies for its campus. With the bishop’s decision, St. Bede, Middle, and High School will share a central business office, under the authority of a single school board.

MCPS School Board President Karen Heymann explains what the Board believes will be the result of the administrative and financial changes: “The benefits to our families in combining several years ago are already becoming evident. The larger school has not only created an improved image of stability and educational standards, but has demonstrated a tangible ability to generate media attention for our school. As a direct result, enrollment is up 14% from two years ago. A single financial office will continue this progress, helping us combine resources, weather temporary financial setbacks, maintain standards, create professional appeals and treat everyone equitably. Next year, we will standardize fees, tuition rates, admission policies, employee benefits, and payment schedules, thus eliminating the confusion caused by separate finance offices. In addition, there will be a noticeable financial benefit: those families with more than one child at MCPS will receive a multi-child discount of $1,000 for each additional child, regardless of which campus or campuses they attend.”

Regarding Our Lady Queen of Mercy leaving Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School, School President Faustin Weber explains: “Father Dean and Our Lady Queen of Mercy asked the bishop to remove Queen of Mercy from MCPS because they believe the best chance for the long term health of OLQM is as a parochial school. The parish’s successful tuition-free program is premised on the loyalty and pride of the parish for their school and they believe that centralizing finances as a regional school would detract from this intimate parish-school connection. Ultimately, the School Board believes what is best for OLQM is best for all of us, so they seconded the request to the bishop. We wish our sister school well and look forward to their continuing strong presence in our 7-12 program.”