This week’s Catholic School Matters Radio Hour podcast features two podcasts and seven great guests from around the country. Each guest played a role in the founding of new Catholic school which opened this fall. Here is a direct link to the podcast. Don’t forget to subscribe to get all of this season’s episodes when they come out!
On Wednesday’s Catholic School Matters Radio Hour podcast I start with a conversation with Fr. Tom von Behren, CSV, the founding president of Cristo Rey St. Viator in Las Vegas. Incredibly, the school was able to raise over $33 million to build a completely new school. “We wanted to honor our students,” he says, to give them the best. The total amount of money raised is incredible but the reason is perhaps more so.
Then John Petruzzelli, the founding principal of Kolbe Catholic Academy, the nation’s first Catholic recovery high school, joins me from Allentown, Pennsylvania. Last fall, Dr. Brooke Tesche, now the chancellor of the diocese, described the reasons for the founding of the school on the podcast.
Carolyn Gonzalez, the founding principal of Holy Cross Catholic High School in West Texas and the Diocese of San Angelo, describes the efforts to establish the diocese’s only Catholic high school. She and many supporters have worked tirelessly to establish this school.
Finally, President Gerald Vetter of Light of Christ Catholic Schools in Bismarck, comes back on the podcast to describe the grand opening of the brand new St. Mary’s Central High School. With a $46 million capital campaign nearly complete, Vetter shared the great news that the new high school is open.
On Friday, I’ll release another podcast featuring three other new Catholic schools.
Peter McCourt, the founding CEO of Cristo Rey Richmond High School, is the first guest. The school opened with 96 students (the same amount as St. Viator) from 33 different zip codes. The school is dedicated to workforce development opportunities for its students in a Catholic environment.
Then Dr. Jared Staudt, the founding president of the Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Victory in Denver, describes their new classical high school. He described the new model and their plan for growth.
Fr. Raymond Guaio, the founding president of Welsh Jesuit Academy in Cleveland, describes the Jesuit effort to found a middle school near St. Ignatius High School to serve the underserved students. It’s a great episode focusing on cutting edge innovation in Catholic schools. Here is another direct link to the podcast.
