May 26, 2024
After speaking with the parish council and finance council of Saint Aloysius for the greater part of a year (my apologies to Saint Benedict’s this article only affects you tangentially) I think it important to publicly address the possibility of putting our school building to use. My hope is to bring Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven), a Catholic classical homeschool hybrid, to Louisville, and by God’s grace, they will accept the invitation to settle in Shepherdsville. So what is a classical homeschool hybrid? In Regina Caeli’s own words:
“Regina Caeli Academy is an accredited PreK-12 Classical homeschool hybrid academy for Catholic families, located in cities across the US. Our five-day-a-week program provides a timeless, content rich-curriculum in the classical method, with instruction in morality and virtuous living. We provide in-classroom lessons two times a week and in-home lesson plans that support parents the other three days a week. Our students are immersed in a community of like-minded teachers who model virtuous living and the pursuit of intellectual and heavenly achievement.”
Saint Aloysius would essentially be the landlord, and I would be the chaplain of sorts. Regina Caeli will be responsible for hiring and paying teachers, managing enrollment, and caring for the student’s education. Some questions you may have:
How is this different from what we had before? This is a homeschooling hybrid which means that the draw will be much wider than Saint Aloysius school was able to maintain. When I visited the center in Nashville the director there told me that they have families that drive 1.5 hours one-way in every direction to get to their Regina Caeli. That’s a much larger service area than our school could alone ever attempt to draw from!
What will this cost the parish? While there is the promise of rental income we will need to put some money into the school building to bring it alive again. We are still working on what that might look like but I encourage you to donate to Saint Aloysius with the knowledge that we are attempting to revitalize the school ministry in a new and exciting way.
When will this take place? The process of bringing Regina Caeli to Louisville is one that the national organization has perfected over the years. The first step is to get 25 families interested in the possibility and then the national office will send staff to conduct information sessions in Louisville and the surrounding areas. After that, Regina Caeli will be looking for 50 students to commit to attending the school and if that benchmark is reached we can look to opening for the 2025-2026 school year.
What can we do to support this effort? PRAY! It is only by God’s grace that this even has a chance of working. Other than that you can help me get the word out to the community that this is what we are hoping to accomplish. By God’s grace, big things can happen!
Two Parishes, One Heart,
Fr. Adam