September 29, 2024
Way back in May, I wrote about the possibility of bringing Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven) Homeschooling Hybrid to the school building at Saint Aloysius. A lot has happened since then and now I want to give a general update to both parishes so that everyone knows where we stand. First a refresher on the general process for bringing Regina Caeli to a new location: (1) around about May/June an online form was made available where parents could express their interest in bringing Regina Caeli to their area, once 25 forms are received the process advances, (2) around July/August the city coordinator (main local advocate) has an interview with the staff of Regina Caeli to decide if there is enough local interest and possibility, (3) a date and location are determined to hold a parent’s information session, the expectation is for 50 families to be represented at this meeting, (4) after the information session enrollment is opened and families can commit to sending their children to the new center, (5) if 75 students are enrolled by March the center is set to open and finishing touches are worked out on the building, rental agreement, etc. We were able to make it to the third step; unfortunately, we only received RSVPs from 30 families. Regina Caeli has the desire to open new centers throughout the United States. They do, however, desire for those centers to be opened with a high probability that they will grow and succeed. Our local homeschooling families just did not express enough interest to guarantee that sort of viability at this time. This does not mean we are at a dead end. We have a plan, we will not have to start over; we will build upon the work already in place!
We will work with Regina Caeli to continue to get information out there about the Catholic classical education that Regina Caeli desires to provide, and how they want to assist parents in being the first teachers of their children. We will take the wonderful work that has already gone into the school building and make these classrooms available to groups who would like a space to meet, especially homeschooling groups who can utilize a central meeting location. We will also be offering, to the entire Archdiocese of Louisville, a presentation on the benefits of a Catholic classical education. All of this will be conducted with the hope that by bringing homeschooling-inclined families together at Saint Aloysius we will be more easily identified as a viable location for a future center. I believe, and many others agree, that Shephersdville is perfectly located as a central hub between Louisville, LaGrange, Southern Indiana, and the E-Town, Radcliff, and Bardstown areas. Another promising aspect is that more and more young families are interested in homeschooling, but are less inclined to put together their own curriculum. Instead, these young families are often interested in a unified curriculum, with authentic Catholic teaching and community. The answer for these new parents seems clear, and we can provide the location for that dream.
Many have put in countless hours bringing life back to that school building. Pablo Fierros, his nephew Juan Miguel, Mike Sweatmon, Mike Brady, Andy Schank, Louis Amshoff have given hours, no, entire days to this dream and the dream is not over. I know God is working amongst us, it just might take a little longer than we hoped.
Two Parishes, One Heart,
Fr. Adam