25 Years and Growing

How often do you hear of a Catholic school that is growing?

We all know the story by now: Declining enrollment in Catholic schools has brought about widespread closure and consolidation of what were once evangelical centers of academic and moral excellence.

But do we know how the story ends? No. We do not know what will happen with our Catholic schools, but we do know that with the eyes of faith, God will make all things new again.

This season of lent is a fitting time to look at Catholic education through the prism of redemption, as our current climate in the Church also positions a particularly unpleasant frame of reference.

Archbishop Charles Chaput addressed seminarians last week at the Pontifical College Josephinum. He chose "Facing the Future with Hope and Joy" as the theme. Below is why:

I chose tonight’s theme because it sounds better than “facing the future with confusion and anxiety,” and anger for that matter, because I’m tempted to feel all three of those things a couple of times a week. There are days when everyone in the Church seems angry....

This isn’t a dark time unless we make it so. We’re simply back again in the night before the Resurrection. The night passes. And we already know how the story ends; we just need to imprint it on our hearts. Gratitude, brothers, is the beginning of joy. This is a moment of privilege and opportunity, not defeat.

Mount Royal Academy now has two schools that are at capacity, on the precipice of expansion. Mount Royal North will be adding to its current facility to start 2019-2020 academic year, and the original campus will likely eclipse an enrollment of 200.

One mission. Two locations. Both with the same result: increasing enrollment.

But since our mission is the salvation of souls, we cannot cease to exert all our energies into attracting new families and raising children to sainthood.

- Derek Tremblay, Headmaster