Tuesday, October 15
New Catholic high school to open in inner-city Denver
Denver's low-income teens should not have to go to the suburbs to get a good Catholic education, say church officials.
They and other community leaders are scheduled to announce today plans for a new Jesuit high school in inner Denver aimed at getting kids from poorer families into college. Arrupe Jesuit High School will use a work-study program to help families defray tuition and give students a taste of working at downtown banks and law firms.
Arrupe will also fill a gap left by older Catholic high schools that left Denver to grow in the suburbs.
"There is a tendency for Catholic schools to move away from the inner city," said the Rev. Stephen Planning, Arrupe High School president. "The ideal thing about this site is that it is right in the shadow of downtown."
Arrupe organizers want to hold classes in buildings that once housed Denver's Central Catholic High School - which closed in 1979 and was located at 18th and Logan streets. Arrupe Jesuit will use three buildings on the 64,000-square-foot property to serve as many as 500 students in grades 9-12. The school would open in fall 2003 with 100 students.
Arrupe will emphasize a rigorous, college-preparatory curriculum, say organizers. To give Denver kids a chance at attending the school, it will offer the state's first corporate work-study program.
It will be modeled after one used successfully at Chicago's Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Planning said.
It’s 8:15 a.m. Wednesday at the Detroit Produce Terminal and two white habits flash past forklifts, boxcars, and roaring refrigerated truck trailers.
Sister Mary Lucille and Sister Rose stride down a concrete loading dock, pushing a four-wheeled dolly before them.
Time is short. Produce wholesalers close shop early, and Sister Lucille’s mental grocery list is a long one.
Lucille and Rose beg each week for the Sacred Heart Home for the Aged on Navarre Avenue in Oregon. They and nine other Little Sisters of the Poor oversee care of 70 indigent patients, a responsibility that includes providing three meals each day for about 100 people.
The founding charter of Little Sisters of the Poor requires each of its 220 homes to depend strictly on "Divine Providence" to meet financial needs. Except for Medicare payments, the order receives no ongoing support from the Vatican, the Toledo Catholic Diocese, or the government. What money or resources they need, they must ask for themselves.
(In case you're confused, the "Oregon" refers to a town in Ohio, not the state)
It is, of course, the feast day of St. Teresa of Avila. Strong, passionate women with a sense of humor take heart. This one's for you.