Donations pouring in from more than 30 states and 10 countries raised a combined $400,000 for Pope John Paul the Great Academy, helping the Catholic school to secure its campus on the De La Salle Christian Brothers property on Carmel Drive. Donations pouring in from more than 30 states and 10 countries have raised a combined $400,000 for Pope John Paul the Great Academy, helping the Catholic school to secure its campus on the De La Salle Christian Brothers property on Carmel Drive.
John Paul the Great Headmaster Kevin Roberts Headmaster Kevin Roberts told The Ind in May that the school had long-planned to purchase the Carmel Drive property on which it currently operates, but the benefactor who had committed to making the purchase backed out a day before the deal was supposed to close on May 16. The Christian Brothers have notified the school that it cannot remain on the property beyond June 30.
"We did it! This school has become the cause célèbre for Roman Catholics around the country, and they all proved their support with very generous gifts and prayers during the last several weeks," Roberts says in a prepared statement. "The setting of the new campus," continues Roberts, "with its magnificent oaks and classical architecture, reflects what is at the heart of John Paul the Great Academy, that is, helping young people to understand God and themselves in the ancient desire for all that is true, good, and beautiful."
The academy has committed to accepting up to 64 students through the state's private school voucher program, which funnels public school money to fund private-school tuitions for certain students coming from low-performing public schools.
According to a release from Roberts, "the Academy's achievement in acquiring the historic site will provide a permanent home for not only the students but also for a small community of consecrated religious sisters as well as roughly 200 committed adorers in the school's perpetual adoration chapel."
"We want to thank each person who has walked with us during these past five years and whose sacrifices have made this vision a reality," says Rick Cambre, the Academy's Board of Trustees Chairman, in a prepared statement. "We are overjoyed that God has allowed us not only to participate in the founding of a new school but also to establish it permanently on one of the most beautiful pieces of property in Acadiana."
Read more on the academy and the voucher program here, here and here.