Caroline Ganthier attended Catholic school growing up, and though
she always wanted her daughter to attend Catholic school as well, she couldn’t
afford it. Then, when the pandemic hit, virtual learning through the local
public elementary school became impossible. “I am a single parent, I had to
work and at my job I have to be in person (so) I couldn’t do virtual learning
and work at the same time,” said Ganthier, a parishioner of St. Raymond of
Peñafort Church in Springfield.
Without support in the area, she returned to Kenya to be closer
to family. But then her parish provided a helping hand: a scholarship for her
daughter to attend Catholic school. Ganthier and her daughter returned to
Virginia, she went back to work and her daughter started in person at Angelus
Academy in Springfield in October 2020.
“The school is wonderful, and I like that she’s around kids who
have the same values as her. I was worried about her switching but she’s come
to love the school,” said Ganthier. “She’s where she needs to be.”
For many years, parishioners at St. Raymond, which has no
parochial school, were able to get scholarships to cover the difference between
“in parish” and “out of parish” tuition rates at neighboring Catholic schools.
But Father John C. De Celles, pastor, wanted to do more. He is offering
parishioners $2,000 to move their child out of public school to a Catholic
school of their choice. The following year and beyond, parents can receive
$1,000 per child to remain at a Catholic school. Home-schooling parents are
offered money for educational costs. Any family can ask for more assistance if
needed.
The tuition money largely comes from the Our Lady of Ransom Fund.
The name recalls when the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Raymond in 1218 and asked
him and others to found a religious order — the Mercedarians — that would
organize the ransom of Christians who had been kidnapped by Moorish raiders.
Father De Celles sees the fund as a way to ransom his school-age parishioners
from the prevailing secular culture at public schools.
“I think right now the schooling of our children is the issue.
We’ll lose them to the culture of death if we don’t provide an environment
where they can learn to love Christ in the educational setting,” he said. He
noted that Northern Virginia is very expensive and it’s hard for people to
afford their mortgage and school tuition, especially if they’ve been blessed
with many children. “We’re the church and we have to do something here. These
are our kids,” he said.
So far in 2021, the parish has raised $140,464 for the Our Lady
of Ransom Fund. During the 2021-22 school year, the parish has given $147,260
to subsidize the tuition of 113 students. Many children attend the nearby
independent Catholic school, Angelus, where Father De Celles is chaplain.
Others attend St. Bernadette School in Springfield, Nativity School in Burke,
Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria and Saint John Paul the Great Catholic
High School in Potomac Shores, among other schools. The Arlington diocese also
has Catholic school tuition assistance programs.
Though Father De Celles knows home schooling or sending children
to Catholic school is no guarantee that they will practice the faith as adults,
he believes it’s the best option for passing on the faith. “A lot of parents
who send their kids to public schools are very careful and talk to their kids a
lot and they send them to CCD. Some of the kids become warriors, real witnesses
to Christ in the schools,” he said. “But that’s really hard to do. It takes a
real dedication, a real concerted effort and not all parents are able to do
that and not all kids are able to do that, too, because the peer pressure is so
great.”
A poster in the narthex of St. Raymond of Peñafort Church
in Springfield tracks the progress of the Our Lady of Ransom Scholarship Fund. COURTESY
Parishioners Nick and Karen Popp planned to enroll their children
in public school until they learned about the tuition assistance program.
“We’ve always wanted to send our four kids to Catholic school but it was
never something that we could afford comfortably because I was a stay-at-home
mom,” said Karen. Last year, they enrolled their children at Angelus and
Karen started working there, too. “We went from basically never thinking
that we could afford to put our kids in Catholic school to doing whatever it
takes to make it work.”
Since then, they’ve watched their children fall more in love with
the faith. “Our kids went from complaining about having to go to CCD to
being excited to learn about their faith every day. I see my 6-year-old’s
little lips moving as he sits in his bed at night and I know he is
praying,” said Karen. “Our kids have always been good kids and we are
grateful to see them developing a stronger prayer life since coming to Angelus
Academy.”
Nick said that he and Karen tried to teach them about the faith
while they were in public schools and attending CCD. “We were not doing
nearly as effective a job as Catholic school is currently doing. That’s why we
are so happy about it,” he said.
The couple is grateful St. Raymond made a Catholic education
possible for their children. “God has done wonderful things through Father De
Celles,” said Nick. “When Catholic parishes are able to show generosity to
families to allow their kids to get a Catholic education, it really is
invaluable to many parents.”
