Barat Academy Article From the Post Dispatch

From the Post Dispatch, September 5, which I missed:

Father James Callahan (front, left to right), Archbishop Raymond Burke and Bishop Robert Hermann lead the group of Barat Academy freshmen to school dedication ceremony Tuesday in Dardenne Prairie.
( Huy Richard Mach/P-D)

Barat Academy was founded by a lay board of directors instead of a religious order, a parish or the archdiocese. As an independent school, its financial support comes from tuition and charitable contributions.

However, the school is faith-based. Burke approved its formation, and the school and surrounding development off Highway 40 were named for the founder of an order of nuns dedicated to teaching. Barat Academy will have a board of directors, but it also will have a church-recognized board charged with maintaining the school's philosophy and Catholicity.

"I am filled with the deepest joy to come to bless a new private Catholic high school to serve families in the most rapidly growing area of the Archdiocese of St. Louis," Burke told the crowd.

In western St. Charles County, the number of Catholic households in the St. Gianna Church territory — the first new parish in the archdiocese in 25 years — is expected to grow dramatically. The archdiocese estimates that the new parish will have about 1,000 households by 2010, a 50 percent increase.

Perhaps, another Catholic High School might be needed soon? Solid faith formation and education is certainly needed.