"Catholic education does not begin in college"

Sixteen years ago a group of determined Catholic families started with almost nothing (in a material sense) and today there exists an excellent grade 6 through 12 school serving 550 children in rural South Carolina.

Father Dwight Longenecker tells us the rest of the story while making a little fund-raising pitch ...

My main job is chaplain to St Joseph's School in Greenville, South Carolina. St Joe's is a wonderful school. Just sixteen years old, it was started by nine families who felt called by God to start a Catholic school in upstate South Carolina.

They started with $800.00 in the bank and nine students in a house borrowed from the local Lutheran pastor. Sixteen years later we occupy a 38 acre campus and have nearly 550 students in grades 6 - 12

St Joseph's is a school that can best be described as 'classically Catholic.' We are orthodox and always faithful to the church's magisterium. This sounds maybe a little bit, ummm shall we say, 'stuffy'?

Not so. The school is an open hearted, loving and enthusiastic community with truly committed families, faculty and staff. With a full range of fine arts and athletics programs as well as high academic standards, the school also has a fine commitment to the pastoral work and spiritual development of the students--seeking to form hearts and minds in the image of Christ.

Here's the school website, and here are the photo galleries. See what a great school God has given us!

Now here's why I'm writing all this: Every year St Joe's has a big fundraiser. Our Knight Before Christmas gala has a raffle. Each year you can win a car (or take the cash) Second prize is a home theater system with 47" screen and all the trimmings. Third prize is a vacation in San Francisco.

Tickets are expensive: $100.00 each, but there are only 2,000 of them, so your chances of winning are pretty good.

It would be great if some readers went to the site to buy some tickets. It would also be great, if you have a blog to help spread the word about St Joseph's and this raffle. Talk about St Joe's. Link to the school website, and use the link below to help people buy tickets.

This is a fun and practical way to support a terrific Catholic School.

Remember, Catholic education does not begin in college...

Help us educate the next generation of 'classical Catholics' to help renew Christ's Church.

Link here for more information on how to buy tickets.

One wonders if being "orthodox and always faithful to the church's magisterium" might have anything to do with St. Joe's success.  Bishop Clark and a steady stream of failed MCCS Superintendents have tried just about everything else, with disastrous results.  Perhaps it's time to give orthodoxy a try.