Lourdes Academy

It pains my heart to leave this review. I was born and raised locally and grew up in this church and went to school there. It was my special and sacred place most of my life. Now I no longer feel welcome there. My family has attended and financially supported this church for over 50 years, but apparently that doesn't mean anything to them. If you or anyone in your family is "imperfect" you are no longer welcome here. In this case, it's my 8 year old son who was tossed out of second grade just a few weeks into the school year because of his ADHD. We had just spent hundreds on uniforms and school supplies at the time. This was also during a time I was working 7 day weeks for 7 months straight and my mental health was failing me. I shared this with their school counselor at the time, and instead of being met with any sort of empathy, I feel like this information was used against me. Then we spent over a month with our child out of school, as Lourdes would blacklist us from attending any other local private faith-based schools. It has been an incredibly traumatic and stressful experience for my whole family. Imagine just weeks before your 8th birthday being told by your school-- where all of your friends are, that you not good enough to be there and you can't come back. My son cried for weeks telling us how much he loved his school and teachers and friends and it took a very heavy toll on his self-esteem. Since then, we no longer attend mass at Lourdes, and I have been left with a crisis of identity no longer wishing to be identified as Catholic--- because if kicking out a child and his family is the Catholic way, then it's no longer a way I have any interest in. This church and school are incredibly cliquish and if you aren't "in" you are definitely "out". This school and church used to mean SO MUCH to me. It helped to build and mold me. It was my safe space as a child. Father Phil sat by the bedside of my first husband as he was on hospice at a very young age and even helped convert him to Catholic and married us. But then went from that to acting like I was a stranger the past few years, which I always thought was very odd. The school principal says one thing to your face and then another thing about you or your family behind closed doors. I had dreamed of sending both of my children to Catholic school at Lourdes from K until 8th, and now we can't get into ANY other local Catholic or private school as they have blacklisted us. Literally after growing up in this church, going to school there, volunteering, fundraising and wishing nothing but the best for this church. If you have a young family, children, etc. and are looking for a new school and church home, this is NOT it. Save yourself the heartache and pain of their philosophy of "All are invited", because "all are invited" until you are not. If you have time, treasure and talent to give, don't waste it here, where clearly it is not wanted. Losing Lourdes has truly been like a huge death, followed by unimaginable grief that has me second guessing Catholicism and Christianity in general.