Sacred Heart School Concerned Parents Association Sounds An Alarm
Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic School in Anniston, recently ranked one of the top 20 private high schools in the state by AL.com, opened its doors on September 1, 1953. After almost seventy years of providing a quality Catholic education, the parents and staff were notified on February 18, 2022, via a Friday afternoon email sent while parents were in car lines picking up their children, that the school would permanently close its doors at the end of this school year. Financial reasons were cited.
These parents complain that they have yet to be given the courtesy of discussing this abrupt decision with their pastor, Father John McDonald, with Bishop Raica, or indeed with anyone at the Chancery Office in Birmingham.
They say that their numerous emails have been repeatedly ignored, with but a single exception: one family member of a Sacred Heart student who did manage to ask Father John McDonald about meeting to discuss the school closing, informed us that Father John’s response was highly disrespectful, in a manner that he had never before experienced. Other parishioners report that they are being met with silence and hostility.
The families, children, and community there were never allowed the chance to put their heads together with the clergy to see how they might address the reported financial problem. Despite this passive-aggressive behavior by the pastor and bishop, they say that they have nonetheless been able to raise sufficient funds to allow the school to continue to open its doors. One upset parent told Birmingham Diocesan Watch that Father McDonald had set an enrollment goal of 150, but only two days earlier 148 students had been enrolled.
About 50% of the Sacred Heart student body are on financial scholarships. About 40% are minority students. If the school closes, these students, as well as all the others, will be unable to secure a comparable education. While there are other private schools in the area, they of course do not begin to compare to the well-rounded Catholic education these children have been receiving at Sacred Heart.
This school is a beacon in the community, yet the Diocese has so far done nothing to help these precious children, and has refused to communicate with the concerned parents. Some parents say that closing the school is directly connected to a misuse of funds during the ten-year tenure of Father Bryan Lowe who was, oddly, appointed Vicar of Finance for the Diocese despite failing to recognize the embezzlement of nearly $500,000 from 2013-2018 by the church secretary, Angela Cheatwood, who was then leniently sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution. These parents have told us that they are investigating her plea agreement with the Diocese, as well as questionable diocesan transfers of valuable Sacred Heart properties.