Holy Angels gets renewed recognition

Seniors at Holy Angels Academy wrote down results from an experiment pertaining to sound during a science class. (Record Photo by Ruby Thomas)
Seniors at Holy Angels Academy wrote down results from an experiment pertaining to sound during a science class. (Record Photo by Ruby Thomas)

By Ruby Thomas, Record Staff Writer
Holy Angels Academy began more than 40 years ago in the bustle of downtown Louisville, but for the past 10 years, the school has been nestled on 10 acres of land in a quiet Middletown neighborhood.

Earlier this year, the independent Catholic school received renewed and expanded recognition from the Archdiocese of Louisville.

The school, located at 12201 Old Henry Road, was founded in 1973 by a group of parents with the help of Dominican Sister Elise Groves, who became the first principal, said headmaster Joseph Norton during an interview at the school last week.

Archbishop Thomas J. McDo-nough gave “initial permission” for Holy Angels Academy to be an independent Catholic school.

The recent expanded recognition from the archdiocese will give the school more access to resources from the superintendent’s office said Dr. Brian Reynolds, chancellor and chief administrative officer of the Archdiocese of Louisville during an interview in January.

“We are delighted that the leaders in the Archdiocese of Louisville have invited us to be more closely associated,” said Norton, adding that the school is already receiving more exposure as a result of the recognition.

Terri Glotzbach, who has taught second and third grade at the school for close to 30 years, said Holy Angels is an “old kid on the block,” but that this expanded recognition makes it feel “like a part of the bigger picture.”

“This will give parents another choice,” she said. “People may find we have something they like.”

A classical curriculum

Marina Traub, a kindergarten and first grade teacher, worked on reading with first-graders Lochlan McCarthy, left, and Caden Maskey. (Record Photo by Ruby Thomas)
Marina Traub, a kindergarten and first grade teacher, worked on reading with first-graders Lochlan McCarthy, left, and Caden Maskey. (Record Photo by Ruby Thomas)

Holy Angels, which has 68 students in kindergarten through high school, offers a “classical” curriculum.

Norton said that one of the tenets of a classical education is instruction in Latin because it helps train the mind to think. The formal instruction of Latin at Holy Angels begins in the second grade, but students are exposed to the ancient language during daily Mass as early as kindergarten.

“We believe the truth is found in the church founded by Jesus Christ,” said Norton. “A classical education in the Catholic tradition teaches the mind to think in the pursuit of truth.”

Norton said he likes to think of a classical education as getting back to the “nuts and bolts of learning.” Some of those “nuts and bolts” are the memorization, at the elementary school level, of grammatical rules, mathematical facts and early church teachings.

The classical curriculum, as applied at Holy Angels, progresses through three stages: grammar, logic and rhetoric. The rhetoric stage is the phase where students in middle and high school learn how to articulate, with spoken and written word, what they’ve learned.

Norton said the Catholic and classical traditions dovetail during this stage in the study of apologetics, which is the “explanation of the faith.” Norton said this equips students to answer the Holy Father’s call to go out and bring people into the church.

Glotzbach believes a classical education teaches “kids to learn about beauty and to look at things with awe and wonder.”

“Beauty can sometimes get lost when we get wrapped up in teaching content and not the beauty that’s underlying,” she said.

A “rich” Catholic culture

Norton said that over the years Holy Angels Academy has cultivated a “rich Catholic culture.” The school has a small chapel, where Mass is celebrated daily, he said. Father of Mercy Robert Gregor has been the school’s full time chaplain for more than 10 years.

The lower school, kindergarten through eight grade, has the opportunity to go to confession twice a month. The upper school, ninth through 12th grade, has the opportunity monthly. The school also offers exposition of the Blessed Sacrament every first Friday of the month.

One of the “greatest gifts” the school has received, Norton said, is the permission granted by the late Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly in 1995 to reserve the Blessed Sacrament at the school.

Glotzbach said she’s proud of Holy Angels Academy’s record of forming young men and women who are grounded in their Catholic faith.

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