Blessed Sacrament in NWDC

[Anonymous]

what was the estimate of monthly contributions?

[Anonymous]

I asked my neighbor about Little Flower because her boys are there (one graduated) and we are looking around for our son. She said it's a traditional Catholic school in that kids toe the line for the nuns. Kids that don't hold it together well don't last. My husband's military so that's not an issue for us! She also said the "boy concerns" are better now (her oldest son had 5 boys in his class, her youngest has 17) because it has a great gym and artificial turf field that has really changed the sports there. Her boys play lacrosse and were telling me about the new priest who was an AllMet player and now teaches some grades too. I'm not super focused on sports so that didn't matter much to me at this stage of the game. I visited quickly but didn't get a sense of things yet. I did like their materiels at least. I didn't care for St. Bart's (didn't get the sense they are as academic), liked Mercy (doesn't everyone!) and don't have a prayer at BS (not parishioners for a billion years). Not sure about Lourdes - don't know anyone there. I'll probably go visit though.

[Anonymous]

What about St. Ann's Academy near AU?

[Anonymous]

When you go to these open houses, do they make it clear what the teacher credentials are-are they all certified? We went to the open house at OLOL and that was not discussed, but I'd like to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:would suggest you have an open and frank discussion regarding expectations of financial contribution to the parish. the new priest there is quite aggressive about financial contributions, particularly if your children attend blessed sacrament. it's very different from how things were done in the past.

Thanks - at the open house, the priest actually gave an estimate of how much a family should contribute to the parish each year.

Would you mind sharing this amount? I'm hoping to get our child in for 2010. I have to say though, even as just a parishoner, I've been turned off by how aggressive they are about fundrasing. Frankly, we give less that we would because of it. If it were up to DH, we would send our kids to private school (paying higher tuition) and donate noting or very little to the church b/c he feels the current priests come across as caring more about our donations than us.

[Anonymous]

This has been asked twice and i haven't seen a response so i'll offer what i know even though i wasn't at the referred open house. But I've been told it costs about $9000 to educate each child. The average tuition is around $7000 (it varies by the number of children in the school) so there is a shortfall of about $2000 per child. Some of that is made up by fundraising (the auction alone makes a TON of money) and by contributions by the parish church itself. I was never told a specific $ number to contribute (and some people contribute their time in volunteering and lunch time monitoring which is also recognized). I understand your concerns about parish contribution requests though - you are not alone. The school though is great. Our kids love it there.

[Anonymous]

PP here. I meant it varies by the number of children enrolled in the family. There is a corresponding break in tuition for 2,3, 4, 5(!) kids from one family at the school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:would suggest you have an open and frank discussion regarding expectations of financial contribution to the parish. the new priest there is quite aggressive about financial contributions, particularly if your children attend blessed sacrament. it's very different from how things were done in the past.

Thanks - at the open house, the priest actually gave an estimate of how much a family should contribute to the parish each year.

Would you mind sharing this amount? I'm hoping to get our child in for 2010. I have to say though, even as just a parishoner, I've been turned off by how aggressive they are about fundrasing. Frankly, we give less that we would because of it. If it were up to DH, we would send our kids to private school (paying higher tuition) and donate noting or very little to the church b/c he feels the current priests come across as caring more about our donations than us.

At the open house in November, the priest said that you should donate at least $1000.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]We are looking at moving within the next month to the DC area. We are flexible so long as the commute can be thirty minutes or less to DC. Can anyone recommend good catholic schools and parishes for a 4 yr old and 7 yr old? We're looking at St Bartholomew and Our Lady of Lourdes in Bethesda, but we are flexible. Any comments on those or others? Thanks![/quote]

I hear nice things about Our Lady of Victory.

[Anonymous]

We give about $140/month and were told that is fine. We love the church so don't mind this aspect of it.

[Anonymous]

This is a good time to look at Catholic schools as most will be having Open Houses at the end of the month.

We have 2 in our parish school. We pay full tuition but are able to give less than $50 a month to to the church. We have never heard anything negative about that level of giving. We volunteer in many ways and our pastor has made note that there are many ways to give - namely time and talent as well as treasure.

[Anonymous]

PP, that's nice to hear. I don't get the sense that "time and talent" make up for "treasure" at BS.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]We are looking at moving within the next month to the DC area. We are flexible so long as the commute can be thirty minutes or less to DC. Can anyone recommend good catholic schools and parishes for a 4 yr old and 7 yr old? We're looking at St Bartholomew and Our Lady of Lourdes in Bethesda, but we are flexible. Any comments on those or others? Thanks![/quote]

DO NOT send your child to Our Lady of Lourdes! There is nothing Catholic about this school. I had a terrible experience there and do not recommend it to anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, that's nice to hear. I don't get the sense that "time and talent" make up for "treasure" at BS.

According to the School's open house presentation, "Time Talent and Treasure" seem to be what it's all about...with the emphasis on treasure.
Any idea whether a non-contributing parishoner has any chance of getting in??

[Anonymous]

We were in boundary parishioners and gave small amounts in the weekly envelopes before we applied to the school. I was told you need to be contributing *something* on a regular basis to be considered for school admission. Our son was accepted directly. We now give about $1000 to church and a bit more that amount to the school every year with 2 kids enrolled. Not really that much considering that there is a shortfall of about $2000 per child on the tuition every year. We do a lot of volunteering but we've never been asked to do this or anything else. I'm sorry that some people feel that it is all about the money. I certainly don't get the impression from the school. The parish (and frankly alot of catholic parishes) do ask frequently for money though and the school families are probably asked more often.