KERRVILLE -- The wind catches the tall, dry grass that buffets the temporary buildings. They sit empty and abandoned near ball fields off Peterson Farm Road in Kerrville, Texas. Faded beige paint and a collection of wooden ramps and stairwells give it the appearance of a small ghost town.
It is quite a contrast to the brand-new facility up the street, where many of the students can look up from their studies and spot their old T-building classrooms through the windows of Our Lady of the Hills Regional Catholic High School.
The new facility’s been open for a year now, providing classrooms for 115 students.
Principal Barry Neuburger says the school may be located in Kerrville, but it has a more cosmopolitan “feel.”
“We have kids coming from Fredericksburg, Boerne, Hunt, Ingram, Bandera, Medina. Some travel 45 miles one-way to come here. When you put that kind of sacrifice into it, along with the parental commitment to it, then there’s some great energy, great synergy to serve our kids and put them in the most positive, collaborative environment for learning,” Neuburger said.
The building brings Principal Neuburger’s dream to fruition: a Catholic high school campus focusing on the physical, mental and spiritual growth of its students.
“We are a Catholic school, however we are 50 percent non-Catholic. What we try to focus on is how are we alike, and we embrace all people. That basically comes back to worship, love and develop an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ. That spiritual piece transcends any denomination. It’s working for us,” he said.
The high school consists of three wings: an academic wing to the left and an athletic wing to the right. And in the middle, the chapel ties both wings together. The principal says the chapel is the spiritual center. He said even during its construction, workers who gathered to build it recognized its power.
“The workers would bring pictures of their mothers or their girlfriends, and at lunch you would see them in prayer. There is something greater here than basic reading, writing and arithmetic. The glue of our community is centered on being in service to Jesus Christ and witnessing to one another. That permeated even the construction: the spirit, the fellowship. It was pretty awe-inspiring to me,” Neuburger said.
Light streams in and dances off the chairs and tables inside the chapel. Two teachers sit in meditation, spending their planning period in prayer. Their gaze tends to drift toward the large, 8-foot cross set against the windows.
“All the pieces on the altar, even the cross itself, have been made by our community. The cross was constructed by my chemistry/physics teacher. The altarpieces that hold the tabernacle—those pieces were made by my athletic director’s father. The beautiful altar and podium, those were constructed by a gentleman who has immunotropic lateral sclerosis, and he works out of a wheelchair. Our students would go to his woodshop and assist him in building our beautiful altar. It’s all handcrafted, all done in the spirit of service to our community by the members.”
The cross also serves as a time capsule. Neuburger says it is literally filled with blessings from the students.
“Each student enrolled in the school last year wrote a prayer. The prayers are on little pieces of parchment rolled up and tied with a yellow ribbon. The hollowed piece of that oak cross’s shaft is where all those prayers are laid in.”
The National Catholic Educational Association reports a steady decline in Catholic school enrollment since 2002 across the United States. But some educators suggest that’s because there’s not enough children being born in the United States to fill private schools.
While some inner-city Catholic schools are on the decline, some outlying parishes show strong growth in their schools’ enrollment in San Antonio. Consider Our Lady of the Atonement in northwest San Antonio, where a capital campaign is underway for school expansion projects.
Our Lady of the Hills has expansion in mind, too. The principal says they expect enrollment to double by 2014. The school’s layout was designed for future growth.
And just maybe, they’ll get a chance to open that time capsule in the future.
“We hung it and we thought we’d just leave it at that. 50 years from now? I don’t know,” he said.
Neuburger does know of one prayer tucked away in the cross that’s already been answered: his own.
“It was a prayer of gratitude,” he said.
