Father Francis DeGroot, Holy Name Class of ’71, St. Anne Parish – Escanaba, Michigan
When Holy Name closed the High School after the 1970-71 school year, I was only a junior then. It saddened me to think that, due to the State denying funds for parochial schools, I couldn’t fulfill my desire to graduate from Holy Name High School as my six older siblings were able to do. Since then, I often wondered if there would ever be an opportunity for the High School to reopen to allow the present grade school students there now to continue on and fulfill their desire to graduate from a High School after completing their studies in a Catholic School setting.
Well now, in recent times, there is a concerted effort to make this happen. A campaign is now in place to bring the High School back to Holy Name. However, this endeavor needs the prayerful and financial help of our Holy Name Alumni and others who are willing to step up and support the campaign.
It was back in 1953 when Holy Name Catholic High School first opened her doors. Those doors were opened thanks to the prayerful and generous support of the faithful Catholics who have gone before us. They saw the need, benefits and rewards of their children attending a Catholic High School where the moral, ethical, and Christian values that were and still are lacking in our society today could be taught and upheld.
It’s hard for us now to look back and imagine how the Catholics in Escanaba and the surrounding area were able to come up with the resources to build such a beautiful High School at that time. But they made it possible though their generosity, prayers and sacrifices and through the faith and trust they had in God’s divine providence.
Now, it is up to our generation and in particular to the alumni of Holy Name High School, who became the beneficiaries of our parents and grandparent’s generous sacrifices, to support the reopening of Holy Name High School. There are many parents and students in our area who want our Holy Name Catholic High School to reopen again. Let us pray that their desire will one day become a reality.
