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Sou Diocese of Savannah hem (Voss Diocese of Savaaaah VOL. 80, No. 12 $.50 PER ISSUE Thursday, March 23, 2000 Contents Headline Hopscotch 2 News 3 Commentary 4-5 Saint Patrick's Day 6 DDA 7 Faith Alive! 8-9 Notices 10-11 Last But Not Least 12 Bishop Boland announces Notre Dame Academy Development Plan By Barbara D. King Savannah ishop J. Kevin Boland has announced that the Diocese of Savannah has launched a $1.3 mil lion drive to renovate the old Benedictine Military School facility on Bull Street and to move Notre Dame Academy to the site by the year 2001. “The Catholic Church, and in particular the Diocese of Savannah, has a long tradition of provid ing educational opportunities to children living in central city areas,” Bishop Boland said at a press conference on March 21. “Notre Dame Academy, located on Lafayette Square adjacent to the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, has carried on this tradition in recent years. The present campus of the school is landlocked. In order to accommodate enrollment and keep classes small, it will be neces sary to move the school to a more spacious area.” Notre Dame Academy, which opened in 1990, is a composite of the elementary schools that once served Savannah’s three African American Catholic parishes and most recently Sacred Heart and Cathedral parishes. Present enrollment in the school is 166 students. Moving the school will necessitate the renovation of the Bull Street campus. These improvements will allow the school to accept an enrollment of 300-350 students over the period of 2001-2003. Besides providing updated classroom space, moving to Bull Street will give the school a gym nasium and a fenced-in playground. Pledges total $700,000 so far towards the $1.3 million needed to renovate the old school build ing. The diocese will approach the Savannah area business community for support of the project in the coming weeks. “The restoration of this build ing in the historic Thomas Square neighborhood will be an asset to the entire community,” Bishop Boland said. “An even greater asset is the contri bution to the education of future leaders in the community. For some time, sociologists have known that children who have been given sound values, morals, and a proper education in their formative years have the best opportunity to suc ceed as solid citizens of character and to pass those values on to their offspring.” hat at the Cathedra! construction site, blesses Grand Marshal Tommy Brunson at the begin ning of Savannah's Saint Patrick's Day Parade. See pages 4 and 6 for more coverage. Rite of Election heralds 401 new Catholics at Easter During the first weekend of Lent, Bishop Boland celebrated the Rite of Election twice this year, in Albany on Saturday and in Savannah on Sunday. Above: Bishop Boland signs the Book of the Elect of Saints Peter and Paul Parish, Savannah, as Vu Dang looks on. The book contains the names of catechumens elected for Baptism, Confirmation and first Eucharist at the Easter Vigil. Left: Sister Mary Dwyer, IHM, carries the Book of the Elect for Saint James Parish, Savannah.