Max and Pia go to Catholic School!

Our children, Max and Pia, have Down syndrome. They learn differently than other children do. They need extra help, and modified lessons.

But they have the same joy that other children do, the same desire for friendships, the same need to be nurtured and supported. And they have the same need to be formed in faith, to grow as disciples of Jesus.

Their Catholic education is important to us. And we are blessed that they are able to enroll at our parish school, Our Lady of Lourdes Classical Academy, where they are formed in faith, through a classical approach to Catholic education. We're especially blessed because classical schools are optimal learning environments for children with special needs- and the results at Lourdes speak for themselves. Max is reading and writing, and loves Latin class. Pia is memorizing short poems along with her classmates, and loves practicing her phonograms. We're blessed.

But inclusive Catholic special education is expensive. To support our kids, Lourdes employs a team of paraprofessionals and special education experts. Without their help, our children couldn't go to Catholic school. While those services would be taxpayer funded at a public school, they are not taxpayer funded at a Catholic school.

We're committed to helping Lourdes fundraise for the extra costs of enrolling our kids. We're blessed to be supported by generous major donors, but we still have funds to raise to close the gap for this school year- and so many friends have asked if they can help. 

In the long-term, we're working with the archdiocese and Lourdes to develop a sustainable model for inclusive Catholic special education; one that can be replicated at other schools. But we've committed to ongoing fundraising for the costs of this year, and we'd appreciate your help- it is an investment in our children, and an investment in inclusive Catholic special education for more children in the future.

Every dollar, of course, goes to Lourdes, and we're glad to provide you with an accounting of the funds. If you can help financially- thank you. If not, please pray for our project.

Thank you!

Kate and JD Flynn  

(If you want to contact us with any questions, send us a message anytime)