Courtesy, Holy Family Academy
PHOENIX—Holy Family Academy in Phoenix has officially been recognized as an independent, Catholic school in the Diocese of Phoenix. The announcement came in a formal decree issued by His Excellency Bishop Thomas Olmsted.
“We are most grateful to Bishop Olmsted for this acknowledgement of Holy Family Academy’s faithfulness and its commitment to providing Christ-centered, Catholic traditional education,” said Dr. Shirley Weis, chair of the HFA Board of Directors.
“We have been in discussions with the diocese for about three years,” said Laura Graves, principal. “Part of the process is a review of the content and quality of the curriculum as well as our religious education. This recognition is such a blessing for our students, faculty and parents,” she said.
Principal Graves explained that early in 2018 a group of dads met to pray about and to discuss their responsibilities as parents in the education of their children and options available to them. They wanted a quality, faith-based education in a spiritually enriching environment. They ultimately decided to form Holy Family Academy and they moved into a temporary site in the fall of that year.
“Holy Family was developed to provide students in K-12 with a top quality education in the classical liberal arts in a setting in which faith was present in all activities. We want to ultimately form good Catholic citizens—men and women willing and able to work for the restoration of all things in Christ, freely submitting to Our Lord in the spiritual, moral, intellectual and physical realms,” Principal Graves said.
After extensive renovations to a beautiful new location purchased for this purpose in 2020, the academy is thriving in its permanent home at State Route 51 and Thomas Road, east of Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
The latest project for the academy was construction of a chapel which can accommodate 170 people. The chapel opened this past August. For the past two years, the school has offered weekly Mass and Confession, daily Rosary and other services based on the liturgical calendar and school schedule.
“The success and growth of the academy has repeatedly demonstrated Divine intervention and grace, “Principal Graves said. “Official designation as an independent, Catholic institution is just the latest example of this.”
