Lack of students puts Catholic high school plan on hold

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — For years a lot of folks have wanted a Catholic high school in the Cape Fear, but it looks like that will not happen any time soon.

During a visit to Wilmington today, Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Raleigh Diocese said that talks of building a long-sought Catholic high school here are on hold.

“For now we say it’s suspended, but it’s always a possibility,” Bishop Burbidge said.

In September Bishop Burbidge announced that building a Catholic high school in the Wilmington area was in the works. To do it, though, the diocese needed a firm number of families pledged to enroll students.

“We would need to have at least 50 in the freshman class to begin the process, and so when the opportunity was presented as to how many would be sending their children to school, it was significantly below that,” Burbidge said today.

A feasibility committee came to the final conclusion that the numbers did not work.

Bishop Burbidge says though he’s seen tremendous interest in a high school for our area, now is not the time for it.

“So much energy and time has gone into it, so I think we just need to step away from it for a little bit and to see if it picks up any momentum in the future,” Burbidge said.

The bishop says there is no timetable for re-examining the idea.