Assumption Academy Fundraising Campaign | September 20, 2024

As traditional Catholic churches and schools continue to close, and the traditional Latin Mass is suppressed in areas across the USA, Catholics from around the country are flocking to a rural, northern Kentucky town to preserve faith and family and to give glory to God. Many have relocated to the Walton area, just an hour north of Lexington and 20 minutes south of Cincinnati, where the Midwest meets the South at the Ohio River.  Though Kentucky is known for its scenic beauty, horse racing, bourbon, bluegrass music, and southern hospitality, families are flocking here for another reason. Amid the chaos of the secular world, Walton is building a community where God, faith, freedom, and family are vigorously defended.

Northern Kentucky has become a hub for job seekers, college students, and sports enthusiasts, drawn by a vibrant metro area that offers a resilient business environment, the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG)—the 12th largest in the world, and several Fortune 500 company headquarters. The region also boasts four professional sports teams, major arts and cultural institutions, and prestigious public and private universities. Yet, for many Catholic families, the area’s appeal lies elsewhere: access to traditional Catholic education. At Assumption Academy, the demand for this education has grown beyond the capacity of both the elementary school and the all-boys Catholic high school.

In an ever-challenging environment of exponential growth where the number of prospective students has outpaced capacity at Assumption Academy, principal Fr. Stephen Stanich has turned his eyes to heaven to seek Divine guidance. “We have now exhausted all possibilities of growth within the walls of the Assumption Boys Academy,” says Fr. Stanich. Assumption Academy, at its highest enrollment ever, will soon be unable to house more students. 

“As a result, we are now embarking on a project to build a new Assumption Academy,” says Fr. Stanich. “To raise many holy priests, encourage religious vocations, and build holy Catholic families, it is essential to equip young men with the will and strength to embrace their faith and fight for mercy and justice and a school to provide the proper atmosphere conducive to learning. But the price tag is high. Due to rising costs of material and labor, Fr. Stanich says a basic school will cost between 15 to 20 million dollars. At present, the parking lot has been paved, architectural drawings have been provided, and the school has a permit to begin the real work of building the elementary and high school. It will accommodate students with shared classrooms for electives like science and art, and a lower-level hall with full windows at the back. Phase one of the new school construction is set to accept its first students by the 2027-28 school year, with phases two and three to be completed as almighty God and Our Lady provide.

Our Lady of the Assumption Church is the home of several daily Masses and four Masses on Sunday for 1,500 parishioners. At present, the basement of the church is the location of the academy. “There should be nothing hampering teaching the young man who is going to be entering the world in just a few years. The entire curriculum at Assumption Academy is to form the young man from the classroom environment, to the PE programs, to the Mass, which we have every day. We want to breathe that formation upon the young boys here to build them into Catholic men,” says resident priest Fr. Stephen Sheahan. He adds, “It’s all centered on the Catholic Mass. It’s very important at this time of crisis that we form traditional Catholics who are centered on the liturgy itself, who live the liturgy in their daily lives and pass that liturgy onto other people, to really try to be that shining light that spreads that liturgical formation.”

“The biggest draw for a parent,” says Mr. Wayne Beill, the father of students at both the girls and the boys’ school, “is that you get the formation in the faith for your children. You want the best for your children and with the craziness that is in the world today, you get that Catholic formation here for your children.” Mr. Beil says, “It’s humbling to see how parents will drop everything and move across the country to send their children to Assumption Academy.” Beil’s wife, Tiersa adds, “Two things that draw people here are that, for one, this is a K through 12th grade school. And also, the boys are immersed in an atmosphere that is holy, interacting with the priests who are teaching in the classroom and saying the Mass daily.” Her husband adds, “We’re so centrally located, but you can still have country life. This is why it has exploded. It’s a little slice of Heaven.”