The Diocese of Pittsburgh bought 71 acres in Cranberry for an undisclosed sum to build a replacement for North Catholic High School, officials announced Wednesday.
Church leaders plan a fundraising campaign to build the coeducational school, the largest building project by the diocese in recent history. At least $54 million is needed for construction of the school on state Route 228 across from the St. Kilian Parish School, which opened in September. The high school will serve as many as 1,000 students.
"We have the opportunity to do something hugely important for the future of our children and youth. It is my sincere hope that many people will help us to make this dream become a reality," Bishop David Zubik said in a statement.
The diocese acquired the option to buy the land last summer. The school and diocese announced in 2006 their intention to move North Catholic from Troy Hill to the North Hills, largely because of declining enrollment in the city and growth in the northern suburbs.
"Work on the project will begin only when and if sufficient funding is available," said the Rev. Kris Stubna, the diocesan secretary for Catholic education. "Our goal is to create the preeminent private coeducational high school situated in the fastest growing population center in Southwestern Pennsylvania."
The diocese raised $5 million so far. It will detail building plans and a construction schedule within a year. The diocese took over financing of the building from the school.
"Now this is a larger diocesan project, not just a relocation of one school. We are really just at the initial stages of fundraising," Stubna said.
Until 2008, the Cranberry area had no parochial schools. St. Kilian was the first new school to open in the diocese since 1964. It meets a demand for Catholic schools in Butler County's fast growing southern communities, including Mars, Seven Fields and Cranberry.
North Catholic opened in 1939, and enrollment peaked at about 1,200 in the 1960s.
Last year, fewer than 300 students attended the school. And of those students, 60 percent were from Cranberry and Mars.
"We provide an excellent education in an atmosphere of faith and smaller schools than some of the large districts in the North Hills," Stubna said.
