A new year of faith and growth begins

By Alexia Beatriz Fodere - The Archdiocese of Miami

 

Photography: Alexia Fodere

CORAL GABLES | On the first morning of a new school year, the silence of summer quickly disappeared at St. Theresa Catholic School.

Children in their plaid uniforms arrived at the Coral Gables school carrying backpacks almost as big as they were. Some stopped to greet friends they had not seen all summer. Others walked hand-in-hand with their parents. And among the youngest students, there were also a few tears mixed in with the new school supplies.

For Father Manuel “Manny” Álvarez – pastor of the school’s parish, Church of the Little Flower – that mixture of noise, laughter and emotion is exactly what makes the first day of school so special.

During the summer, he said, the campus stays quiet. Then the children return, and everything changes.

“It’s like the school resurrects,” Father Álvarez said. “It’s asleep during the summer, and now the children fill the hallways with their noise, their joy and their laughter… and some tears this morning from the little ones.”

More than 900 students returned to St. Theresa to begin the school’s 101st year, joining approximately 37,000 students who returned to classes Aug. 11 at the Archdiocese of Miami’s 65 Catholic schools throughout Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties. Projected enrollment across the archdiocese increased by approximately 600 students, potentially marking a fifth consecutive year of growth. More than half of its schools are full and have waiting lists.

But behind the familiar rituals of the first day – new teachers, old friends, uniforms, backpacks and slightly nervous parents – this school year also brings something more: new opportunities for students.

Across the archdiocese, Catholic schools are investing in classrooms, facilities and academic programs to respond to growing enrollment and the changing needs of families. At St. Theresa, those changes are especially visible.

Sister Rosalie Nagy, principal, said the school received a new STEM lab just before classes began, which will give students new opportunities for hands-on, interactive learning.

And an even greater transformation is about to begin.

After more than seven decades without a new building being constructed on campus, St. Theresa plans to begin construction this year on a multipurpose center, with spaces specifically dedicated to art and music, a gymnasium and a performing arts stage.

Father Álvarez said the project is expected to begin around October or November 2026.

“This school is 101 years old, and it has been 70 years since we put up a new building,” he said.

The new center will have spaces for sports, music, theater and art, as well as a classroom dedicated specifically to teaching Spanish.

For Father Álvarez, it is important “that Spanish continues to be learned here in our school,” especially as St. Theresa begins looking toward its next hundred years.

For Sister Rosalie, who spent part of the quiet summer in California with her religious community, seeing the children return was like watching the campus come alive again. After celebrating St. Theresa’s centennial last year, she sees this 101st year as an opportunity to continue moving forward without losing the school’s Catholic identity.

The excitement also has a very personal meaning for families whose history with St. Theresa spans generations.

Stephanie Miranda Martínez knows the first day of school from both sides. She and her sister, Michelle Miranda Guerra, were students at St. Theresa. Years later, their own children walk the same campus.

“As alumni of St. Theresa School ourselves, we are overjoyed to share our love for this school with our children,” Martínez said.

Her son, Paul “PJ,” was excited to see his friends again, make new ones, meet his new teachers and also visit his teachers from the previous year, whom he loves dearly.

“We were in their shoes many years ago, but today it all comes full circle,” Martínez said.

For these mothers, however, the happiness of that morning was also accompanied by a little nostalgia.

“It is a special day for our children, but it is bittersweet for us as parents,” she said. “We love to see how happy they are returning to school, but it also means they’re another year older. A part of us wishes we could stop time from flying by.”

That continuity – children walking through the same doors their parents once did, but finding classrooms and opportunities that did not exist a generation ago – also reflects a broader moment for Catholic education in South Florida.

Schools across the archdiocese are growing in different ways. St. Bonaventure Catholic School is adding a new wing to meet increasing demand; St. Malachy Catholic School has renovated additional classrooms; and St. Thomas Aquinas High School has launched a new partnership with HOSA–Future Health Professionals, offering specialized coursework and opportunities for students to earn industry-recognized certifications.

For Father Álvarez, however, enrollment numbers, laboratories and new buildings are only part of the story.

He believes the growing demand for Catholic education reflects families searching for something deeper.

“The demand for Catholic education has never been this high,” he said.

Father Álvarez connects part of that renewed interest to the pandemic, when, he explained, many people began returning to the faith and to their Catholic roots.

The primary responsibility for passing on that faith still belongs to parents, he emphasized. The Catholic school is there to accompany them.“It begins in the family and continues in the school,” Father Álvarez said.

That difference is part of the everyday rhythm of a student’s day. Children do not encounter Christ only during religion class or at Mass, he explained, but throughout the entire day: they pray before every class, before lunch, at the beginning of the day and again before returning home.

It is an education that seeks to form the whole child – mind, body and spirit – while fostering academic growth, leadership, service and faith.

And so, on a bright August morning, another school year began.

The backpacks were new. The children were another year older. Inside, new technology was waiting for them and, soon, construction will begin on spaces designed for music, art, languages and sports.

But amid everything new, St. Theresa’s mission remains rooted in something much older.

After a quiet summer, more than 900 children once again filled the school with voices, footsteps, laughter and even a few tears.

The 101-year-old school had awakened once again.