DL6

Great post, and thanks for the explanation. I stand corrected. I have been told by a few people I know that they attended Cathedral “for free,” but I have no evidence of that and if what you’re saying is true, then it’s likely they weren’t completely honest with me. Thanks for the info!

They advertise at the school and sponsor events (festivals, athletic events, etc.). Just one way Cathedral is different from parochials. For instance, Chatard is restricted from doing something like this because Nativity is a south deanery parish and Chatard is a north deanery high school. You’ll find plenty of students at Cathedral from the south deanery. Very few (if any) at Chatard.

Talking about “plucking” kids, specifically because they’re excellent athletes, seems like a bad look for someone on the enrollment committee. My hope is those kids made their school choice based on what was best for them and their families (I believe that’s true as all are excellent kids of high character whom I have a ton of respect for), not as a result of “plucking” by the enrollment committee.

Ok. Sorry to upset you. Was just quoting your website (which very clearly states that full tuition is offered through the program.) If that is a misprint on the website, then I hope it is corrected. And literally the best player on Cathedral’s team this year is from St. Roch, so I’m not sure where you’re going with the “Roncalli doesn’t have to compete for students” narrative.

My intent was not to confront or cause any fireworks, but rather to inform. Private and Parochial schools are simply not the same and I thought I could help people understand what the differences are. As I could have guessed, there are clearly folks out there that don’t want these differences to be communicated to the public!

Just because you don’t like that I’m calling it out doesn’t mean it’s “completely false and laughable.” I mean, it even says so on the school website... “ Shamrock Scholar grantors choose to provide a quarter, half or full need-based tuition assistance scholarship for a student for the duration of their time at Cathedral (generally four years).” The above is copied directly from https://www.gocathedral.com/giving/cathedral-fund/supportshamrockscholars In addition, your claim that poor old Cathedral only pulls from north deanery schools is also bogus. Your Mr. Football candidate quarterback went to St. Roch (south deanery), your D1 sophomore TE went to St. Michael (west deanery), not to mention the multiple public school kids on roster. Cathedral also invites every student from the archdiocese, not just north deanery, to attend their open house. Cathedral is a sponsor of the south deanery parish I belong to- Nativity- and consistently attracts students from there. I can also add that I’ve sat down with a Holy Name family frustrated that Roncalli could not match the financial aid package Cathedral was offering them. The kid went to Cathedral for free. These are facts. If you want to call them “irresponsible” and “laughable,” then I don’t know what to tell you.

Spot on. The Success Factor hasn’t kept Chatard and Roncalli up a class because the IHSAA refuses to separate those two in the sectional when they’re both in 4A (next year). Same can be said for when Roncalli moved up to 5A. Cathedral was in their sectional while New Pal went north. Want to keep Chatard/Roncalli/Cathedral up a class? Quit putting them in the same sectional for a big $$$ gate. It screws up the purpose of the success factor.

That’s a good question, and one I’m not certain of the answer for. You may be able to attend an “out of deanery” diocesan school without having to pay higher tuition, but I’m not positive. Having said that, with Indianapolis being the size it is, none of the high schools are close to each other, so attending a school out of your deanery would require pretty significant travel. Not sure if that’s the same case in South Bend? I could be wrong.

Every student-athlete on Roncalli’s offensive line attended a South deanery grade school. This has been the case for at least the last five years if memory serves... Maybe those Catholic grade school lunch ladies are slipping something in the Fish Sandwich lunches during Lent? It’s possible.

Having taught/coached at a parochial school, I can’t recall the school ever turning away a student without serious reason (expulsion from another school). Enrollment control at a school like Roncalli does not happen. If it does, the head basketball coach is confused why the school decided to let enrollment bump the basketball team up to 4A after he was hired 🙂 There is a tuition rate for parishioners of churches in that school’s deanery, and a tuition rate for non-parishioners (i.e. non-Catholic private school kids) which is higher. To put it simply, it’s similar to publics... if you did not attend a deanery grade school (the gradeschools near the high school), you have to pay (pay more in this case). There is not an entrance exam at parochial schools. There is a “placement exam” that determines which classes a student enrolls in and provides a small academic scholarship to the top 10 students that take it.

I completely expect DT, Muda and the like to read this and change their viewpoints on parochial schools 🙂 Maybe parochial schools should only have a 1.2765389 multiplier applied?

It’s always been interesting to me that private and parochial schools are grouped together as “PP” on this site when their enrollment process is tremendously different. Not sure what the difference is? Let’s start by looking at Indianapolis... There are four parochial (archdiocesan) schools in Indianapolis divided by north, south, east, and west deaneries with feeder grade schools. Those schools are Chatard (north), Roncalli (south), Scecina (east), and Ritter (west). The majority of students at these schools (and football players) attend their “feeder” deanery schools. As a southsider, I can only speak for Roncalli but 21 of their 22 starters are from south side Catholic grade schools. The one exception is a linebacker from Perry Meridian who followed Scott Marsh when he came to Roncalli from Perry. This is completely different than a private school, such as Lutheran, Cathedral, Park Tudor, or any other non-parochial private school in Indianapolis. These schools “attract” students from across Indianapolis and operate under different financial aid rules than parochial schools. For instance, Roncalli accepts vouchers OR financial aid qualifications, but not both. This means if a student qualifies for the voucher program and Roncalli’s financial aid program, they have to choose one or the other. This is not the case at private, non-parochial schools in Indianapolis, which is why kids are able to attend those schools for free. Not sure if this helps anyone understand the difference, but thought I would share as someone who has worked in private education who is confused by the “private/parochial” grouping, as those two distinctions operate completely differently. Parochial schools like Roncalli do not hold a “recruiting” advantage. Roncalli just won 4A state by 42 points but will have zero seniors playing division 1 football next year, while Hobart has two or three. This is not to say that parochial schools do not have an advantage socio-economically. But there are plenty of public schools that share that advantage as well (CG, Carmel, Zionsville, Fishers, etc.).

The players I listed did not leave because of any “scandals.” Schott and Lezon’s fathers work at Southport. The Montefalcos have long been a Cathedral family. Fryar’s father coached at Beech Grove. Sparks’ family moved north. Not sure what McCahill’s reasoning was but know his dad was a great athlete at Scecina, so maybe has some ties from the east side. These are facts, not opinions. So “evaluate” all you want. Scott Marsh was a fantastic coach as is John Rodenberg. In Marsh’s first year, Roncalli was ranked #1 in 5A and only dropped close losses to Decatur Central and Cathedral. He then helped a really young roster mature and improve over the next two years, and Rodenberg has done a fantastic job keeping that positive momentum going. For the record, no one at Roncalli holds ill feelings towards any of these kids. No kid should ever be judged for choosing where they want to go to school. Proud of the success they’ve all had!

Roncalli’s successful years and down years are ALWAYS determined by one, simple indicator... are they able to keep all (or at least a majority) of the talent in their feeder schools (south deanery grade schools) at Roncalli. In 2016 and 2017, in which RHS won a state championship and was ranked #1 in 5A, they were fueled by classes in which all of the south deanery talent attended Roncalli. However, anyone within the program at time would have told you tough years were coming. During the following years, Roncalli missed out on the following players that attended their feeder grade schools... QB Eddie Schott (St Jude) - Southport - Ball State ATH Haven Montefalco (St Jude) - Cathedral - Harvard OL Josh Fryar (St. Mark) - Beech Grove - Ohio State ATH Ryan Lezon (St. Barnabas) - Southport - Ball State QB Kody Sparks (St. Barnabas) - HSE - Bowling Green QB Nate McCahill (St. Roch) - Cathedral - Current candidate for Mr. Football These are just a few examples. These are also elite high school football players that attended Roncalli’s grade schools but did not attend Roncalli, all for a variety of reasons. Believe it or not, Roncalli’s success has nothing to do with recruiting (that claim has always been ridiculous). This year’s Roncalli team is loaded with home grown talent that (outside of McCahill) all chose to stay in the south deanery and attend Roncalli. Thus, the success.

This year has been pointed to by those within the Roncalli community for awhile now. Coach Rodenberg is doing a fantastic job, but you could see this success coming without a coaching change. Strong sophomore and junior classes complimented by several seniors with lots of experience. Roncalli was fantastic under Coach Marsh in his first year, ranked #1 in 5A for a majority of the year and losing in a close game to Cathedral in the sectional. After that year, they were really hurt by missing out on some big-time talent from their traditional feeder programs for a variety of reasons. Eddie Schott (St. Jude) went to Southport where his dad works and is now at Ball State. Ryan Lezon (St. Barnabas) same scenario. Nate McCahill, who is having a fantastic season at Cathedral, also attended a south side catholic school. These are just the big examples as there have been several others. People point to “recruiting” with Roncalli (which is bogus). The real recipe for success for all Indianapolis parochial schools (Chatard, Scecina, Ritter, Roncalli) is if they can keep all of the talent from their feeder schools. Roncalli has done that in the past several classes and it is now showing. It showed in 2016 as well, as that team was driven by strong junior and senior classes in which most or all of their feeder school talent went to Roncalli.