Cardinal Gibbons will help open a new Catholic high school in Cary
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The Catholic Diocese of Raleigh and Cardinal Gibbons High School will open a new Catholic high school in Cary by 2028.
Why it matters: The new school will be the third Catholic high school to open in the region, and the Diocese said the new school comes in response to a growing demand for Catholic education.
- Cardinal Gibbons High School is at full capacity at 1,600 students and is committed to its Edwards Mill Road campus for the long term, a spokesperson for the school said.
Zoom in: A name for the school has not been picked, but it will be chosen in collaboration with the Diocese, a Cardinal Gibbons spokesperson told Axios.
- The school will be built at 801 Buck Jones Road in Cary — property that is currently used as the lower school campus for Grace Christian School. Cardinal Gibbons said it plans to renovate the buildings there.
- Grace is currently building a new campus in Apex, and will lease the property from Cardinal Gibbons while it builds its new campus.
- The new high school plans to serve approximately 400 students, opening with a freshman class in 2028 and adding one grade each subsequent year until 2032.
- The high school will be independently operated but some high-level staff roles may be shared with Cardinal Gibbons, a spokesperson said.
The big picture: North Carolina has historically not had a large Catholic population, but members of the church have grown in recent decades as more people from other parts of the country move here and the Hispanic population increases.
- From 2019 to 2023, the number of registered Catholics within the Diocese of Raleigh grew by 5%, Bishop Luis Zarama told WRAL.