With back-to-school on our minds:

Non-Catholic students find welcoming environment at Catholic schools

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (CNS) -- Brooke Smith fell in love with Irondequoit's Bishop Kearney High School even before she enrolled. She looked into the school at the recommendation of her pastor at St. Luke Tabernacle Community Church in Rochester and knew it was the right place for her.

This fall, she will be a senior at the school -- officially called Bishop Kearney High School: A Golisano Education Partner because of its recent partnership with business entrepreneur, B. Thomas Golisano.

Religion classes, liturgies and prayer are a regular part of life for Bishop Kearney students, but Brooke said she doesn't feel awkward about being a non-Catholic in a Catholic school. "Not at all, because not everyone there is Catholic," she told the Catholic Courier, Rochester's diocesan newspaper.

Nineteen percent of Bishop Kearney's student population is Christian but not Catholic, and another 3 percent come from non-Christian faith backgrounds, according to Paul Cypher, the school's vice president for operations.

Catholic News Service, 8/16/07