Our success lies within each student. We’re proud to have created an outstanding academic and spiritual program at one of the leading private Catholic schools in the city.
Here’s a sample of some of those initiatives:
#1 in Best Catholic High Schools in the San Antonio Area on Niche.com. In 2017, 2018 and 2019, we consistently ranked in the Top 5 of leading national researcher, Niche, and their distinguished list of outstanding private schools. Most recently, in 2019, we ranked #3 on the list of “Best Private K-12 Schools in the San Antonio Area.”
Both the San Antonio Business Journal and San Antonio Magazine have consistently ranked The Atonement Academy as a top private school in San Antonio.
Our lower, middle and upper schools offer an advanced curriculum where students are learning material that is, on average, a grade level ahead of most schools.
We instill in our students a deep understanding of Catholicism and its rich traditions and values through education, and we augment this through additional efforts such as:
Attending daily Holy Mass
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
Celebrating solemn Evensong
Organizing a bi-annual pilgrimage to Rome for Juniors and Seniors to visit The Vatican
Reciting the traditional Stations of the Cross during Lent
Learning sacred songs and hymns
The opportunity to practice what we preach and reach out to the less fortunate by working at the local food bank and St. Vincent de Paul kitchen
Our highly-effective Accelerated Reading (AR) computer program helps parents and teachers manage and monitor a child’s independent reading practice. It also challenges the student to set goals in an effort to become a more efficient reader.
Beginning in kindergarten, our students are encouraged to participate in beginner self-identification and learning skills as they read and check out books from the library, based on their own individual abilities. By the end of the school year, most kindergartners are able to read their first book and have accomplished an AR reading level above their grade, or higher.
By the end of 1st grade, students are able to read beginner chapter books or better. In addition to accomplishing individual reading goals, many students succeed in scoring a grade above their grade level or higher, which is based on quarterly assessments.
The average 2019 SAT score for Atonement Academy students is 1195. This is 12% higher than the most recent national average of 1068, according to the College Board which administers standardized tests and curricula.
We work closely with our upper scholars to prepare them for college. Since the upper school’s inception, our seniors have a 100% college acceptance rate to four-year universities including in-state, out-of-state, and international universities.
Our music program has been honored by the Texas Music Educators Assoc., and the Texas Private School Music Educators Assoc., for superior performances. Our choir students have performed at Carnegie Hall, Catholic Television, Spurs Basketball games, Rampage Hockey games, and other notable events.
Our school is purposefully designed to integrate iconic religious images that illustrate our faith.
At Our Lady of the Atonement Parish, we are faithful to the magisterium. We are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church and follow its teachings.
The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter is equivalent to a diocese. It was created by the Vatican in 2012 for people nurtured in the Anglican tradition who wish to become Catholic. This Ordinariate was founded to serve Roman Catholics across the U.S. and Canada. It is the first diocese of its kind in North America.
The Ordinariate is based out of Houston, Texas, and has more than 40 Roman Catholic parishes and communities across the U.S., and Canada.
The Ordinariate was created to provide a path for groups of Anglicans to become fully Roman Catholic, while retaining elements of their worship traditions and spiritual heritage in their union with the Catholic Church. The Ordinariate is a key ecumenical venture exemplifying the Second Vatican Council’s vision for Christian unity, in which diverse expressions of one faith are joined together in the Church.
The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter was established in response to repeated and persistent inquiries from Anglicans who over time, have come to identify the Catholic Church as their home. Those joining the Ordinariate have discerned they are truly Catholic in what they believe and desire full membership in the Catholic Church.
Parishes and communities which belong to the Ordinariate are fully Roman Catholic, but retain elements of Anglican traditions in their liturgy, hospitality, and ministries. There are three Personal Ordinariates in the world. Our Lady of Walsingham is located in the United Kingdom, the Chair of Saint Peter is in the U.S. and Canada, and Our Lady of the Southern Cross is in Australia.
In the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis redintegatio), the Catholic Church specified what it would look like to bring their own distinctive traditions to the Catholic Church, they would not be suppressed or absorbed. The Vatican’s remarkable ecumenical gesture in establishing the Ordinariates affirms the Catholic Church’s view that the patrimony of differing Christian spiritualties and liturgies is a treasure meant to be shared within the Catholic tradition.
Called to be gracious instruments of Christian unity, members of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter are led by a bishop who is appointed by the Pope. Bishop Steven J. Lopes is the first bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. Like other bishops in the U.S., and Canada, the bishop serves under the direct authority of the Pope to build up the Catholic Church through mutual mission and ministry. The bishop is a full member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.