What is the Catholic Promise?
A commitment
to
affordability
for
Catholic families

Nathan Topie will be the first to tell you that he’s learned to stop demanding a map before he takes the next step. He’s the father of seven children. Four are grown; three are still at home. And for years, a Catholic education for those three felt more like a prayer than a plan.

The logistics alone were daunting. Catholic Central sits more than half an hour from the Topie home. Tuition for multiple kids adds up fast. And in a neighborhood without many Catholic school families, carpooling wasn’t exactly a given.

Still, Nathan and his wife Jennifer kept dis-cerning. When their daughter Mariana was ready for high school, they visited Catholic Central and came away with something harder to quantify than curriculum guides or test scores: they trusted every single person they met. “That’s so rare,” Nathan says, “that you have to believe God is signing his name to that kind of environment.”

So they made the leap, and the Catholic Promise met them on the other side.

The tuition reduction didn’t change their deci-sion, but it changed what the decision made possible. The Topies’ youngest child, Lucia, can now transition into Catholic grade school sooner. Fifth-grader Gabriel, currently at St. Thomas the Apostle, is already excited about the possibility of following Mariana’s path to Catholic Central when the time comes. The 529 savings they’d set aside for college might stretch further than they imagined.

And Nathan is already thinking about the Catholic families in his area who have been on the fence. He’s eager to make sure they hear about the Catholic Promise. “There are three or four families I know I will talk with this spring,” he says.

That’s the ripple effect the Catholic Promise was made for: one family’s “Yes”, quietly in-spiring the next.

McKenzie Hollern Southerington ’11 didn’t just attend Catholic Central. She grew up inside it. Her grandparents met there, and her grandfather, Deacon Dale Hollern, served as principal for twenty years. She and her husband Luke ’11 met in its hallways. And today, she returns as CC’s cheerleading coach. She jokes that no matter who she meets, if they attend Catholic Central, she can almost always find a family member they have in common.

Now McKenzie is looking at Catholic Central from a new angle: as a mother. Her son Joseph is three and a half, daughter Marigold just turned two, and a third is on the way. High school is still years off, but McKenzie and her husband are already planning for it, with spreadsheets and all.

“Our goal is to raise saints,” she says simply. “Everything else is secondary.”

For McKenzie, the Catholic Promise isn’t just a financial relief. It’s a signal. It tells Catholic families that the formation they want for their children is within reach, and it invites them to lean into that.

She hopes the program nudges families to go deeper in their parish life too, to volunteer, to know their priest, to show their children what it actually looks like to live as part of a communi-ty of faith. “Pick one thing and really make it yours,” she says.

She also knows firsthand what Catholic education plants in a person. Growing up, she didn’t think twice about praying the Memorare before a cheer competition or closing the day with prayer. It was just what you did. It wasn’t until she stepped into the wider world that she understood how rare and precious that foundation really was.

She hopes her children will come to understand the same thing. “I want them to be bold enough and brave enough to express their faith when they leave Catholic Central,” she says. “To be saints. To let the world know how great the Catholic faith is.”

With the Catholic Promise, that future feels a little more certain. And that means everything to McKenzie and her growing family.

When Gabby Rivera noticed an email from Catholic Central on her phone, she pulled over on the side of the road to read it. She ended up in tears. Since she and her husband Daniel moved to Michigan, they have always dreamed of sending their twins to Catholic Central. But they weren’t sure it would ever be possible. With the Catholic Promise, it is. Rod and Vivi will join Catholic Central’s Class of 2030 this fall.

Originally from Honduras, the Riveras have called Greenville home since 2017. Faith and family have always been at the center of their life, and when the twins were old enough, enrolling them at St. Charles Catholic School was an easy decision. Catholic Central was the natural next step, though for a long time, the cost made it feel out of reach. As a single income family with twins entering high school at the same time, the math was daunting. They had already begun applying for financial aid “just to see what would happen” when the email arrived. Gabby calls the timing of the Catholic Promise “a wink from God.”

For Gabby and Daniel, Catholic Central represents something bigger than a school. It’s a community of families who share the same values and the same commitment to raising their children in the faith. “We need a partner,” Gabby says, “to continue that formation all the way through.” At CC, Vivi will find new levels of academic challenge to match her ambition. Rod will have the chance to pursue his passion for football and his interest in engineering. And both twins, who have grown up with community service woven into their school life at St. Charles, will find that spirit alive and well at Catholic Central too.

“Each piece fell into its place,” Daniel says. “We’re just grateful.”