A second round of anonymous multimillion-dollar donations will help re-open three long-closed Catholic schools in Memphis, Tennessee, according to the February issue of The Friedman Report. That brings the total of revived parochial schools in the city to nine. In 1999, a first round of anonymous donations allowed the reopening of six inner-city Catholic schools.
“Before all this, we were closing schools and downsizing,” said Mary McDonald, superintendent of Catholic schools. “It’s truly a miracle, and we aren’t stopping now.”
Much of the donated money will go for scholarships. Approximately one-half of the 7,500 students who attend 24 Catholic schools in Memphis do so with the help of scholarships.