PORTLAND, Maine — Maine's only all-girls Catholic prep school is about to go nonsectarian.
Officials with Catherine McAuley High School in Portland announced Wednesday that it would part ways with the Sisters of Mercy.
Head of school Kathryn Barr says the split is amicable and has more to do with safeguarding local control than anything else.
She says the school was started by Maine sisters in 1969, but is now governed from Rhode Island. In a few years, she says all Sisters of Mercy schools will be governed by one national body, and McAuley didn't want that.
"It's simply a governance change for us," Barr says. "The Mercy values will continue to be the same."
But the move is a baffling one for the Diocese of Portland, and Bishop Robert Deeley says he's saddened by the move.
"You know we were really disappointed that there wasn't really any further conversation to see if the school could remain Catholic," says Diocese spokesman Dave Guthro. "It was sort of a situation where a decision had been made."
Guthro says it's not clear to the Diocese why the school opted to go nonsectarian rather than approaching the Diocese for a local solution.
But Barr says the school considered that option and others and determined that becoming independent was the best way forward.
The announcement comes as the school explores a new partnership with the University of New England, and McAuley's head of school says girls of all faiths will be welcomed.
Twelve Catholic schools remain in the state.
