HUMPHREY — And then there were three.
norfolkdailynews.com
The transition team, tasked by Rev. Stan Schmit to help merge St. Francis and Lindsay Holy Family grades 7-12 and create a new school name and mascot.
The names are:
- Archangels Catholic High School
- Divine Mercy Central Catholic
- Holy Family Saint Francis Central Catholic
Archbishop George Lucas will make the final decision by the end of the month. The next step is to submit mascot recommendations.
Before the submission of the three names, in a letter posted on the two church websites, the transition team wrote that it had reached out to the archbishop for further clarification on what names and mascots would be accepted, as well as for an extension to the deadline to ensure time to gather input after the clarification.
In an email from the archbishop, he confirmed the following: “I understand that the transition team is making good progress. I have asked for three name submissions. If one of these three is some combination of current names and mascot, I will receive that. The other two should be unique in name and with a new mascot. I look forward to at least a brief paragraph with the reasoning for each of the submissions.”
The transition team said the archdiocese had granted an extension of the deadline to submit name options by Jan. 22, with the final combination of names and mascots to be submitted no later than Monday, Jan. 29.
“Overall, the team received 65 unique name submissions in addition to 29 variations of current school names both individually presented as well as combined. As you can imagine, it was quite the undertaking to narrow down this list in order to create a more manageable and less overwhelming process when asking for input from the communities,” the team wrote.
In narrowing down the selection, the team went through each name submitted and considered the uniqueness of name or names not already being used in area schools, parishes or entities; connection and meaning that aligns with the communities’ core values; and speech and connotation, taking into consideration cheers, chants, urban dictionary definitions, repercussions of acronyms and pairings.
“After many hours of discussion and prayer, the team was able to narrow down the list,” the team wrote.