The friendly wager also raised about $22,000 for tuition assistance in scholarships, the Cincinnati archdiocese said.
“Just being acknowledged by the superintendent and the archbishop, and having them come visit us, is a real blessing for us to support the idea that we’re doing good work here,” said Jacki Loffer, principal of Our Lady of the Rosary.
The archdiocese superintendent, Susan Gibbons, said Schnurr asked her to choose which school to go to. She said the archbishop doesn’t often get the chance to come up to the northern part of the archdiocese, and she said she had been impressed when visiting the school previously.
“It’s got a really nice feel,” Gibbons said. “I know all the improvements that they have tried to do over the last few years on adjusting to the changing population. It’s been wonderful.”
She noted there is a growing Latino population in the Catholic church in southern Ohio, and the school district also has many Latino students.
Loffer said Our Lady of the Rosary School is racially diverse and about 70% of attending children are Catholic. There are about 200 students attending the school in kindergarten through eighth grade, she said.
The students were able to ask Schnurr questions about his job and how he became an archbishop. One student asked what it’s like being an archbishop.
“It’s like any other occupation,” Schnurr said. “There are good things and there are bad things.”
Schnurr said he particularly likes being able to come out to local schools and parishes.
“What’s fun with these kids is to come into the Catholic school, and we do very well academically, but we also provide them with the basic meaning of their life being created in the image and likeness of God,” Schnurr said.
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