Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
JesuiticalMay 15, 2020
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

For teens struggling with substance abuse and addiction, the typical pressures of high school can spill over into the realm of disastrous. Recovery high schools—with smaller class sizes, counseling and sober social activities—are designed to support students in recovery. The first recovery high school opened in 1979; today there are over 40 nationwide. But before Kolbe Academy, which opened last year in Bethlehem, Pa., none of the recovery schools were Catholic.

This week we chat with the school’s (Jesuit-educated) founding principal, John Petruzzelli, about what makes Kolbe Academy unique and why he thinks it’s important for the church to be involved in supporting students in recovery.

In Signs of the Times, we talk about Ashley’s feature article on Wyoming Catholic College and look at how Covid-19 has affected men and women religious and other vulnerable elderly populations.

As always, thanks for listening and supporting our show. We’ll see you soon.

Links from the show:

Kolbe Academy
A visit to the rural Catholic college that has 171 students, 12 horses and zero textbooks
Supreme Court tackles clash of Catholic schools, ex-teachers
SOAR!

What’s on tap?

Water, carbonated (Ashley) and not (Zac).

We don’t have comments turned on everywhere anymore. We have recently relaunched the commenting experience at America and are aiming for a more focused commenting experience with better moderation by opening comments on a select number of articles each day.

But we still want your feedback. You can join the conversation about this article with us in social media on Twitter or Facebook, or in one of our Facebook discussion groups for various topics.

Or send us feedback on this article with one of the options below:

We welcome and read all letters to the editor but, due to the volume received, cannot guarantee a response.

In order to be considered for publication, letters should be brief (around 200 words or less) and include the author’s name and geographic location. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

We open comments only on select articles so that we can provide a focused and well-moderated discussion on interesting topics. If you think this article provides the opportunity for such a discussion, please let us know what you'd like to talk about, or what interesting question you think readers might want to respond to.

If we decide to open comments on this article, we will email you to let you know.

If you have a message for the author, we will do our best to pass it along. Note that if the article is from a wire service such as Catholic News Service, Religion News Service, or the Associated Press, we will not have direct contact information for the author. We cannot guarantee a response from any author.

We welcome any information that will help us improve the factual accuracy of this piece. Thank you.

Please consult our Contact Us page for other options to reach us.

City and state/province, or if outside Canada or the U.S., city and country. 
When you click submit, this article page will reload. You should see a message at the top of the reloaded page confirming that your feedback has been received.

The latest from america

“One of the things I find most appealing about the award-winning writer and poet Mary Karr is her forthright, almost brutal, honesty.”
James Martin, S.J.July 01, 2025
Pope Leo XIV urged new archbishops to help him foster unity in a church rich in diversity. Eight of those new archbishops are from the United States, and they spoke to Catholic News Service about how they can help promote fraternity in today’s polarized world.
This week on “Jesuitical,” Zac and Ashley chat with Christopher White about his new book, ‘Pope Leo XVI: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy.’
JesuiticalJune 30, 2025
Kerry Weber, incoming president of the Catholic Media Association, and executive editor of America Magazine, speaks June 26, 2025, during the Catholic Media Conference in Phoenix. (OSV News photo/Bob Roller)
Kerry Weber is an executive editor for America. On May 20, 2025, the Catholic Media Association announced that she was elected president,
Grace LenahanJune 30, 2025