Gallup Catholic High School Secures Site by Cathedral
Parents choose the Chesterton classical model after Sacred Heart outgrew its walls; daily Mass will be steps away for the class of 2031.
On November 4, 2026, organizers of a planned Catholic high school in Gallup, New Mexico, announced that an office building directly across from Sacred Heart Cathedral has been acquired and will be renovated for the 2027–2028 academic year. The location is meant to give students daily access to Mass and the sacraments at the cathedral.
The school is scheduled to open in fall 2027 with a freshman class of about 15 students, high school faculty, and a headmaster or headmistress, then grow year by year until all four grades are in place.
From a thriving parish school to a high school
The project grows out of Sacred Heart Catholic School, formerly Cathedral High School. When the elementary and middle grades faced financial strain, they relocated to a campus next to the cathedral. Enrollment that first year was under 40 students. Six years later, with a principal and teachers from the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, the school has more than 100 students and is described as bursting at the seams.
DJ Biava, a parent and chair of the school board, said the high school idea took shape in a prayer group of several fathers who asked where their children would go after eighth grade at Sacred Heart. He called the effort “Holy Spirit driven and divine intervention.”
Parents and the board chose the Chesterton model, a network of schools named for G.K. Chesterton that offers an affordable classical Catholic education at the secondary level. Founded in 2008 near Minneapolis and formally established in 2013, the network now counts more than 100 schools, chiefly in the United States, with others in Canada, Brazil, Australia, and Sierra Leone. The network was named a finalist for the Center for Education Reform’s Yass Prize. Chesterton schools organize students into four “Houses” named for Saints Ambrose, Athanasius, Augustine, and Chrysostom. Biava has also expressed hope of introducing a senior pilgrimage to Rome.
Staffing, fundraising, and next steps
Immediate needs remain a head of school, faculty, and continued fundraising. Biava stressed that public money is not available: “The government doesn’t give any money at all. We have to beg and save and fundraise for every penny we get.” School chaplain Fr. Mitchell Brown took part in a call-a-thon fundraiser in August 2026. Biava summed up the mood of the team: “Everyone on this team is feeling like it’s the Holy Spirit’s will that Gallup has a Catholic high school.”
For families already formed by Sacred Heart’s elementary and middle years, the new campus across from the cathedral is intended to keep secondary formation rooted in the liturgy, classical study, and the life of the local Church.