October 7, 2025 // Diocese

Holy Cross School Thrives with Spanish Immersion Program

Kasia Balsbaugh

At Bishop Rhoades’ pastoral visit on Friday, September 26, to a kindergarten classroom at Holy Cross School in South Bend, the children greeted him, answered his questions, and sang him the “Ave Maria” – all in Spanish.

When the bishop asked their teacher, Magda Argüello, how often the class speaks Spanish, the answer was “Todo el día” – all day.

Holy Cross School’s unique offering is its Spanish immersion program, which runs alongside the traditional English-speaking education track. Bishop Rhoades celebrated Mass for the school and visited several classrooms, the immersion and English classrooms of the same grade usually next door to each other.

Beginning in pre-K, Holy Cross School parents have the option for their children to be in classes where Spanish is written and spoken all through the school day. Once they reach junior high, students have more opportunities to interact with their non-immersion peers in English and Spanish classes.

School principal Annie Borjas remembered Bishop Rhoades’ last visit to the school in 2019, the year after the immersion program began. She had been a kindergarten teacher at that time and was to begin her principal role the next year.

“During his visit, Bishop Rhoades was able to witness the very beginning stages of our immersion program when enrollment was hovering around 200 students,” Borjas said. “Eight years later, those same kindergarteners are now in seventh grade and are becoming fully bilingual and biliterate. Enrollment is now at more than 400 and our immersion program is thriving.”

Another of the school’s unique aspects is its diverse community. It is one of the most racially diverse student bodies in the diocese, said Holy Cross Parish pastor Father Jim Fenstermaker. Most students come from Hispanic or African American backgrounds. As Borjas noted, this diversity extends to the faculty and staff, who boast family heritages from Italian to Hungarian and countries of origin from Nigeria to Paraguay.

Father Fenstermaker said, “One of the most heartwarming things for me to do is to just stand back and watch our kids play together, recreate together on the playground, or play soccer or whatever, and just to see these students of all different racial backgrounds, and how well they form a community of respect and kindness.”

Another interesting fact about the school’s makeup is that about 40 percent of the student body at Holy Cross School is non-Catholic, which Father Fenstermaker calls a blessing and a challenge. The school doesn’t compromise on its Catholic identity or treat any student differently than another. Father Fenstermaker, a daily sight in the school along with associate pastor Father Noah Junge, sees his overall responsibility as “ensuring the school is living out its mission.”

“From the diocesan perspective, even in line with what Bishop Rhoades is now asking in terms of the diocesan synod, is the school a vibrant, mission-oriented community?” Father Fenstermaker said. “From a school perspective, are we living out our school mission to give glory to God through the education of our students?”

As Father Fenstermaker explained, one concrete way the school celebrates its Catholic identity is through its “Crusaders for Christ” saint series. Last year, when the school community changed its mascot from “crusaders” to “crusaders for Christ,” they decided to feature holy men and women, highlighting a particular virtue each holy person championed. This year, the continuing “Crusaders for Christ” saint series will feature holy people from the Congregation of the Holy Cross’s history, such as Venerable Father Patrick Peyton and Saint André Bessette, celebrating the religious order that runs the school and associated parish.

Father Fenstermaker described Bishop Rhoades’ effect on the school community as “enlivening.” This was observed in students’ interactions with the bishop in their classrooms. In one instance, when Bishop Rhoades told the second graders that he had been a priest for 42 years, they cheered and applauded.

“The bishop coming here emphasizes the fact that this one particular school, one particular parish, we’re part of a larger Church,” Father Fenstermaker said. “I guess in some ways I would almost compare it to the Pope who visits different countries. It’s a sign of the unity of the Church.”

This role of the bishop’s was at play not only in the classrooms, where he talked with the students about their religion classes and the Faith, but also in the all-school Mass that morning. Bishop Rhoades’ homily was directed largely at the eighth-grade students, many of whom he would confirm that weekend. Bishop Rhoades began with the Gospel reading of the day to discuss the upcoming sacrament. In the Gospel, Peter answered Jesus, “You are the Christ,” and Bishop Rhoades used the opportunity to talk to the students about what “Christ” means – “the anointed one,” a meaning that is also found in the word “chrism” (the anointing oil at Confirmation) and “Christian.”

“So as students here at Holy Cross School, you are prepared in this Catholic school primarily to learn how to be a disciple of Jesus, to learn the Christian faith, to learn all about the life of Jesus and His teachings, and then to go forth, to go forth as His disciples, to spread the Gospel,” Bishop Rhoades said. “And I am so proud of Holy Cross School, a school that has been growing a lot in the past several years, which shows how good a school you are.”

As Borjas said, “It is exciting to be able to share with Bishop Rhoades the many ways in which Holy Cross School continues to grow and the many ways in which we strive to live out our mission of giving glory to God through the total education of each child.”