Cathedral Academy, Charleston | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

I was temp hired to do night janitorial. Partway through my second night they stopped me from working. I was taken to security told I was no longer wanted. Told I had to have my Motorhome off the property the next morning. My engine would not start the night before when I went to leave after work, and I was unable to start it that day as well, which they knew. I didn’t have the money to fix it, which they knew. I do have towing through my insurance, which they knew. I was parked out of the way 100 yards from the nearest building. They then told me I could Not stay in my Motorhome, which they also knew is my home. It was already in the low 50’s and dropping. I had no place to go, and they were going to escort me off the property directly. Told me I’d be arrested if I tried to stay in my home. They never accused me of anything, so I have no idea why. Finally, as they were about to escort me off, I begged him over the security guys phone not to be turned out from my home, all that I own, my only shelter. I have no family or friends here. I was scared really bad. They kept repeating themselves and making me agree. He then “allowed” me to stay in my Motorhome and have it towed the next day. I couldn’t get towing at night, I had tried the night before for hours. I had told them as much when they “invited” me to stay and work another day that morning. The head guy had shook my hand telling me what a great job I’d done only a few hours before, when I came in to work my second night. Earlier in the day they had told me they wanted me to stay and work two more nights. Otherwise I would’ve already been gone instead of trapped and frightened by nasty control freaks for no reason I can figure. This is a horrible place, I’m extremely upset about it. I did try again to get towed that night once I was in my home, but had to wait till the next day. All night I was terrified of a knock that thankfully never came. I’m a veteran, and though I have many joint problems and foot problems, I work hard to survive and I am a nice, friendly, and honest person. I did not deserve to be put through the nerve wracking stress they put me through. Don’t trust these people. They are not nice people at all. They are like a cult.

As a preachers kid, nephew, cousin, grandson, and every other conceivable family connection you could think of; I know “church”. Grew up “doing” church. Learned the rules and tried my best to follow them until I just could ignore the feeling in my gut that there had to be something more to religion than just doing “church”. Or if it wasn’t….I was done. Served in every role conceivable…..preached on Easter Sunday and left empty. Taught Bible study and it felt like just “checking off the boxes”. So by the time life moved me from Michigan to Charleston via a 4 year stay in Atlanta, I was pretty done with church. Loved God but done with church…….then someone brought me one Sunday to Cathedral.
This wasn’t church as usual. Not drenched in pious religiosity (totally made up word). These were regular everyday people that were genuinely glad to see your face and wanted to know how your life was going. Not the typical “how’s it going?” Then don’t wait for an answer. There was genuine love and concern for others. Then I saw it. On the wall in HUGE letters…

“WE DO LIFE TOGETHER….”

The phrase brought tears to my eyes. Because this is what my heart yearned for. To belong. I knew I wasn’t crazy all these years. Here’s a building full of people who also thought Christianity is more than doing stuff. But it’s really about doing life….by Christ and with others. We laugh. We love. We cry. We heal. We hurt. We win and sometimes lose…..but we do it together. Real life. Real love. Real talk. Real people. It took years to actually let my guard down…but they just kept on loving me. And all the while, unbeknownst to me….it was Christ’s love through them that was healing my hurts the whole time. I encourage you…l urge you…..if you do nothing else……come sit in the building during Sunday morning service and let the undeniable waterfall of Gods presence, peace and people……just love on you. I stopped by one Sunday and haven’t left……
(By the way, years later….those words on the wall still make me choke up a bit every time I see them……primarily because it’s so true)

At first, I really liked cathedral and my daughter did as well. After a few months I noticed a decline in my daughters behavior and attitude. She would shut down when it was time to go to school and when I’d pick her up she’d be in tears. Not long after she had an “accident” in which she had a cut on the side of her eye. I was told that she was running and slipped. Know that kids will be kids I reassured my daughter the importance of safety and took her back a day later. Long and behold she gets into another “accident”. I was then advised that she fell off of a swing but when I spoke with a teacher who had just resigned she informed me that they were low staffed and the children were not being properly attended to. I was extremely hurt because NOT ONE teacher or supervisor reached out to apologize or show any sort of concern. I removed her from the program and their was no empathy or inquiry as to why we left. To me we were not wanted at the school. Which really hurts because it’s suppose to be a safe haven and a god loving establishment. Side note: my daughter is doing exceptional in her new school but still wears the scar on her face.