Locust Grove, Virginia, Jun 14, 2025 /
06:00 am
High school can be tough, but on rare occasions it can be a place of grace. It was for the McCoppin family, and especially for eldest daughter Kelly, who just graduated from Saint John Paul the Great High School in Potomac Shores, Virginia.
According to Kelly’s mother, Courteney McCoppin, Kelly started out attending public school but due to a variety of social factors, coupled with the deaths of two grandparents, she sank into depression.
“Her freshman year in public school was just awful. She was spiraling,” Courteney said. “I knew we had to get her out.”
A friend recommended Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School, which is led by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. Courteney remembers going to the website and being so impressed that she quickly signed up for a tour.
“It was a beacon of light,” she said. They enrolled Kelly and that summer she tried out for cheerleading. The opportunity for a fresh start was exciting, but there were still some reservations about the Catholic environment.
“Kelly said to me, ‘What if I become Catholic?’” Courteney shared with The Arlington Catholic Herald. “At the time, I was still in a position of being anti-Catholic. My mom, who had died, was Jewish and my dad was agnostic. Both became atheists later in life.”
Courtney’s father-in-law, on the other hand, had been Catholic. Before he passed away, he used every opportunity he could to teach the children about the faith.
“Every night when we would visit, our grandpa would pray with us,” Kelly said. “He taught us the Our Father and Hail Mary. My sister Alyssa was the one who would pray the rosary with him and go to Mass with him.”
As Kelly started her first year at Saint John Paul the Great, Courteney said she didn’t care if her daughter became Catholic. In her mind, anything was better than what they had left behind. As soon as Kelly got to Saint John Paul the Great she became interested in the faith.
“It was in my human persons class when we were studying Aquinas. It was his causation argument that really confirmed everything for me,” Kelly said.
“It was the logical explanation.”
She began to go to the chapel, meet with Father Christopher F. Tipton, the school’s chaplain, and attend “Evenings with Jesus” events at the school. She then asked her family if they could start going to Mass on Sundays.
“While Kelly was opening up to the faith I was on my own journey,” Courteney said. “I read her human person textbook as well as the book, ‘A Song for Nagasaki’ [by Paul Glynn]. I felt a strong connection to the author and I just got swept up.”
That December, on the last Sunday before Christmas, the family agreed to go to church at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Manassas. They’ve continued attending since.
“Everything just fell into place,” Courteney said. “That January in 2023 the parish set up an RCIA program customized for our whole family. We entered into the Church at the Easter Vigil, April 8, 2023. I was baptized and confirmed with Kelly, Alyssa, and our son, Rhys. My husband, James, was confirmed because he was already baptized.”
The McCoppin family is grateful for the role Saint John Paul the Great High School played in their faith journey, especially Kelly, who just graduated in May.
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“I think John Paul the Great is the best school in the country and the bioethics program is so beautiful,” Kelly said. “We have so many incredible opportunities and the teachers care so much.”
Kelly plans to attend Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, this fall with the intent of studying Spanish and nursing.
This story was first published by The Arlington Catholic Herald on June 5, 2025. It has been adapted by CNA and is reprinted here with permission.
Ashleigh Kassock is a freelance writer in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
