advice on finding friendly neighborhood for middle-aged couple with 7th grader headed to John Paul II (Dallas: houses) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

Pippin10 · 02-27-2010, 08:42 PM

We will be moving to TX sometime, perhaps as early as this summer. Our daughter wants to attend John Paul II High School (9th grade August 2011). We are looking for any advice on: friendly neighborhoods, what to look for in houses ($250-400K with pool), Catholic School for her 8th grade year, spiritually and socially vibrant Catholic parish with great music. I'm a Catholic elementary school teacher and will be looking for a job, husband works in North Dallas and flies frequently. We bike, walk, have 2 dogs, want to make friends, are progressive politically and spiritually, love film, live music and culture in general. What should I know to make the best choice??!! Thank you very much.

FarNorthDallas · 02-27-2010, 09:03 PM

You might look at the Highlands North neighborhood near Coit and Campbell. All Saints Catholic school is near Pope John Paul - maybe 1-2 miles away. The All Saints parish/chuch is at Arapaho and Meandering Way. The church and school are about 5 miles apart, with Highlands North being in between.

A city of Dallas hike and bike trail runs along the west side of Highlands North.

HNHA Website
All Saints Catholic Community

SMS_Parent · 02-28-2010, 10:46 AM

I don't know much about the neighborhoods in the area near JP II, but would second the recommendation of All Saints church and school. They have one of the best of the Catholic church youth programs in the North Dallas area. The school is small but good academically and it is literally just down the road from JPII. Another parish and school you might like is Prince of Peace in Plano, but it would be a longer commute for your husband.

Most Catholic schools are already in the process of accepting applications, so now is the time to get your application in. Most schools will not have a lot of slots for new 8th grade students. (Many Catholic schools in the area are reluctant to take any transfers in for 8th grade, but if your daughter is coming from Catholic school it should be less of an issue.)

PanTerra · 02-28-2010, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

You might look at the Highlands North neighborhood near Coit and Campbell. All Saints Catholic school is near Pope John Paul - maybe 1-2 miles away. The All Saints parish/chuch is at Arapaho and Meandering Way. The church and school are about 5 miles apart, with Highlands North being in between.

A city of Dallas hike and bike trail runs along the west side of Highlands North.

HNHA Website
All Saints Catholic Community

This is where my sister's family attended. From what I gathered from them it has a great youth program, in fact the Sunday evening service was pretty much focused on them, so that was the service they all attended. It sure opened up her Sunday mornings.

FarNorthDallas · 02-28-2010, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PanTerra

This is where my sister's family attended. From what I gathered from them it has a great youth program, in fact the Sunday evening service was pretty much focused on them, so that was the service they all attended. It sure opened up her Sunday mornings.

That Sunday night service is the Life Teen service. I attended that one when my son was a challenging toddler because it was a "louder" more relaxed service.

PanTerra · 02-28-2010, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas

That Sunday night service is the Life Teen service. I attended that one when my son was a challenging toddler because it was a "louder" more relaxed service.

Louder and more relaxed?

I went to a service one evening for one of my nephew's confirmation. It was vibrant congregation, for sure.

Pippin10 · 02-28-2010, 03:50 PM

FarNorthDallas, SMS_Parent, and PanTerra - Thank you so much for your very helpful replies! I didn't even know about All Saints and will definitely look into it. Great to know they have LifeTeen - I've found LifeTeen and great parishes often go together. And SMS_Parent, a special thank you for the reminder about school registration. Despite the fact that our school is registering, I had completely forgotten about applying in Texas! So thanks for the heads up!

SMS_Parent · 03-01-2010, 10:02 AM

You might also consider St. Monica or St. Rita depending on where in North Dallas your husband is working. Access to the airport is probably a little easier from the area around St. Rita and St. Monica than around All Saints and both St. Monica and St. Rita are closer to the cultural and civic amenities of Dallas than All Saints. You could find a home in the 75229 or 75244 zip codes in the upper part of your price range. Both St. Monica and St. Rita are great parishes -- and St. Monica has a huge Life Teen program.

JPII sends a bus to St. Rita to pick up the St. Rita and St. Monica kids. The major reason that I didn't suggest St. Monica and/or St. Rita initially is that due to location and family tradition both St. Monica and St. Rita send many more students to Jesuit, Ursuline and BL than to JPII. Your daughter would likely find more classmates headed to JPII at All Saints or Prince of Peace. All Saints is probably also a somewhat more progressive parish on the Catholic spectrum than either St. Rita or St. Monica -- though both St. Rita and St. Monica currently have fantastic pastors.