SUNAPEE — Bishop Peter Libasci celebrated Mass at Mount Royal Academy on Saturday morning and blessed the school as part of a rededication of the campus and its mission.

“Today we are coming together to rededicate, to recommit use of this brand-new campus to the fulfillment of our mission. The mission that brings the good news of Jesus Christ to as many children as possible in the Upper Valley, of New Hampshire, and surrounding states and from around the world,” Headmaster David Thibault said during the rededication ceremony.

But more than just rededicating the new buildings and campus, he said, “we're here today to rededicate ourselves to Catholic education, which is an education that teaches the whole person in each and every one of our students. This means not only the teaching of their intellect, but also helping parents form their children in our beautiful faith. ... A Catholic Education strives for something higher.”

Thibault also thanked the Broom family, whose Broom Family Foundation has provided the campus in Sunapee and buildings for the school.

This school year, Mount Royal Academy opened its second new building in just two years.

The 12,000-square-foot structure serves as a classroom building for pre-kindergarten to Grade 8.

Last year, the academy opened an academic building that houses the school gymnasium, computer and science labs, office space and cafeteria.

A third building on campus is used for the academy's liberal arts college preparatory high school.

A new outdoor play structure for the children was also recently added along with new landscaping, a sprinkler system and a school-wide paving project.

Before blessing the school campus, Libasci recounted his excitement at being chosen to be an altar boy by a nun who taught him as a student. And he emphasized the importance of a Catholic education and the profound and positive impact it had on his life.

After the ceremony, Thibault said Mount Royal Academy is enjoying its largest enrollment to date, with 140 students in pre-kindergarten though high school. In the past four years, the school has gained 100 students, he said.

A member of the academy's school board and a Broom family member, Joan Broom of New London, said she and her family strongly support Catholic education.

A student's mother said it best, Broom said: “I send my children here not to go to Harvard, but to go to heaven.”

Joan Broom helped found the school in 1994, using space in a wing of a closed hospital in Newport. The academy moved to Sunapee in 1997.

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Meghan Pierce may be reached at mpierce@newstote.com.