Mr. Zachary Allen is thankful to be the president of Cathedral High School. Prior to CHS, Mr. Allen served as a teacher, coach and assistant principal in public schools in East Texas. Following this, he moved to Tyler, TX to be the principal at Bishop Gorman Catholic School and was blessed to work closely with Bishop Strickland. Through prayer, he and his wife, Sam, moved with their daughters to Houston, TX to pursue full time ministry by working with St. Ignatius Catholic Church.
Upon hearing about Cathedral High School, Mr. Allen was pulled back to Catholic education because of the specificity with which Cathedral High School was being formed. After meeting with the interview teams and discussing the school with Bishop Lopes and several of the clergy who serve the school, he was excited to join the mission. Mr. Allen is grateful to work everyday to help lead a school that exists to help the Lord lead the students to sainthood. To work for a high school that takes all students and faculty to Mass everyday is a blessing that is hard to put into words.
As someone who did not grow up in the Catholic church, and originally joined RCIA strictly to find out if he could consider being Catholic so that he could offer engagement to his future bride, Mr. Allen understands that the Lord can work for all people in many ways and has a strong passion for helping people appreciate the truth that the Catholic faith offers.
The joy of working with high school students is helping them to realize the opportunity they have to change the world. Each individual is unique and is called to serve the Lord in a particular way, and it is our hope and joy to help students listen to God’s voice to discern what path they should follow. Today, many high school graduates have lost their faith or are well on their way to living a life with God on the periphery. Here at CHS, we firmly place Jesus Christ at the center of all we do as we begin each day with the celebration of Mass. Our hope is that students who graduate from Cathedral will have a strong relationship with Jesus that will sustain them through each of the next phases of life that will come their way.
The four pillars of Cathedral High School of Sacred Worship, Sacred Wisdom, Sacred Music and Sacred Art, offer a tremendous opportunity for students to learn who they are in relation to their Father who is in Heaven. It has been a joy to witness the faculty and staff of Cathedral coming together to best serve the students and their needs in their particular content area.
Mr. Allen holds both a B.S. and a M. Ed. degree from Stephen F. Austin State University. He has partially completed a M. Theology from the Augustine Institute, and is currently set to begin an Ed. D. program this coming summer. Education has always been important to Mr. Allen, and he hopes to help foster this love in the students that come to Cathedral.
Mr. Allen’s biggest joy comes from being a husband and father of 4, 3 little girls on earth and a little boy in heaven. His wife Sam was the first to introduce him to the Catholic faith. He hopes that they can work together to pass on the faith to their children so they can grow to know God, to love God and to discern His will for their lives. Mr. Allen is grateful for the countless priests that have helped guide his journey, and the countless others who have prayed for him through the years. He is most grateful to God.