Jackson Lumen Christi to join the Catholic High School League in 2023-24.

Detroit, Michigan— The Catholic High School League (CHSL) executive athletic board has accepted a request from Lumen Christi Catholic High School to join the CHSL in all sports beginning with the 2023-24 school year. The decision follows months of discussion between the nation’s largest Catholic sports league and Lumen Christi, a private Catholic high school located in Jackson and operated by the Diocese of Lansing. The school signaled its interest in a letter to the CHSL formally requesting membership, and the request subsequently was approved by the board of the CHSL.

Beginning in the fall of 2023, student athletes at Lumen Christi will be eligible to compete in CHSL championships in all 30 sports overseen by the league.

“On behalf of the CHSL and the Archdiocese of Detroit, I am thrilled to welcome Lumen Christi, its dedicated student athletes, and its proud athletic tradition into our league,” said Vic Michaels, director of the CHSL. “We expect this change will benefit our existing private and faith-based members, some of whom have had to travel very long distances, farther than Jackson, in order to fill their sporting schedules.

“We’re also glad to give Lumen Christi a new athletic home and grow our community of schools committed to Christ-centered athletics.”

For the past eight years, Lumen Christi has played against seven larger public schools in the Interstate-8 Athletic Conference. "Lumen Christi is very excited to join the CHSL. The alignment of faith, academics and athletics is going to allow our student athletes and community to grow in all aspects. Thank you to the outstanding leaders of the CHSL, we look forward to the future! Go Titans!" said Jesse Brown, CAA, Athletic Director at Lumen Christi.

Like the five Toledo Catholic schools that were accepted into the CHSL in March, Lumen Christi brings a strong Catholic identity and a proud athletic tradition.

The Catholic High School League is the largest Catholic sports league in the U.S. with 27 private high schools located throughout southeast Michigan and expanding into northwest Ohio. The addition of Lumen Christi will bring that total to 33 school communities for the next school year.

This is the latest in a series of expansions by the CHSL, which includes: 21 Catholic high schools within the Archdiocese of Detroit; two from the Diocese of Lansing (Fr. Gabriel Richard in Ann Arbor and Lumen Christi in Jackson); five from the Diocese of Toledo, (Central Catholic High School, Notre Dame Academy, St. Francis de Sales School, St. John’s Jesuit, and St. Ursula Academy); and five non-Catholic private schools (Greenhills in Ann Arbor, Cranbook Kingswood in Bloomfield Hills, University Liggett in Grosse Pointe Woods, Lutheran North in Macomb, and Frankel Jewish Academy in Bloomfield Hills).

Founded in 1926, the CHSL has a rich history of governing Catholic sports in the Detroit metro and surrounding area. It is affiliated with the Archdiocese of Detroit and governed by a board of directors comprised of principals and athletic directors from member schools.