The oldest Catholic school in California has relinquished that designation, dropping its official affiliation with the Catholic Church.

Officials at San Domenico School in San Anselmo, California, founded in 1850 by the Dominican Sisters, announced Nov. 13 that the school will no longer be Catholic and will drop official ties to the San Francisco Archdiocese and the Western Catholic Educational Association.

According to the statement, San Domenico "will continue to be an Independent School and remain accredited by the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). San Domenico School will continue to be a member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)."

At the same time, however, their statement pledged that the school "has, and will continue to honor its Catholic and Dominican heritage. The Dominican Sisters and San Domenico School are deeply committed to remaining in relationship with one another and to the mission of the School."

"The Sisters also explained their decision to the San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone," it continued, "and remain deeply committed to their relationship with the Archdiocese."

The Western Catholic Educational Association, or WCEA, is, according to its website, "a private educational accrediting agency established under the auspices of the Bishops of the Catholic (Arch) Dioceses of California."

In the statement sent out to the K-12 school's community, Sr. Maureen McInerney, prioress general of the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael, and Cecily Stock, head of school, wrote that "This change in accreditation will not impact the current programming at San Domenico and the inclusive spiritual education will continue. The School's Mission, location, ownership, and other accreditations remain unchanged and the School's financial health remains in solid condition."

The Dominican Sisters' announcement said the decision followed "several months" of prayer, reflection, study and consultation by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael leadership team.

According to the Marin Independent Journal, "Stock said the school agreed with the Dominican Sisters' decision because the 'current standards' of the Western Catholic Educational Association 'were being more rigorously enforced, and do not align with the school's longstanding mission to embrace diversity and inclusion of all faiths and backgrounds.' "

Melanie Morey, head of the San Francisco Archdiocese's Office of Catholic Identity Assessment, told NCR that she and the archdiocesan superintendent of schools had been "in conversation with the prioress general" and that "the school was facing its first accreditation visit that included WCEA Catholic Identity standards."

"Sr. Maureen realized that the school was deficient in most of the standards," said Morey, who is also a WCEA commissioner.

"When I met with Melanie Morey and Pam Lyons on August 30 I told them that San Domenico was currently accredited by WCEA until 2019," McInerney emailed NCR. "When they asked if I thought San Domenico would be able to meet the WCEA standards for re-accreditation, I said I did not think San Domenico would because we knew the standards were going to be more rigorously enforced."

According to a school official, San Domenico received an email Sept. 9 stating that its accreditations had been "extended to June 30, 2020."