Thursday, November 5, 2009
Possible Catholic School Closing
I have received word, from a pretty reliable source, that a request has been made by the pastor of St. Catherine Laboure Church in Wheaton, MD to close the school. A second source has stated that things were not very good (financially) but did not come out and mention the closing. However, he/she hinted at it.
In order to close a school, the pastor is required to make the request, per the new policies approved earlier this year. (On a side note, I think that this is done to shield the Archdiocese from charges that they are closing the school. I can see it now "We did not request the closing. The Pastor did.")
Now, I would assume that any request for closing was made after extensive discussions with the Archdiocese. It was probably determined that there was little chance that enrollment would go up (enrollment is below 260 circa 2007) and the costs outstripped the resources of the parish and the archdiocese (there is a fairly decent sized six figure deficit which needs to be closed).
From my understanding, some parishioners are aware of this but not everyone and it has not been announced officially.
The Archdiocese was asked to comment on this but has not provided any at the time of posting. Should anyone from the Archdiocese wish to comment on this, I will publish the response as is.
UPDATE (11:58am): From the Communications Director of the Archdiocese of Washington at apx. 9:25am:
I’m sorry, but we cannot respond to anonymous emails, as I’m sure you can understand.
Susan Gibbs
Archdiocese of Washington
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6 comments:
Adios, St. Catherine's. The Archbishop likes you better closed than open. Call the Archdiocese. Call often and be insistent or you will not be opening next Fall.
Perhaps you should have first read Policy 4514. If you had, you certainly would not have written such lies. You will see in Policy 4514 that a pastor cannot request a school to close until a full consultation has taken place. Do your homework DC Catholic, and while you're at it, find another "very reliable source."
The Archdiocese makes the decision first and then claims not to have made the decision. They go through a song and dance routine called a "consultation", which is nothing more than a waste of time and a lie.Perhaps you should read policy 4710 and try to make some sense of it. Here it is : A family attending a Catholic school that has been designated "geographically necessary" may be eligible for a larger tuition assistance scholarship. why is assistance being based on something other than financial need? Just what is the Archdiocese up to here?
The Pastor responds to what the Archbishop's representatives tell him to do. There are many ways to put pressure on a Pastor. I would like the Archbishop to explain why the "Needy Parish" Fund has been canceled. If you are only an "associate pastor" you have very little rights by canon law and can be transfered on a moments notice.
I also read Policy 4514 but note that it does not go into effect until Fall 2010. Regardless, the Archdicoese does not use the word "consultation" in the ordinary sense. The consultation will be done in a manner so as to ensure as little opposition as possible. The primary consultation will be closed to the public, but there will be a short meeting at which parents and parishoners will be heard but not heeded.
If you ask me, ADW needs to stop paying Metro for confession adds and instead funnel as much $ as possible into grass roots door to door campaigning to attract students away from Montgomery County's over crowded and morally absent public school system. Also, if the pope made a you tube video asking Washington catholics to put their kids back in catholic schools, I would bet we would see a jump in enrollment. Their $ would be well spent on a real marketing team that actually knew what they were doing. Heck, give people a coupon of %20 off their first year and get the kids in. Parents will be less likely to move their children if they are happy with the school. Problem solved...
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