Rest in Peace Deacon Chaput

 I received word last night of the passing of Deacon Raymond Leo Chaput on Dec. 7th.  

You can read his biography at the Collins Funeral Home website.  

 

May eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.  May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

BREAKING NEWS: St. Catherine Laboure Elementary School to Close

As you recall, this was one of the schools slated for closing a couple of years ago. 

It seems the Archdiocese is doing a good job of keeping this very quiet until the last minute.

Follow-up on St. Catherine's

Well, I was able to get a hold my normal source and confirm that St. Catherine Laboure will be open for another year. Congratulations!

It seems that there have been a number of donors, combined with the effort by the Archdiocese to keep this school open for the large number of Hispanic children who attend.

The Meetings at St.Jude and St. Catherine

So, here is what I can tell you about the meeting on Tuesday night at St. Jude's from my sources:

1. Fr. Hines stated that no decision has been made regarding the school. Personally, I believe that statement because there is nothing in writing. However, the general feeling was that this was a done deal -- St. Jude's would merge with St. Catherine's -- especially from the fact that later in the meeting the participants were told that the school would remain open.
2. A representative of the Archdiocese was there by the name of Tom. Unfortunately, neither could tell me if it was Tom Duffy or Tom Burnford (Sec. of Education). My sources felt he was quite standoffish. He stated that the Archdiocese cannot assist the school but will help though the tuition assistance program, which has increased from $2mil. to $4mil. (This was reported in the Catholic Standard a while back.)
3. The school was in debt of $400,000 due to the difference between tuition ($6150) and actual cost per student ($7700). My question is: Did this happen overnight or was this a couple of years in the making. It seems hard for me to believe that this suddenly took place overnight. And, if this was taking place over the last few years, then why did the audits of the archdiocese not pick this up? Or did they not conduct audits?
4. Tom was asked why the Archdiocese did not help to market Catholic schools more? His response was (are you ready for this!) it was the responsibility of each school to be responsible for this; the Archdiocese will do what it can. Now, have you noticed how much marketing is done for Catholic Cemeteries. I hear radio spots on a regular basis on WMAL. When was the last time you heard a radio spot for Catholic elementary schools. Probably never.
5. St. Jude's went from an apx. 500 student body to apx. 240 today. In my opinion, the economy is not the main reason. The main reason is that a new elementary school was built just up the road. The families that would have gone to St. Jude's are now going there. Each year it adds an additional grade. Why did the Archdiocese allow this to happen? The only reason I can figure is that the school opened with not funds from the Archdiocese. It was all raised within the parish.
6. The Archdiocese will eliminate the reduction in tuition for siblings unless they apply for tuition assistance to the Archdiocese. If the school wants to do it, fine.

Overall, both felt that this meeting was one that was really just to say "We met, we informed, and you figure it out." Typical of the last two rounds of closings.

I did not get much of a chance to speak with my contact at St. Catherine's but the Superintendent of Schools, Patricia Weitzel-O'Neill was in attendance to represent the Archdiocese. The school is in the red by a couple of hundred thousand dollars.

Well, it seems that the Superintendent made it very clear that those in attendance should not believe anything on the blogs since they were all rumors.

So, let me close with this to the Superintendent. If you believe that anything on this blog is incorrect, they you, Ms. Gibbs or any representative from the Archdiocese are more than welcome to send me a note at awashingtondccatholic@gmail.com. I will publish your comments verbatim.

However, I did send a note to Ms. Gibbs requesting comment about St. Catherine's early last week but was told that there would be no response to anonymous emails. You did have your chance to put the rumors to rest.

UPDATE (5am): I have heard this from two separate people, that the third school is St. Michael's in Silver Spring. The enrollment has been low for a while. This some have speculated is the third school to close in Montgomery County and may be the source for the idea of Trinity.

St.Jude and St.Catherine

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend either meeting last night. I had, as they say, a previous dinner engagement.

By now, the parishioners will basically know how much they wil need to raise, how long they have to do it, and all of the other deadlines.

I will be asking my sources about the meetings. However, if anyone would like to write and share their take on the meeting, please feel free to do so at awashingtondccatholic@gmail.com.

Let me know who the representative from the Archdiocese was and what was his/her "solution" to the matter.

I look foward to hearing from you and will post information from my sources over the next few days.

Possible Closing of Another Catholic School?

I have heard through the grapevine a few minutes ago that a meeting took place at St. Jude's in Montgomery County. It seems that at this meeting a representative of the Archdiocese has told the school that they will merge with St. Catherine Laboure and be called Trinity.

Has anyone heard this? Was anyone at the meeting? Can anyone verify that this took place?

Update on Possible School Closing

I have received the following email. I have published it as written.

To the author, thank you for writing.

++++++++++

Dear Washington DC Catholic,

I am a parishioner of St. Catherine Laboure church and a very-involved parent at St. Catherine Laboure school. I am writing to let you know that our pastor, Father Salah, did not request that SCL school be closed. As you stated in your blog, any request for closure would have to be a recommendation stemming from "extensive discussions with the Archdiocese." What has been requested by the pastor is a consultation with the Archdiocese. The fact that a consultation has been requested does not mean that it is a given that the outcome will be a recommendation for school closure or consolidation. It is my understanding that this consultation will look at not only financial viability, but also the academic performance, Catholic identity, accessibility, and affordability of the school. It will also involve the parents and parishioners. This will be our time to show what we have to offer, why we are different, where we excel, and plans we have for achieving financial stability.

The rumor that Father Salah is requesting that the school be closed likely stems from the fact that he has mentioned school closure/consolidation in private and public meetings as a possible outcome when parishes/schools have financial difficulties. He has not--and cannot until the consultation is completed--requested this to the Archdiocese. My biggest concern at this time is that parents will hear things like this (i.e., the pastor recommended the school be closed) and give up (apply to other schools for next year, stop supporting the school financially, stop volunteering), making the rumors a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In addition, I'd like to point out that to my knowledge our enrollment is roughly equal to that of other schools in the area and that the financial debt of the parish, while large, is not the largest in the ADW. I only point this out to say that these statistics are not necessarily a reflection of our parish/school individually, but of the current economic times and the status of Catholic school enrollment in general.

I have read many of your posts on Catholic education and I agree with you that the new trend of moving towards multi-parish regional schools will ultimately dilute Catholic education as a whole, as well as be detrimental to the sense of parish community. I am determined to maintain a positive attitude and encouraging all other SCL parents to do the same, so that we can put 100% into putting our best face forward during this consultation process. I hope that you will consider clarifying in your blog that the pastor of SCL School has not requested that the school be closed, and I ask that you keep us in your prayers.

Thank you.

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