When it Rains it Pours

“20 CATHOLIC SCHOOLS IN ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK WILL NOT REOPEN, THREE WILL MERGE IN WAKE OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC”

For the details see HERE. That’s about 10% of the total number. And this after years of closings and reorganizations. It will likely be just the beginning, according to Cardinal Dolan: “I am very concerned that if our elected officials in Washington don’t do the right thing and provide more assistance for our schools in the HEROES Act now making its way through Congress, we may be back here again in a few months shuttering even more of our schools.” Even in this round some other schools barely survived: “I am pleased to say that (through the efforts of the Archdiocesan offices – SC) a number of schools originally thought to be in trouble will be able to remain open this September.” Among the schools closed are those at the well-known Manhattan parishes Corpus Christi and Our Lady of Pompeii.

Of course, according to the Cardinal, it was only the fault of the Coronavirus: “Please know that none of the schools that are closing were “failing” schools.” I am not sure how many people would agree with that given the sorry story of the last decades. Cardinal Dolan himself indicates the stumbling block is the cost of the education – all the more so when so many of the “less affluent” families that are the main clients of this system today have been disproportionately harmed by the measures taken by the government against coronavirus. Today’s cost of a Catholic school education reflects the need to rely almost entreily on a lay teaching staff. Other families that would have been potential customers of the Archdiocesan schools have dropped out over the decades because of legitimate concerns about these schools’ Catholicity and competence. And obviously, if nowadays only 20% of Catholics in the Archdiocese attend Mass on Sunday, and according to anecdotal evidence, many (most?) of these are practicing contraception, that also will translate into reduced school attendance. I would view the Coronavirus as simply accelerating the effect of an unresolved profound crisis of structure, mission and faith.

The more frightening consideration is how much of the structure of the institutional Roman Catholic Church – its parishes, schools and religious orders – will actually survive this crisis. That question is being raised in Germany, France and Italy right now. Today’s announcement shows we now are facing it here.

Here is the full text of the Cardinal’s letter.