St. Anthony's Will Close

[seton1996]

I don't believe there are any wealthy alumni. My high school Queen of Peace was able to raise over 2 million on a go fund me page with many successful alumni donating. The attached link mentions how even the last fund raiser for SA did not do very much. Now it is official about the closing.

http://www.northjersey.com/story/sp...cision-day-looms-hurley-st-anthony/100025936/

I also went to QP, and even though we raised the money to keep the school open, it may be hard fight to keep school open long term. As mentioned other spots, these schools really need to build an endowment and keep growing the enrollment numbers. These schools really cannot survive with small enrollments, need to have at least 500+ students to survive. More students allow schools to offer more programs, both academic as well as social and sports. When I graduated in the 90's, QP was at around 1000 students. now currently in the 200-300 range.

 

[Fishjam]

The way of survival is to merge these Catholic schools. Facing reality that would benefit everyone. Share facilities and staff and increase enrollment under one roof would cut costs.

 

[HallLine69]

Please don't feed the trolls.

Good advice...you're right. I should have known better.

 

[HallLine69]

The way of survival is to merge these Catholic schools. Facing reality that would benefit everyone. Share facilities and staff and increase enrollment under one roof would cut costs.

I think that's the right approach. Not sure it will happen for a variety of reasons, but short of rock solid endowments (extremely rare anymore) most of those schools will not survive.

 

[hallgrad80]

Declining enrollment is only one cause of catholic schools closing as the lack of people entering priesthood or becoming a nun has significantly contributed to the problem . Thus the cost of hiring lay teachers to replace the nuns and priests as their numbers decline have made it far more difficult to find the financial resources to keep schools open .

 

[pokeyshu]

The Archdiocese of Newark hasn't paid out 100's of millions in lawsuit settlements. The larger reason why schools like St. Anthony's are closing in droves is because Catholics have stopped going to Church in very large numbers, changing demographics in urban areas, and an aging population with a relatively low birth rate. Another more spiritual reason is that so many Catholic schools have stopped teaching the faith. 'If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor.

Carholicman your points are accurate. But

 

[pokeyshu]

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/20...alued_at_800g_undergoing_a_500g_addition.html

 

[catholicman]

Carholicman your points are accurate. But

$500,000 would not have kept that school open. And, by the way, church money wasnt used for that. It was a private donation from a friend of the Archbishop. It helped build rehab facilities and meeting spaces for bishops.

How much is in your retirement account? Maybe we can plunder it to keep St. Anthony's open? (I am being ironic. Pokey, you are allowed to use critical thinking skills every once in a while.)

 

[Section112]

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/20...alued_at_800g_undergoing_a_500g_addition.html

Pokey the good news is that there is a new sheriff in town and he is terrific.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/...-cites-chasm-between-life-and-faith.html?_r=0

 

[TomD82]

During the QPHS fund raising and discussions with the Archdiocese of Newark plenty of people said the Archdiocese has plenty of money to keep the school open. A few large donations are contingent on not closing QPHS in 2 years.

QPHS 1,060,910 of $1.0M goal

Raised by 1,407 people in 10 months through go fund me only.

 

[lloyde dobler]

Plenty of people also say stuff on this board about a whole assortment of things. Does that mean it's all true?

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

During the QPHS fund raising and discussions with the Archdiocese of Newark plenty of people said the Archdiocese has plenty of money to keep the school open. A few large donations are contingent on not closing QPHS in 2 years.

QPHS 1,060,910 of $1.0M goal

Raised by 1,407 people in 10 months through go fund me only.

I could be wrong, but didn't 2 or 3 donors combine for more than half of the total?

 

[seton1996]

I could be wrong, but didn't 2 or 3 donors combine for more than half of the total?

Yes, were two very large donations.

 

[Section112]

What Fishjam said is my take as well. Create a few regional Catholic HS's that have top notch facilities, take care of the kids that need help (lots of special education capabilities which many Catholic schools lack) and still teach the foundations of the religion. If you create a really good regional school it will be a draw to parents and kids of all backgrounds and be easier to support in the long run. Supplement poor families tuition where needed. That is the only way Catholic high schools will make it in this area in the future IMO. Could be investing in the schools already established to make them better or more accessible and/or creating a new pilot program school. They can't support all the individual dying schools anymore without coming up with a better sustainable plan. Same approach for middle and grammar schools too but they have to be able to compete with the charters and well run publics.

 

[Pirate6711]

The model in Charlotte works really well. Six catholic grade schools (four only going through fifth grade), one junior high, and two high schools (the second high school opened only five or so years ago). It's a growing region with a catholic population that is projected to keep growing and this is a great model.

When I was in my hometown in Ohio a couple years ago for a wedding, I asked the monsignor who was the celebrant what he thought of that model. Catholic churches and schools in Ohio have been struggling to stay afloat financially. He said that would be a perfect setup, but it's tough to implement when you have an older system with so many neighborhood schools operating autonomously. He said if it was feasible to start from scratch, the Charlotte model would be the one to use. When your oldest school was started in the late 1950s and the diocese was established in the 1970s (I think the whole state of North Carolina was just one diocese before that), it's much easier to put together this model vs. parishes from the 1800s.

 

[lloyde dobler]

And also how much impetus is there to do any of this in the cities when the overwhelming majority of students aren't even Catholic?

 

[hbkmyr]