Platteville Parish May Have to Close School

Channel 3000
April 16, 2012

www.channel3000.com/news/Platteville-parish-may-have-to-close-school/-/1648/10917882/-/13p93su/-/index.html

[with video]


PLATTEVILLE, Wis. -

Can keeping the faith get a local church out of debt?

St. Mary's Church, a Platteville parish, is facing a $100,000 shortfall and could soon have to close the doors to its school.

Unfortunately, church officials don't have long to believe.

Some say the church's money problems worsened when a new priest took over the parish.

Father Faustino Ruiz is part of a plan from the top of the Catholic Church to bring the faith back to its more traditional, conservative roots.

The change has caused conflict.

"They're very good priests, they've very humble and loving priests, and I personally really appreciate them and my faith has grown because of them," said church trustee Jerry McCabe. "But some people have not seen it that way and have left the parish."

Dwindling donations have meant that to keep the church open, leaders are considering closing their school.

"For me, this is my parish," said McCabe. "I will never leave. I'm a Catholic. I will never leave the Catholic faith. It's the one faith for me."

Father Ruiz sent a letter outlining the serious situation and pleading for donations.

His plea landed in, among others, parishioner Myra Momot's mailbox.

"It was a bit of a shock to find out that the parish was in debt that much," said Momot. "And it was a shock the revelation that the school might close."

Momot's oldest son graduated from St. Mary's School, and her middle child will do so this spring.

But she's worried her youngest won't get the same experience.

"Not having that cluster of teachers and children around her, you lose a bit of a sense of community within the school and within the parish," said Momot.

Church leaders say they need the $100,000 to pay off their loans in the next week.

It seems like a near-impossible task, but there are believers afoot.

"If people search their hearts, I think it can be done," said Momot.

Parish leaders say they will tell parishoners by next Sunday about the fate of the school, which currently welcomes students from kindergarten through eighth grade.