PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Whispers in the Loggia
Here in Philadelphia, a very sad, dark, painful day… then again, such is the Paschal mystery that life will come of it.
According to reports in the field, at this morning’s closed meeting of pastors and administrators, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Catholic education announced its recommendation to close or merge four high schools and 44 elementary schools — by far, the most sweeping consolidation of a diocesan schools system ever to take place in the American church. The Philadelphia system is currently at less than a quarter of its peak enrollment of the 1950s and ’60s.
The names of the impacted schools and the commission’s report will be publicly released at a 4pm news conference, which will be streamed on the archdiocesan website. After years of piecemeal closings, the Blue Ribbon plan — over a year in the making — is intended to create a stable, sustainable framework of Catholic education in the 1.2 million-member church for the next decade.
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