Each year, The Bronx continues to lose Catholic churches as the Archdiocese of New York continues to consolidate and close parishes to save money and sell of the land to developers.
This year its a bit more painful to the community as two Bronx Catholic schools along with 5 others across the Archdiocese of New York will shut their doors forever.
St Nicholas of Tolentine Elementary School which has been serving the Fordham community for 112 years since 1907 and St Joseph’s School in Tremont which has been opened since 1877 for 142 years will close after the school year ends this coming June.
According to the Archdiocese, these continued closings are to strengthen those that remain open. Those that are being shut down are not financially viable and Cardinal Timothy Dolan went as far as saying that if enrollment were 10% more at these schools they wouldn’t be shutting down.
Cardinal Dolan said in a statement released earlier today, “While we sincerely regret ever having to close any schools, the goal is to strengthen the remaining institutions and preserve Catholic education in New York for years to come.”
It’s truly sad that these schools continue to close especially in lower income neighborhoods where they have been beacons of hope for parents, many immigrants, wishing to send their children to get a better education than they would get in local public schools.
Did you attend these schools? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.