Posted on Tue, Feb. 10, 2009

Catholic schools closing moves Miami-Dade parents

 

BY JAWEED KALEEM AND PATRICIA MAZZEI

First came the shock, after hearing the Archdiocese of Miami would close six schools at the end of the school year. Then came the anger. And third, the question: What do we do now?

The answer: Try to raise money through car washes, spaghetti dinners and a Mardi Gras celebration. And maybe, begrudgingly, start getting used to the idea that a beloved school will not be around in the fall.

 

''We're trying to save the school, but we know there's little hope,'' said Jorge Luis Ledon, whose daughter Sheila is a seventh-grader at Our Lady of Divine Providence in Sweetwater, which opened in 1982. ``The archdiocese has made up its mind.''

 

The other financially strapped schools facing closure: Sacred Heart in Homestead, St. Francis Xavier in Overtown and Corpus Christi in Allapattah. In Broward, St. Clement and St. Stephen are on the list.

 

Last month, the archdiocese announced it would no longer support the schools, whose subsidies were cut off for the spring semester. But some parents and teachers have launched a grass-roots campaign to fund the schools themselves.

 

''We still have another five months of school to go,'' said the Rev. John Cox of the 74-year-old St. Francis Xavier, in the heart of Overtown and South Florida's first black Catholic parish. ``We're not closed yet.''

 

There is precedent for their grass-roots efforts. After North Miami's Holy Family was told in November not to expect the more than $200,000 it received from the archdiocese, it came up with a survival plan of its own -- something the schools on the cut list are trying to emulate.

 

Holy Family is holding school open houses every Sunday after church and advertising on Haitian TV and radio for a nominal fee, said the Rev. Franky Jean, the church's pastor. Recruiting efforts increased enrollment from 205 to 300 students in just a year.

 

''The more students we have, the more money we have to survive,'' said Jean, adding the school plans to have a concert fundraiser in May.

 

St. Francis Xavier, which needs at least $225,000 to survive past June, was on the brink of closing in 1992 before a community-wide effort successfully saved it.

 

That community is trying to pull off the same feat for the second time, with parents and teachers hoping a $15-per-person Mardi Gras event later this month will bring in some money. Cox acknowledged, however, it will take more than that to save the historic institution, which has 117 students through eighth grade.

 

''Overtown would be losing something very valuable. This is about continuing to have a resource for children who have not flourished in the public school system,'' said Cox, who said the idea of converting St. Francis Xavier into a nonreligious charter school is ''floating around.'' The same is true for some of the other schools.

 

At the 55-year-old Sacred Heart in Homestead, which needs at least $300,000 to remain open, a parent-led effort -- www.savesacredheartschool.org -- put kids carrying ''Help Save Our School'' signs on a rodeo parade float last month. In the works are hot-dog sales at Publix and a spaghetti dinner. Parents, though, worry those events will not be enough.

 

As of Monday, only a few hundred dollars had been raised, said Isabel Rodriguez of Sacred Heart's home and school association.

 

''It's very, very difficult,'' Rodriguez said.

 

Our Lady of Divine Providence parents sent the archdiocese a petition last week asking it to reopen the school's registry so more students could enroll to keep the school from closing. The school, which has 113 students in pre-K through eighth grade, needs 200 to be financially viable, parents at the school said Monday.

 

Parents at Corpus Christi had a meeting Tuesday night to discuss the school closing -- with some saying they were already looking for alternatives to the 61-year-old school.

 

Parents are not planning any fundraisers to help keep Corpus Christi afloat, said Marlene Blanco, whose son Carlos, 11, and daughter Marlene, 8, attend the school.

 

''Father Men?ndez told us there was no way to take care of a $350,000 deficit the school would incur next year if they kept it open. It's not easy to come up with $350,000 from a fundraiser,'' she said.

 

''We've always been in Catholic schools,'' said Cesar Cardona, of Miami.

 

He said public school is not an option for his daughter Laurenn, a 9-year-old third-grader, because his children have always been educated at Catholic schools.

 

Corpus Christi and St. Francis Xavier students could go to St. Mary Cathedral, in Miami's Little River neighborhood. The closest Catholic school to Sacred Heart is Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, 12 miles away in Cutler Bay.

 

The students at Our Lady of Divine Providence could go to either St. Agatha or St. Brendan, both in West Miami-Dade.

 

But it's not the same, said Blanco, of North Miami, who touted Corpus Christi's free after-school program, which includes tutoring and basketball classes.

 

''They are not going to get that anywhere else,'' she said. ``It's tragic. I'm hopeful someone like Mayor Manny Diaz can come up with some way to keep it open.''

 

Source

 

This is one of the greatest slap's to the face the church has ever dished out, if the parishioners don't have the money, tough sh*t. I'm ashamed by the church I was raised under.

Those schools are heavily subsidized by the Archdiocese and the Archdiocese is going through very rough financial times. I don't understand the outrage.

Those schools are heavily subsidized by the Archdiocese and the Archdiocese is going through very rough financial times. I don't understand the outrage.

For the record, the "outrage" seems to be held by babaru, not the general public.

 

That said, it's a real shame.

To put it simply, its quite obvious why the parochial schools in coral gables, coconut grove, etc. are not closing. There parishioners can pay up every Sunday at church.

To put it simply, its quite obvious why the parochial schools in coral gables, coconut grove, etc. are not closing. There parishioners can pay up every Sunday at church.

Those aren't closing because the students (or their parents) pay thousands of dollars a year in tuition to fund the schools.

To put it simply, its quite obvious why the parochial schools in coral gables, coconut grove, etc. are not closing. There parishioners can pay up every Sunday at church.

Those aren't closing because the students (or their parents) pay thousands of dollars a year in tuition to fund the schools.

 

In these cases the church and the school are one in the same.

Good. Less dogma = a better educated society.

Good. Less dogma = a better educated society.

 

 

Disagree. I think a 'better educated' society comes from having diverse schools and having less close minded people like you.

Disagree. I think a 'better educated' society comes from having diverse schools and having less close minded people like you.

 

Wrong.

 

I'm extremely open-minded and will happily believe that religion of any form has benefits the day anyone can actually validate objectively anything any of them claim. In the meantime all it does is impose close-minded thinking (look up "dogma" in the dictionary) that ergo can do nothing other than impede educated points of view. Hence my comments.

Disagree. I think a 'better educated' society comes from having diverse schools and having less close minded people like you.

 

Wrong.

 

I'm extremely open-minded and will happily believe that religion of any form has benefits the day anyone can actually validate objectively anything any of them claim.

 

See this is where your close-mindedness comes in. The benefits of religion do not come from validating as a fact the extraordinary claims they do make.

Disagree. I think a 'better educated' society comes from having diverse schools and having less close minded people like you.

 

Wrong.

 

I'm extremely open-minded and will happily believe that religion of any form has benefits the day anyone can actually validate objectively anything any of them claim. In the meantime all it does is impose close-minded thinking (look up "dogma" in the dictionary) that ergo can do nothing other than impede educated points of view. Hence my comments.

i agree...i have christian friends who claim to be very open minded people who also think cuba is full of godless communists who wish to destory america...and this is a small example...

 

people need to think for themself rather than bow down to someone who claims he can talk to god...

Disagree. I think a 'better educated' society comes from having diverse schools and having less close minded people like you.

 

Wrong.

 

I'm extremely open-minded and will happily believe that religion of any form has benefits the day anyone can actually validate objectively anything any of them claim. In the meantime all it does is impose close-minded thinking (look up "dogma" in the dictionary) that ergo can do nothing other than impede educated points of view. Hence my comments.

i agree...i have christian friends who claim to be very open minded people who also think cuba is full of godless communists who wish to destory america...and this is a small example...

 

people need to think for themself rather than bow down to someone who claims he can talk to god...

 

 

Hey Jimmy I once read an article about a guy who smoked pot everyday going crazy and killing someone. I guess all pot heads = killers and we should make pot illegal, right?

See this is where your close-mindedness comes in. The benefits of religion do not come from validating as a fact the extraordinary claims they do make.

Go on then, please tell me some of these benefits and how they are the *exclusive* property of religion. Just one example will do...

See this is where your close-mindedness comes in. The benefits of religion do not come from validating as a fact the extraordinary claims they do make.

Go on then, please tell me some of these benefits and how they are the *exclusive* property of religion. Just one example will do...

 

 

It's not my place to tell you what benefits religion may have to you it's different for everybody I think. I'd like to know how many churches have you gone to with an open mind?

It's not my place to tell you what benefits religion may have to you it's different for everybody I think

 

:lol Now that's gold. Couldn't you just, like, generalise a little just for the sake of at least attempting to prove a point...?

 

I'd like to know how many churches have you gone to with an open mind?

 

It's not my place to.... j/k. I've been to plenty.

:lol Now that's gold. Couldn't you just, like, generalise a little just for the sake of at least attempting to prove a point...?

 

I made my point. It truly is not my place to tell you what benefits religion may have for you, it does have benefits for some people though and those benefits are different for everybody.

 

 

 

I've been to plenty.

 

Ok.

You don't think that government schools don't indoctrinate? Of course I'm not talking about religion here but if we are talking about a "well-educated society" it is certainly worth mentioning.

 

I agree 100%, it's certainly part of the wider debate. I didn't have a US education, but my kids do. They are still quite young, but I do get surprised with how some "facts" about history and America's place in the world order are presented to them...

I'm not a fan of religious schools, but I generally try and ignore them unless the Federal Government starts funding them directly (which is supposed to be illegal).