[Magdalen] "Failing" parishes--Canada vs. USA

[Jay Weigel]

Speaking of Chicago Catholic schools, I remember the uproar (which went
nationwide) when the archdiocese attempted to close Providence-St. Mel High
School in 1978. Judging by the Wikipedia article, it looks like the school
is still going strong, although no longer supported fully by the
archdiocese. They shot themselves in the foot on that one.

IMO, the RCC is, in general, shooting themselves in the foot by closing
schools. Those schools, *if* they open them to non-Catholics, as they do in
many cities, provide an excellent opportunity for evangelism to possibly
unchurched parents, who may be sending the kids there for reasons having
nothing to do with religion. The kids still have to take the religion
classes and attend various religious events, and they absorb a great deal
of Catholic teaching one way and another. My daughter had a pretty good
religious background when she went to a Catholic high school, and she has
always said that the religion classes there made her a better Episcopalian.
In any case, the schools may make the kids (and their parents) better
Christians, if not converts. But IMO they are a tool for evangelism if used
correctly, and the church is missing that. Incidentally, my only complaint
about the Episcopal school in my former home town is that it isn't
Episcopalian *enough*!

On Wed, Nov 25, 2015 at 11:47 AM, Scott Knitter <scottknitter at gmail.com>
wrote:

> On Wed, Nov 25, 2015 at 8:32 AM, Judy Fleener <fleenerj at gmail.com> wrote:
> > There were 4 RC parishes within walking distance where I live now in
> > downtown Muskegon.
>
> We've got two within walking distance here in our Chicago neighborhood:
>
> - St. Gertrude's, whose school is now occupied by the lower grades of
> Northside Catholic Academy, supported by several parishes. At some
> point the children graduate from this campus and continue at the
> school of one of the other parishes.
> - St. Ignatius', whose school is now occupied by the Chicago Waldorf
> School.
>
> So these two "inner city" parishes are still lively sites. There are
> closures and threats of closures in the Archdiocese, however. Some
> years ago the parish of the Immaculate Conception (or maybe Immaculate
> Heart of Mary; I can't remember) was closed but the archbishop gave
> the church buildings to a new monastic establishment, and now they're
> the Monastery of the Holy Cross OSB (http://www.chicagomonk.org).
>
> --
> Scott R. Knitter
> Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA
>