Students, parents, alumni, faculty and community members of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic High School in Easton, Md., learned earlier this month their half-century-old school may close at the end of the academic year.
It is the only Catholic school on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, operating under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, which encompasses Delaware and the nine counties of Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
MaryKathryn McKelvy, 17, of Oxford, said: “It’s surreal; I could possibly be part of the last graduating class.” MaryKathryn, Student Government Association president, has attended Saints Peter and Paul since kindergarten. Her sister is a junior at the school.
“Many of the students are writing to the bishop [about] how the school has individually impacted them, and its importance,” MaryKathryn said. “I have already started mine, and many of my friends have already sent theirs.”
In an Oct. 8 letter provided to The Washington Times, the Rev. Robert Coine, pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Parish since 2000, wrote “with a heavy heart to inform you of a serious problem jeopardizing the financial stability of the parish and consequently the future of our high school.”
The letter said the parish has been subsidizing the high school since fiscal 2003 and that the $2.2 million has come “directly from the parish ordinary income.”
High school income in 2008 was $1,894,636, while high school expenses were $2,078,130 for a deficit of $183,494, according to financial statements provided to The Times. However, there is a projected $10,592 surplus for 2009 when combining the Saints Peter and Paul elementary and high school income and expenses.
On Sunday, the Wilmington Diocese filed for federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection just before the start of acivil trial in Kent County Superior Court involving a sex abuse case filed against the diocese and a former priest, The Times reported Monday.
Aside from the case filed against the diocese, more than 20 Delaware plaintiffs have filed lawsuits against Francis DeLuca, who served as a priest for 35 years but was defrocked last summer after having been jailed in 2007 in New York for repeatedly molesting his grandnephew, The Times reported.
Members of the Saints Peter and Paul community had anticipated this announcement but are determined to keep the school open under a model that eliminates financial dependence on the diocese or parish.
As the Eastern Shore’s population grew after World War II, so did the Catholic community. Saints Peter and Paul Elementary School was established in 1955, and in 1958 the current high school was established to “provide a continuing opportunity for Catholic education,” according to the school’s Web site.
An advisory committee formed in June 2006 met monthly to develop a vision for the school’s sustained growth and vitality.
Members were selected by current Principal James Nemeth and approved by Father Coine. Both were unavailable for comment.
At a meeting in Wilmington in October 2006, the advisory committee presented all initial options for the future of the high school to the bishop, vicar general and superintendent of the Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Wilmington.
Options included creating a regional school, maintaining the existing structure and governance as a parish school, sponsoring a private Catholic school under the auspices of the Diocese of Wilmington, and closing the school.
The option of closing the school was removed at the request of Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli. At age 77, Bishop Saltarelli died Oct. 8, the same date of Father Coine’s letter. Bishop Saltarelli was appointed by Pope John Paul II on Nov. 21, 1995, as bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington, where he served until July 7, 2008.
In December, the advisory committee completed and submitted its report to the parish and subsequently to the diocese.
The advisory committee recommended improving the facility at the existing location and then building a regional high school at a different location, and turning over the revamped high school building to the elementary school for its new middle school. Further, the advisory committee wanted to reduce any parish assistance, eventually eliminating it altogether. The recommendations made it clear that no diocesan funds, nor funds from any other parish, were being sought.
The high school shares its gymnasium and cafeteria with the elementary school.
The advisory committee has now reformed as the Next Fifty Years Committee. Its mission is to ensure the high school has a centennial celebration.
George Hatcher and Matthew Fitzgerald, co-chairmen of the Next Fifty Years Committee, along with other members of the community, have established the Next Fifty Years Fund - Saints Peter and Paul High School in partnership with the Mid-Shore Community Foundation of Easton to accept donations and pledges.
The committee’s goal is to raise $250,000. Efforts will begin with an information meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at Saints Peter and Paul Church at 1210 S. Washington Street in Easton.
“That meeting is the beginning of a process that will involve the parish and school community as well as the diocese,” said Bob Krebs, with the Diocese of Wilmington’s office of communication. Catherine Weaver, superintendent of Diocese of Wilmington schools, was unavailable for comment.
“It’s important to put [the school] into context. Catholic education reached its peak in 1965 and has since been on the decline. This crisis has been going on for a while,” said Andy Smarick, author of the recently published “Catholic Schools Become Charter Schools: Lessons from the Washington Experience.”
His report details the process in which the District was the first city in the nation to use the charter school mechanism to keep a set of Catholic schools from closing. Once charters, they would no longer be religious, but the schools’ doors would stay open.
Formerly a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education, Mr. Smarick cited the near overnight closing of the suburban Towson Catholic High School as evidence that “this problem is spreading beyond urban areas into other communities.”
Founded in 1922, upon its closing in July, it was the oldest co-educational Catholic high school in Baltimore County. More than 230 students were displaced.
• John Muller is a freelance writer and photographer living in Montgomery County.
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