ST. LOUIS — An announcement is expected any day on the potential mass closure of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Schools from Ferguson to South County are fighting and praying for survival.
In November 2022, the Archdiocese postponed the restructuring of its more than 80 schools until this year. A spokeswoman confirms an announcement on school closures will come by Friday, which is just 10 days before Christmas.
The Archdiocese notified about 26 schools that they might be closing, giving those schools a chance to present a plan for financial viability and staying open. The schools represent a cross-section of Catholic parish elementary schools based on enrollment numbers, demographic trends, parish and school financial strength, and proximity to neighboring Catholic parish elementary schools, according to the Archdiocese.
St. Simon the Apostle in south St. Louis County not only came up with a plan, the parish launched a “PR” campaign, handing out yard signs with the message: Our future is bright … a future of hope.
Parents picking up their children on Monday seemed confident the school would survive.
“We’re good! The future is bright,” one mother said.
The pastor has also called on parishioners to pray a prayer which says, in part, “Through the help of God’s grace, may we continue to thrive in offering high-quality education, catechesis, moral development, and personal spiritual growth to our children.”
“It matters to me because the school is the anchor of that church,” said Rosina Palmer.
One of the signs is in her front yard. She’s a former Catholic school teacher. The last of her three children graduated from St. Simon’s in 1999.
Kindergarten through eighth grade enrollment was around 250 then, nearly double what it is now, she said. Still, she feels the school is more important than ever.
“Schools are the anchor of a neighborhood. Whether it’s a public school or a Catholic school, the neighborhood draws on that. There’s just a sense of community and family there. (Closing it) would be like a divorce,” Palmer said.
There is much the same feeling at Blessed Teresa of Calcutta School in Ferguson, which has about 180 students.
Committees from both schools were among those presented plans to the Archdiocese in recent days to improve enrollment and finances.
The Archdiocese reports that its more than 80 schools are less than 65% full, fueling an average yearly deficit of $600,000 per parish.
Total enrollment across the archdiocese has dropped by more than 50% in just the past two decades, from about 40,000 in the year 2000 to about 19,000 now.
Palmer fears closing schools will make things worse, not better.
“If you close that school, there’s a piece of the puzzle that’s going to be missing. Right now, we need that parish, and we need that school,” she said.
Pastors were asked to consult their parish or school leadership and communities and then provide a well-discerned recommendation on whether to remain open to Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski.
The deadline for those recommendations was last Friday. The number of schools that will or will not opt for closure at this time depends on those recommendations, according to a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese. Closures will be implemented in the 2024–2025 school year.
