Update on St. John Bosco Schools

MPNNow.com has posted an update on the progress of St. John Bosco Schools

Significant highlights include

• Interviewing potential teachers is underway.
• The school will be located in southeastern Monroe County or northwestern Ontario County.
• Parents of 80 to 100 children have expressed an interest in enrolling their children at the St. John Bosco Schools.
• About 30 to 40 percent of the children are from St. John of Rochester in Perinton.
• The Steering Committee is in the process of setting up a board and taking other actions necessary to incorporate as a not-for-profit entity.
• A classical education patterned after the Washington-based Angelicum Academy (www.angelicumacademy.net) will be offered. A classical education focuses on developing lifelong learning, unlike many other education models that are information-based and focus on memorization.
• Tuition for 2008-09 will be $1,500, plus $300 to $400 for books.

New MCCS Superintendent Wants to Restore Confidence

The Catholic Courier has published an online piece on Anne Willkens Leach, the incoming Superintendent of the Monroe County Catholic Schools System.

According to the story,

Willkens Leach will assume her new position on the heels of a downsizing that saw 13 of 24 Catholic elementary and junior high schools in Monroe County close at the end of the 2007-08 school year. A 14th diocesan school -- Holy Family in Dansville, Livingston County -- also closed.

"One of the things I want to do is keep the schools that are open, open," Willkens Leach said.

While she feels that it's too early to compile a long list of specific goals, she said she does plan to visit each diocesan school and get to know those communities.

"I want them to know I'm going to be a visible presence," she said. "One of my key gifts is that I lead by collaboration."

Willkens Leach's gregarious personality might be just what the doctor ordered. She said it's important to restore confidence in Catholic schools and the Rochester Diocese, though "I appreciate the (negative) emotions that are still there."

At least the new Superintendent is a realist who recognizes that public confidence in the MCCS System and in the diocese is at an all time low.  Those "(negative) emotions" to which she refers are actually the learned experience of years of MCCS and diocesan management blunders that have driven our school system nearly into the ground.  Restoring any semblance of confidence is going to be a long, uphill slog, especially since the events of last January have shown just how little genuine authority any MCCS Superintendent actually has.

Any significant deviation from the financial results expected by the diocese will almost certainly result in the convening of another committee of the well-off and the well-connected who will meet in secret and give Willkens Leach new marching orders, with the potential result of one more Superintendent resigning "for personal reasons."

With that potential scenario always hanging in the background it will be difficult for many of us to have any confidence in Willkens Leach or anyone else in her position.

Holy Cross School on CaptureRochester.com

Photographer Jeff Gerew has entered an interesting picture of Holy Cross School in the D&C's Capture Rochester project. Shot with what appears to be a fisheye lens, the photo shows the southern (Latta Rd.) entrance to the school and bears the caption

The Holy Cross School in Charlotte. Arguably the most controversial of the thirteen Catholic Schools closed by the Roman Catholic Diocese this year. Even though the school had prepared to operate with private funding donated by area residents and businesses, the Diocese still refused to let the school remain open.

See Jeff's photo here.

Update: In a comment (below) Jeff reminds us to vote for his photo if we like it. You'll need to register first but, having just done that, I can report that it's a simple process.

Jeff has well over 100 photos entered in the project, many of them stunning. You can see his work beginning here.

St. John Bosco Schools Newsletter

St. John Bosco Schools has published the first edition of what it promises to be a weekly newsletter.  Written in the style of a FAQ, the newsletter provides an update on progress toward the opening of the school in September.

Notable items include

• Parents of over 40 children have expressed "strong interest" in enrolling their children.
• The school will be K-5.
• A Pre-K is also expected.
• Annual tuition will be $1,500, plus $300 to $400 for books.

Read the entire newsletter here or visit the web site here.

New Blog From Rich Leonardi

Rochester native son Rich Leonardi has launched a new blog dedicated to the Year of St. Paul. 

According to Rich,

Called "Man of Three Cultures," it will share information about events surrounding the Pauline year and circulate resources to help the faithful understand Christ through His "thirteenth apostle." There will also be an observation or two.

See the first few entries here.

10 Years Later

One of my Google Alerts just picked up a 10 year-old article from National Catholic Reporter.  Entitled Pastor of liberal parish blames transfer on Rome, the story focuses on parishioner and staff reaction at Corpus Christi Church to the announcement that then-pastor Fr. Jim Callen was to be transferred.

One paragraph that caught my eye reads,

"Jim said, 'In 10 years this will all look silly,'" [supervising sacristan Margaret] Whittman recalled. "He said, 'In 10 years we'll have married priests, we'll have women priests, we'll have interfaith communion.'" (emphasis added)

This reminded me of one of Moses' instructions to the Isrealites:

If you say to yourselves, "How can we recognize an oracle which the LORD has spoken?", know that, even though a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if his oracle is not fulfilled or verified, it is an oracle which the LORD did not speak. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)

It sure looks "Jim" has failed the prophet test.

A Preferential Option for the Poor?

Former Rochesterian Rich Leonardi commented yesterday on the CatholicCourier.com story reporting on last Sunday's final Mass at Holy Family Church.

In response, one of his readers sent Rich a copy of a flyer he found on his windshield following the Mass:

Among the issues addressed by the flyer are the closing of almost all of the Catholic schools in the City of Rochester and the fact that but 3 Catholic churches remain on the West side of the city. It then asks, "Where is the Diocesan commitment to serve the poorest of the poor?"

Recent events have pretty much revealed the diocese's answer to that question. While the diocese can arguably claim that declining church attendance caused, in part, by shifting demographics has led to the closure of so many churches, it has a much harder time explaining away all those school closings, especially in city parishes that had clearly and convincingly demonstrated that they were ready, willing and able to operate their schools on their own.

Once the CMA data revealed that it was pretty much the better-off parishes that got to keep their schools at the expense of the poorer ones, the real motives underlying the Bishop's decision-making process became clear.

In DOR it's going to be lip service for the poor, churches and schools for the rich.

I guess our Bishop isn't that much of a liberal after all.