Archdiocese to close two Montgomery County Catholic schools
Two Roman Catholic elementary schools in Montgomery County will close in June due to declining enrollment.
Two Roman Catholic elementary schools in Montgomery County will close in June due to declining enrollment.
Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, has accepted recommendations to shut the schools operated by the parishes of St. James in Elkins Park and Holy Martyrs in Oreland, The Inquirer has learned.
The action, to be announced by the archdiocese on Monday, is the latest in a series of planned parish school closures and mergers throughout the region caused by rising costs and changing demographics, including population shifts and lower birthrates among Catholics. The schools in the city and the inner-ring suburbs have been especially hard-hit.
At Holy Martyrs in Oreland, 82 students have registered for school in the fall.
Only 60 signed up for St. James in Elkins Park, which as recently as 2000-01 had 253 students. Now, 95 percent of the parish's income is used to support the school.
According to the archdiocese, St. James students will be accepted by the neighboring parishes of Presentation BVM in Cheltenham, St. Hilary of Poitiers in Rydal and Immaculate Conception in Jenkintown.
The Holy Martyrs students are being urged to consider transferring to several neighboring parish schools, including St. Genevieve in Flourtown, Our Mother of Consolation in Chestnut Hill and St. Philip Neri in Lafayette Hill, the archdiocese said.
Holy Martyrs' Early Childhood Education Program for three- and four-year-olds is fully enrolled and will continue operating in an adjacent building.
Earlier this year, the archdiocese announced that two other Montgomery County parish schools would merge, four Bucks County schools would consolidate and another Catholic elementary school in Bucks would close in June.
The archdiocese is also closing Cardinal Dougherty High School in Olney and North Catholic High School in Frankford at the end of the academic year.
Catholic schools in South Jersey are feeling the same pressures. Officials in North Wildwood recently announced the closing of Wildwood Catholic High School. Two parish schools in Camden County closed last June.
