3 Catholic schools in Port Richmond merging into one

Three parish schools in Port Richmond whose pasts reflect 19th-century immigration in Philadelphia will close in June, and their classes will be merged into a new regional Catholic school.

The schools, all within three blocks of each other, are St. Adalbert, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Our Lady, Help of Christians. The news was announced at Masses this weekend, said archdiocesean spokeswoman Donna Farrell.

The regional school, which has not been named, will open in September at the site of St. Adalbert, near Allegheny Avenue and Thompson Street, she said.

During the wave of immigration in the late 1800s, Farrell said, Irish went to Nativity, Polish to St. Adalbert and Germans to Our Lady Help of Christians. "There were enough people around to support all three," she said.

The decision to merge came after a year of deliberation among pastors, parents and faculty grappling with declining enrollment and staff cutbacks. In the school years from 2002-03 to 2007-08, enrollment at the schools fell from 784 pupils to 685, officials said.

None of the three was meeting the standards for quality Catholic education, said Mary Rochford, assistant superintendent in the Office of Catholic Education. As a result, there was little of the controversy that has greeted other inner-city parish school closings, she said.

"Everyone wants their children in their parish school, but these people were really very good about coming together," said Rochford. "They saw the need for being able to provide for their children. It went very smoothly."

"Our whole goal was to create a school that would offer the standards for quality education that would be affordable for the people," said Sister Mary Ripp, principal of Our Lady Help of Christians. "There was sadness, but understanding."