Archdiocese

Justin Fratantuono is finishing his senior year at Calvert Hall College High School with academic and athletic honors and an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. But he will always consider himself a "Gibbons man. " He and about 70 other former students of the now-closed Cardinal Gibbons High School will walk across the stage at many different schools this spring while holding onto fond memories of the imposing stone Southwest Baltimore building they call their alma mater. "I missed Gibbons a lot this year, especially its strong sense of brotherhood and family," said Fratantuono, who maintained a 4.0 grade-point average and is captain of the Cardinals' baseball team.

Once again, Dan Rodricks has voiced his hang-up with the Catholic Church with a cheap and inaccurate shot accusing the Archdiocese of Baltimore of "looking petty when it refuses to sell its vacant school buildings to city charter schools" ("Street food and soccer, war and Westboro," March 24). Note he wrote buildings, plural, not the single school building in the news recently. In fact, the Archdiocese announced on March 24 the sale of St. Rose of Lima Catholic School and convent in Brooklyn to The Children's Guild, an operator of two city charter schools.

Advocates for victims of clergy abuse called Thursday for an investigation into its allegations that the Roman Catholic church purposely funneled problem priests into the chaplain corps of the U.S. military. Meeting with reporters outside the downtown headquarters of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called for congressional hearings to determine "how frequently and why Catholic officials dumped predator priests on military bases.

I had the privileged of attending some of the discussions that resulted in the closed Shrine of the Sacred Heart School becoming part of the Mount Washington School, Baltimore's newest K-8 public school. It was clear that having to close their school and sell or lease the building was a wrenching decision for both the archdiocese and the congregation, but throughout our meetings, the church representatives made clear their concern for the children, their commitment to education and their desire to see and do what is best for the community.

Is it possible that the Archdiocese of Baltimore can do anything The Sun's editorial board agrees with ("Archdiocese shouldn't block charters," March 21)? The fact that the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore is a non-profit requires them to be more astute when it comes to business practices, particularly if they are to continue to educate students in Baltimore. The archdiocese is trying to make its schools competitive with both public schools and private schools, while providing excellent education to its students at tuition rates substantially lower than what the public schools are provided per student.

I am a teacher at Baltimore International Academy, and in response to the March 17 article " Charters emerge as threats to Catholic schools, I'm appalled by the decision of the archdiocese but sadly not surprised. According to the Catholic model, quality education is provided only if tuition is attached. This decision creates educational inequity. Only those families who can afford to pay are entitled to facilities where there is room to grow and innovative education for their children.

A year ago, Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien made a bold move he hoped could save Baltimore's troubled Catholic school system. He called for the closure of 13 schools in an attempt at a rapid retrenchment that would put the system on sound fiscal footing and give it the chance to offer an attractive choice to parents, alongside the region's public and private schools. Rather than presiding over a slow decline, the archbishop chose to play offense, leading a reimagining of Baltimore's parochial schools and promising a future that would benefit Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

In regard to the recent article about the Archdiocese of Baltimore and charter schools ("Charters emerge as threats to Catholic schools," March 17), I cannot believe that there was an offer to purchase the school building from St. Anthony's and it was turned down. The building has been sitting vacant and costing the parish and parishioners thousands of dollars in upkeep. I don't believe the parish is receiving any support for these costs from the Archdiocese. Parents will send their children to the school that provides the best education.

It is awkward to say the least for the Archdiocese of Baltimore to refuse to sell closed Catholic school buildings for use as charter schools ("Archdiocese won't sell or least to charter schools," March 17). The Archdiocese "owns" these buildings in only a technical legal sense. Many individual contributions of Catholic parents built these schools — for the education of children. When charter schools propose to use these now empty buildings for the very use for which they were constructed, the Archdiocese ought to jump at the opportunity.

First Catholic Charities said that if they were forced to recognize gay marriages when it comes to offering their employees' spouses health benefits that they would stop offering those benefits altogether. Now the archdiocese will not approve the sale of vacant former school buildings to charter schools because it's too much competition for their remaining open schools ("Archdiocese won't sell or lease to charter schools," March 17). Do I hear a phrase my parents always used to say to me?