Catholic Schools

I was disappointed to read that my archdiocese would not support a charter school in a vacant archdiocesan building ("Charters emerge as threats to Catholic schools," March 17). I was equally troubled by Baltimore schools CEO Andrés Alonso's comment that he was happy to be considered "the competition" to archdiocesan schools. As the situation at Tench Tilghman has taught us ("Prayer service at city school called improper," March 14), the philosophies of the two systems are different; however, the goal must be the same.

Today's installation of William E. Lori as the 16 t h archbishop of Baltimore is a noteworthy event, not only for the half-million Catholics in an archdiocese that stretches from Middle River to the mountains of Western Maryland, but for non-Catholics, too. The church continues to wield great influence in the secular world and notably in Maryland, a state with a long history of Catholicism from the Colonial era to the present. We wish Archbishop Lori well. He succeeds CardinalEdwin F. O'Brien, whose relatively brief time in Baltimore will be remembered, for better or worse, primarily for his controversial decision to close 13 of 64 Catholic schools and consolidate others.

Children's Scholarship Fund Baltimore is Baltimore's only need based, non-denominational program that gives lower income families tuition assistance for their children to attend the elementary school of their choice. Totally dependant on private donations, we are helping over 420 students attend 63 private and parochial schools in and around Baltimore. Students are chosen by lottery, so we are helping a few children from every neighborhood in the city. This school year 43 percent of our families have chosen to send their children to a Catholic school.

Baltimore Catholic League commissioner Jack Degele said he's seen the five former players - Leon Dickerson (Cardinal Gibbons), Darryle Edwards (Calvert Hall), Darnell Harris (St. Frances Academy), Phil Lane (St. Maria Goretti) and Robbie O'Conor (Loyola Blakefield) - that will be inducted into the BCL Hall of Fame on Thursday evening at the Rolling Road Golf Country Club in Catonsville actually play for their respective teams. Degele also watched former Calvert Hall coach Mark Amatucci lead the Cardinals to the 1982 mythical national championship, knew former Cardinals Gibbons Athletic Director Larry Callahan and saw Barry Scroggins (Mount St. Joseph)

The list The Archdiocese of Baltimore will close these schools at the end of the school year: •Ascension School, Halethorpe •St. Bernardine Catholic School, Edmondson Village •Fr. Charles Hall Catholic School (elementary and middle schools), West Baltimore •St. Clare School, Essex •Holy Family School, Randallstown •St. Katharine School, Queen of Peace Cluster, East Baltimore •Mother Mary Lange Catholic School, Northeast Baltimore •Our Lady of Fatima School, East Baltimore •St.

Baltimore City Councilman Nicholas D'Adamo wants Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien to rent closed Catholic schools to the city for $1 per year ("Charter schools may emerge from closures," Mar. 8). The archdiocese can't afford to maintain these schools as Catholic Schools. Councilman D'Adamo wants the archdiocese to subsidize the city of Baltimore, when the Archdiocese of Baltimore couldn't afford Catholic Schools. The Catholic School system saves the Baltimore City, Maryland counties, and the state of Maryland millions of dollars.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore announced Monday that schools Superintendent Ronald J. Valenti will retire at the end of the school year. Valenti, 66, who has worked for the archdiocese's Catholic schools for nearly 20 years, says the timing is right for him to step down because of the strategic plan being developed by the Blue Ribbon Committee on Schools. "The work being done by the Blue Ribbon Committee is extremely important and will require a long commitment," said Valenti, who added that he wants to remain active in the field of education.

If the archdiocese had formed a commitee to increase the enrollment of Cardinal Gibbons instead of one to decide how to consolidate it, perhaps they wouldn't be facing this sad day. I will support Catholic soup kitchens and the Catholic Relief Services but not the archdiocese unless it changes it's decision regarding Cardinal Gibbons. Gibbons, Seton-Keough, Archbishop Spalding and Archbishop Curley are the only schools with a mission to serve those who are not rich. When they sell the land to St. Agnes, we will know what truly motivates the hierarchacy, certainly not a commitment to education for all. I repeat -- what would Jesus do?

Facing rising costs and falling enrollments, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore will close 13 of its 64 schools at the end of the academic year, officials told employees and families Wednesday. Parents reacted with anguish and anger as word spread that 12 K-8 schools and one high school, Cardinal Gibbons in the Morrell Park neighborhood of West Baltimore, would be shut down in June. All are in Baltimore or Baltimore County. "This is a major blow," Ted Ewachiw said at Sacred Heart of Mary School in East Baltimore, where he picked up his two children after school Wednesday.

In explaining its plan to close 13 Catholic schools at the end of the school year, the Archdiocese of Baltimore needs to acknowledge that at least one of these schools was not draining energy out of the entire system. St. William of York School has operated without a deficit and at nearly full capacity for a number of years. Among all schools evaluated by the review teams of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Catholic Schools, it received the second highest score. This was not achieved with the help of the archdiocese, which provided little or no financial assistance to the school in recent years.

The Institute of Notre Dame, a 165-year-old private all-girls high school in the city, has selected Gail Donahue as its new principal, according to the school. Donahue is currently the assistant principal of professional development of Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney. She replaces Ann Seeley, who is retiring June 30 after 12 years as principal of IND, the school said. Donahue, of Ellicott City, has taught in Catholic schools for 34 years. She holds a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Pennsylvania State University, a master's degree in reading from Trinity University, and is expected to earn a doctorate in educational leadership from Notre Dame of Maryland University — where she is also an associate faculty member — this month, IND said.

Standing under a stormy sky, Bill Stankiewicz got chills as he looked toward the old brick building that once housed the Catholic Community middle school in South Baltimore. "It's kind of creepy," he said, rubbing goose bumps along his forearms. He hadn't been back since graduation in the 1970s, purposely avoiding the school — and the memories of what happened in it. "Thirty-six years is a long time to bury something. It's time to exorcise the demons. " Roughly two dozen of his surviving classmates gathered at the site last weekend, all bound by a shared childhood tragedy detailed in multiple court filings: repeated sexual and mental abuse by English teacher John J. Merzbacher, now 71. They've come together in middle age to fight for his continued imprisonment, as a federal judge's court ruling threatens to release the convicted child rapist from four life terms.

Baltimore Archbishop-designate William Lori said that the U.S. is witnessing "an erosion of religious liberty" and that a sign of it is the Obama administration's attempt to ensure Catholic schools, hospitals and charities provide birth control coverage as part of their employees' health insurance package. Lori, appearing as part of an Easter-morning round-table discussion on NBC's "Meet the Press," said he would not characterize the current atmosphere as a "war" on religion. But he termed the proposed federal mandate, which has been altered to make it more palatable to Catholics, "one of the most important of these underminings of religious liberty.

A historic Baltimore Catholic school will name its community center in honor of Bill and Camille Cosby, the biggest donors in the school's 184-year history and fierce champions of education, the school announced Friday. St. Frances Academy, which serves 162 primarily low-income high school students, will host the comedian, his wife and their relatives in a ceremony at the St. Frances Community Center on April 20. In addition to giving $2 million to St. Frances in 2005 to support its scholarship program, Camille Cosby also has a strong connection to the founders of the Baltimore school, having been educated by the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the oldest order of African-American nuns in the country, for seven years.

In the March 15 Baltimore Sun, Steve Kilar wrote a brief article entitled, "St. Ambrose School in Park Heights is closing. " He quoted a statement from the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which said that "due to the low enrollment, St. Ambrose has been unable to meet financial obligations ... without assistance from the Archdiocese. " St. Ambrose will close at the end of the school year in June. Apostolic AdministratorEdwin O'Brienis not very popular with many Catholic parishioners of the diocese.

Even as he prepared in Rome for the weekend ceremony that will elevate him to cardinal, Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien vigorously lobbied for political issues important to the Roman Catholic Church — a hallmark of his five-year stint here. The vocal 72-year-old O'Brien — who has been the spiritual leader of Catholics in Baltimore and nine surrounding counties — has sparred with the likes of President Barack Obama and top Maryland lawmakers. He didn't always succeed, but he pressed on, as he has on a number of highly charged issues.

I am an avid sports fan. I love football and hockey and am a novice fan of other sports. As much as I love sports, I have very little patience for the overpaid, greedy, self centered pro athlete. With the impending 2011 NFL work stoppage on the horizon, one has to ask, when is too much money enough? We look at the pure greed in pro sports. The 1981 and 1994 Major League Baseball strikes, the 1992, 1994 and 2004 NHL lockouts, and the NBA lockouts are a testament to the greed in pro sports.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has a deep and distinguished history of commitment to urban education in Baltimore, dating back to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's pioneering work more than 200 years ago. Yet, the rich educational tradition of Catholic education faces formidable challenges on a number of fronts as Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien leads an ambitious renewal of Catholic education through an organizational reset of archdiocesan schools. The Cristo Rey Network, a national consortium of 24 urban Catholic high schools, has been overcoming these challenges through its new model of education for more than a decade.

It wasn't scandalous by tabloid standards, but it was a rebellious act for the young women at the Mount Saint Dominic Academy, a small all-girls Catholic high school in New Jersey. Whitney Houston, class of 1981, sometimes wore mismatched socks and rolled up her sleeves. The mischievous gospel singer would then push the maroon-colored dress code just a bit further. She would "roll up her little skirt, just a little bit above the knees, and wouldn't care if she got a detention," said Dr. Maria Pane, who lives in Lutherville and sat next to Houston in high school home room.

As a born and raised Catholic who spent most of my education in Catholic schools, I feel obligated to speak out against the Church on the birth control issue ("O'Brien's quixotic fight," Feb. 9). Some are saying that the president "overreached" his authority by infringing on the rights of the Catholic Church. It needs to be said: The Catholic Church does not have any rights . Only people have rights. And the Church does not have the authority to impose its faith on people.