A Lifeline for Minorities, Catholic Schools Retrench

[rug]

SONIA SOTOMAYOR The Supreme Court justice with students at her alma mater, Blessed Sacrament, in the Bronx in March. The school is closing. “The worst thing is, these kids could lose their faith in the adults around them,” Justice Sotomayor said in an interview.

By DAVID GONZALEZ
Published: June 20, 2013

Sonia Sotomayor lives in Washington, but she has never forgotten her roots in the Bronx. On a drizzly March afternoon, she returned to Blessed Sacrament School, where she began her celebrated, if improbable, journey from her South Bronx childhood to the Supreme Court. But instead of a joyous reunion, it was more of a valedictory for her and the children — the school is closing for good.

“I’m really upset,” Justice Sotomayor told a fourth-grade class. “It’s hard to say goodbye. I won’t tell you it’s easy. I won’t lie to you.”

The children drew close and peppered her with questions: Why is the archdiocese closing the school? Doesn’t it know their parents worked hard? Why couldn’t it come up with the money? One girl, crying, got up and slumped into Justice Sotomayor’s embrace. The justice, her voice steady and reassuring, reminded the children to cherish the good times and move confidently ahead. But later, she, too, revealed her pain.

“The worst thing is, these kids could lose their faith in the adults around them,” she said in an interview inside her old fifth-grade classroom. “Children need to feel secure. This makes it worse. These kids are going to carry this trauma with them for the rest of their lives.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/nyregion/as-archdioceses-schools-retrench-worries-grow-for-a-building-block-for-minority-students.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[IrishAyes]

1. Always sad to see a Catholic anything close

Didn't some parish being merged with a larger one recently set up its own congregation? How can faith and determination like that be ignored?

[rug]

2. The one I'm aware of was formed when the bishop tried to remove the pastor.

http://www.spirituschristi.org/spirituschristi.org/Welcome.html