BEFORE MASS began this past Sunday at the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul, a seminarian asked the congregation if we'd consider supporting St. Charles Borromeo Seminary with a financial gift.

When he finished, it was the church cantor's turn. She explained that the magnificent cathedral is in constant need of upkeep. Perhaps we'd consider supporting the Basilica parish with a monetary donation?

As we waited for the organist to start the processional hymn, I heard a heavy sigh from Steve Schmidt, sitting behind me.

"Ironic, isn't it?" he whispered, leaning over the pew. "We're here today because of money. And what do they ask us for, before Mass even begins? Money."

Schmidt was among dozens of supporters of Cardinal Dougherty and North Catholic high schools who'd traveled to the cathedral not to protest the Archdiocese decision to shutter the venerable schools, but to pray for a change of heart among authorities who decided that the beloved institutions were no longer viable.

The church has cited falling admissions, and it's true that enrollments at the schools have declined. But, Schmidt and others point out, enrollment is at a trickle at sprawling St. Charles, which remains open. Ditto for membership in the cathedral's parish.

Yet there is no talk of closing either place.

So, why mothball Dougherty and North, wondered those who lingered in the brilliant sunshine after Mass. They were as bewildered as when the closings were announced.

"We've looked at this from every angle," said Schmidt, ad hoc leader of the Dougherty supporters. "The only conclusion we come to, every time, is that the Archdiocese has decided that the children of the inner city don't matter to them."

The Archdiocese disagrees.

Dougherty and North students, church leaders say, may transfer to archdiocesan high schools elsewhere in Philadelphia, assuring uninterrupted access to Catholic education.

But Dougherty and North supporters counter, correctly, that the schools aren't as interchangeable as, say, one Target store is with another.

I wrote a few weeks ago about the wonderful information-technology academy housed within North Catholic. It provides students with training and certification that could help them land good jobs after high school. Indeed, some parents enrolled their sons at all-boys North Catholic specifically for the new and growing IT program.

What will happen to the students whose training will be interrupted by the closure?

No one knows.

Dougherty offers a well-regarded Medical Careers Academy, in which 82 students are enrolled. They don't know whether or how their training will continue elsewhere.

Also housed within Dougherty is Our Lady of Confidence, a program for mentally disabled teens. Its 39 students are taught life and job skills to prepare for independent living, and their future is now up in the air. So is that of several legally blind students who enrolled at Dougherty because of its excellence at adapting its curriculum for the visually impaired.

"I could go on forever about how special this place is," said parent Tina Crowley, whose daughters Jaklynn and Erin turned down admission to more prestigious private schools to wear Dougherty's garnet and gold uniform. "You can't just switch one school for another. They're not all the same."

Most frustrating to staff and parents alike is how slow the Archdiocese has been to offer any solid information about how transfers would work.

Dr. Teresa Hooten, a Dougherty science teacher, said that the Archdiocese' high-school fair last week offered no answers about some issues of real concern.

Would her honors-track students be accepted into the honors programs elsewhere?

No one could tell her for sure.

Would students' class ranks follow them to new schools? If so, how? Ranking is a big deal on college applications.

Good question, she was told.

Would students retain scholarship money?

We have no idea, she heard.

"When the leaders in an organization make big decisions, they're supposed to know which way the dominoes will fall" as a result, said Hooten. "In this case, the people making the decisions don't even seem to know that there are dominoes."

What a sad and frustrating game.

E-mail polaner@phillynews.com or call 215-854-2217. For recent columns:

http://go.philly.com/polaneczky. Read Ronnie's blog at http://go.philly.com/ronnieblog.