Pain and anger as faithful mourn

MIDGE Enrico-Caruso - no relation to the opera singer - is deeply heartbroken, like most in her South Philadelphia church, Annunciation, BVM.

Heck, like most of the Delaware Valley's Catholics.

"We're a parish in mourning right now," Enrico-Caruso, 64, said yesterday after 11 a.m. Mass. The substitute Catholic-school teacher had learned on Friday that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had plans to merge Annunciation BVM's school, on Wharton Street near 12th, with St. Nicholas of Tolentine, Pierce Street near 9th, roughly seven blocks away.

"I love my religion, I'm very very faithful to my church, to my schools," she said. "Do I agree? No."

Talk of school closures has been on the Archdiocese agenda for some time now, she said, adding that she would have liked to have offered feedback in the process.

"This was a project that they started years ago" said Enrico-Caruso, a 20-year substitute veteran. "And they said that this was the only answer. I knew that they got all of the priests involved in it from the different parishes. Did they talk to the laity to see what we felt about it?

"I know no one ever approached me. To see if I had an idea. Probably my idea wouldn't have meant anything. But just to hear us out."

Annunciation's closing was one of 45 elementary-school closings in the Delaware Valley in addition to four high-school closures recommended by a Blue Ribbon Commission, appointed by Cardinal Justin Rigali in December 2010. Archbishop Charles J. Chaput has accepted the recommendations.

The closures were due to declining enrollment, which has dropped 30 percent since 2001. Today's Catholic school population is 68,000, the same as it was in 1911, according to church officials.

What also concerns Enrico-Caruso is the number of closures in South Philadelphia and the plan to have four schools merge into the former Stella Maris site, on Bigler Street near 8th.

"Let's do the math. That's gotta be 700 children and you're putting them in a school that's not going to hold 700 children? You're going to lose all these children to public schools. You're going to lose them to charter schools, which they can't get into because there's a lottery, there's a waiting list.

"There goes our Catholic education that we fought so hard for," she said. "It's breaking my heart."

No mention was made of Annunciation's closing during Mass, but before it began, the Rev. John Calabro referred to the closings in an Archdiocese announcement that was also read this weekend at other parishes affected by the recommendations.

"All of us should understand that this decision was reached only after an extended period of vigorous analysis, thoughtful debate and persistent prayer," the announcement read.

"This news is painful for our school families as well as our dedicated faculty and staff. All those affected will be assisted as much as possible at this difficult time. Our deepest concern and our heartfelt prayers are with all of them."

Calabro cited the website www.faithinthefuture.com for more information on the commission's recommendations.

After Mass, Frank Franzini, 56, Annunciation BVM Class of '68, pondered the loss. "It's sad," he said. "It's part of your childhood."