Saving West Catholic a win for community

WHAT A difference $12 million in donations can make to four Catholic high schools slated for closure.

And to West Philadelphia, which was facing the closure of the iconic West Catholic.

Keeping that school open was especially important because the community is more "economically challenged" than the areas where the other schools were to be closed, said state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams.

"I think that people are confronted with an honest reality that if we don't have public, private and parochial schools, the system that educates students in Southeast Pennsylvania will collapse," Williams said yesterday.

Archbishop Charles Chaput announced Friday that, thanks in part to Williams and some well-funded benefactors, the quartet of high schools will remain open.

Three schools had appealed their fates to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and were awaiting its decision.

The fourth, West Catholic, bypassed the appeals process, much to the protests of many faculty members and alums.

"I think it was a miracle and miracles have angels attached to it like Brian O'Neill," Williams said yesterday, referring to the local developer who coordinated the fundraising effort that ultimately saved all four schools.

"Brian and the funders understand how this community works," said Williams, who's on the Senate Education Committee and has sponsored legislation that would fund vouchers to pay for tuition for private and parochial schools. "It's a wonderful blessing to us."

In addition to the $12 million in cash and pledges, officials hope to raise $15 million by May 1.

Chaput also announced the Faith in the Future Foundation, an independent entity that "will support and guide the system of 17 archdiocesan high schools" in the Philadelphia area. The foundation aims to raise a $70 million endowment to help pay for operations at all archdiocesan schools by June 2017, Archdiocese officials said.

The three other schools saved are St. Hubert's, Monsignor Bonner-Archbishop Prendergast and Conwell-Egan.

"The grass-roots efforts to save these schools, coupled with the advocacy of legislators and the generosity of many who wish to make our schools healthy again, brought us to this innovative new model for Catholic secondary education," Chaput said.

For the foundation fundraising model to work, Chaput said, the state needs to pass a vouchers bill. He again called for the passage of the bill Williams sponsored, which has passed the state Senate and awaits action in the House.