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PDF versionThroughout the NY Archdiocese, "School's Out Forever"
by Jamie L Manson on Jun. 24, 2011
Forget the cheap jokes about ruler-swinging nuns gliding through the aisles in full-length habits. For those of us who saw our neighborhood almost vanish in smoke from arson or crack pipes, Sister Nora stands as a reminder of the sacrifices made happily and gifts given freely by women religious. Through word and deed they taught us the works of mercy: to feed the poor, clothe the naked and educate the ignorant.
In today's New York Times, David Gonzalez offers a moving portrait of the closing of St. Martin of Tours, a Catholic elementary school in the Bronx, which has served the community for 86 years. He focuses particularly on the school's principal, Sister Nora McArt, who has worked with the children of St. Martin's for more than four decades.
St. Martin's is one of 26 schools in the Archdiocese of New York that will close this month. Most of these schools are in poor, urban areas. Gonzalez himself graduated from St. Martin's in the early 1970s. He writes:
To comfort the afflicted.
And now -- 40 years after I walked down the aisle clutching my diploma -- I returned to fulfill a final work of mercy: to bury the dead.
Read the full article on The New York Times Web site.
thank back-slapping,
thank back-slapping, salesman-grinning, joke-cracking Dolan for turning away our poorest children from their education, their path to independence and mastery.
For failing to support the true and self-sacrificing labors of these good religious sisters
Its interesting with all
Its interesting with all these new religious orders who wear the habit that are growing, why they dont serve the needs of the poor, only the safe wealthy white neighborhoods, they dont seem to get their hands dirty. I'am sorry this community is loosing an icon, a symbol of Hope and Care.
That is where the money is.
That is where the money is. The ultra right is not concerned with the plight of those who just scrape by. Our Catholic schools where begun to serve the immigrants who arrived in America facing a whole set of obstacles. The church was concerned with strengthening the faith and assisting with maintaining Catholic values, while promoting the movement up the education ladder to successful assimilation in America. This would in turn create wealth for the church and communities. Today, rightists want to preserve their wealth and status. They have forgotten how they got where they are today. Short memories and failure to come forth to support our present reality.
$2 billion and counting to
$2 billion and counting to pay out the victims of our pedophile enabling bishops while 100's of Catholic schools close all across the country. Will Dolan and the rest of the hierarchy acknowledge their institutional role in this tragedy? Not on your life.
The closing of St Martin of
The closing of St Martin of Tours in the Bronx was very touching. It tried to be a tribute to the sacrifices, especially of the Sisters, that founded and kept open the school. Did I miss the name of the Congregation of the Sisters? At any rate, if it were there, it was not prominent. I notice very often people cannot remember the names of the communities that sacrificed so much.
The Sisters of St Joseph
The Sisters of St Joseph served the St Martin of Tours community with honor and Grace. God Bless them
Dominican Sisters of Sparkill
Dominican Sisters of Sparkill have taught in St. Martin's parish for years. One block west, they maintain an outstanding high school for girls, Aquinas High School.
@Halbert Weidner I wrote the
@Halbert Weidner
I wrote the NYT story and I made sure to mention the Sparkill Dominican order to which Sister Nora belongs. And for the record, the others from her order who taught me at Saint Martin's are: Sister Lawrence Marie, Sister Marian Theresa, Sister Catherine Laboure, Sister Laurentine, Sister Barbara Ann, Sister Margaret, and Sister Norbert Miriam.
Unforgettable, all of them.
Hmmm. You should probably
Hmmm. You should probably blame the automobile, since that's what helped to cause the influx to the suburbs, and the highways cutting off neighborhoods. No more do families walk to Mass at their neighborhood parish, like they would have in the 20s, 30s, 40s. And the liberal theology of the 1970s caused the priest/sister shortage. Here in my Indiana city we have 2 religious communities being established. Believe you me, they are not in the wealthy white suburbs. I have hope for the future, but poor people in the inner cities are paying much of the price now. When I see white Christians moving en masse to the inner cities, then I'll be impressed. Dear reader, who are your neighbors? Wealthy people in a comfy suburban subdivision?
see Ray Suarez' book
"The old neighborhood : what we lost in the great suburban migration, 1966-1999"
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