National Catholic Reporter

The Independent News Source

Throughout the NY Archdiocese, \"School's Out Forever\"

 |  NCR Today

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:

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.

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.

NCR Comment code:

  • Be respectful. Do not attack the writer. Take on the idea, not the messenger.
  • Don't use obscene, profane or vulgar language.
  • Stay on point. Comments that stray from the original idea may be deleted.

We are not able to monitor every comment that comes through. If you see something objectionable, please click the "Report abuse" button. Once a comment has been flagged, an NCR staff member will investigate.

For more detailed guidelines, visit our User Guidelines page.

For help on how to post a comment, visit our reference page.

Sisters' Stories; read more

NCR Email Alerts

 

In This Issue

May 10-23, 2013

May10-cover.jpg

Not all of our content is online. Subscribe to receive all the news and features you won't find anywhere else.