Catholic schools: There are fewer, but . . . | From the editor

Hello, Neighbor

Let’s do a hand count.

Raise them up if you attended a Catholic elementary school on Staten Island.

Whoa. Twenty years ago, there would have been a lot more hands in the air.

This is Catholic School Week, as a neighbor of ours and a mother who accompanied my kid to the Academy of St. Dorothy in Grasmere reminded me.

brought up memories of my time at that similar academy. Yes, the school was still in existence at that time.

In our kindergarten class, there were sixty children. Mother Cravinho was taught to us by a nun. Don’t paraphrase. Mother Lillian Cravinho alone. Is it possible? One instructor, sixty five-year-olds, all of them crying, all of them missing their mothers?

At the 75th Anniversary Celebration of the Academy of St. Dorothy, Sister Lillian Cravinho is seated on the left. Sister Mary Margaret Souza, former principal; Sister Rosalie Patrello, former principal; and Sister Sharon McCarthy, former principal of St. Dorothy, are pictured standing in back from left. Sister Caridad Portu, the provincial coordinator of the Sisters of St. Dorothy and a former educator; Cynthia Reimer, a St. Dorothy alumnus; and Alison Klein, a graduate. Nancy Bushman, a graduate, and Sister Lillian Cravinho are seated from the left. (The Advance of Staten Island)STATETEN ISLAND PROGRESS

Located on a hill in Grasmere with a view of Hylan Boulevard, Villa Tocci was a three-story, yellow-brick villa that served as the first school structure on the 13-acre campus.

Before it was demolished, the mansion on the hilltop of the St. Dorothy campus. (The Advance of Staten Island)Advance of Staten Island

Surrounded by landscaped gardens, fountains, and grape arbors, the Roman-style chateau was filled with antiques.

In 1932, the Goggi family sold the estate of the renowned Goggi Bros. winery in Stapleton to the Sisters of St. Dorothy.

As a child, plucking grapes during recess was enjoyable. According to the sisters, they made jelly out of the grapes for our PB&Js at lunch. Respectfully, Sisters, are you certain there wasn’t another use for it? It might have been referred to as medicinal.

In a horse barn, I started my rocky educational path.

As membership increased, the 60 of us were forced to relocate to an outpost in the Grasmere hills after an old stable on the property was renovated. From my perspective, it was something that we shared with Baby Jesus.

Enrollment kept increasing. A school building was constructed, followed by an addition. A new convent was constructed when the mansion that served as the nuns’ convent was destroyed. A gymnasium was added at last.

Catholic education undoubtedly flourished from St. George to Tottenville during that time, while it’s possible that the Academy of St. Dorothy had greater expansion than other Catholic institutions on the Island. particularly in grades six, seven, and eight. For Grade 6, public school parents who were afraid to send their children to junior high or intermediate school hurried to Catholic schools.

Then something happened in the 2000s. The demographics of Staten Island changed. Staten Island is still roughly 45 percent Catholic and 25 percent Italian, but those percentages have decreased from over 50 percent Catholic and nearly 40 percent Italian.

Both the number of young women entering convents and church attendance declined. As fewer nuns taught, the number of lay instructors rose along with their pay. As aging school buildings became more expensive to maintain, churches shuttered or amalgamated, and their schools followed suit.

Staten Island lost fifteen Catholic primary schools between 2013 and today. There were just 167 pupils in the eight classes at St. Joseph’s in Rosebank when it closed in 2013. When Midland Beach’s St. Margaret Mary closed in 2011, there were just 74 pupils enrolled. When their doors closed the same year, St. Sylvester’s in Concord had 120 and St. Roch’s in Port Richmond had 96.

The city’s Catholic schools continue to close. Twelve closed in 2023, and four closed at the end of the previous year.

Of course, Covid had a part. Charter schools also do this. When they truly wanted the discipline that Catholic schools provide, many parents who had previously been willing to pay for a Catholic education switched to charter schools, which have stricter rules than traditional public schools. Education is also free. In New York State, vouchers for private schools are still nonexistent.

When you combine all of that, Catholic schools are navigating the ideal storm.

St. Clare in Great Kills is one Staten Island school that is competing, if not thriving. Of course, it’s due to the schooling. However, it goes beyond that.

I questioned why some people are having difficulty while a St. Clare may survive for nearly a century.

The academic and pastoral goals of every Staten Island Catholic school, as well as those of all the schools in the Archdiocese of New York, are exemplified by the mission of St. Clare School.Staten Island Catholic Schools’ regional superintendent, Jann Amato, informed me.Its goal, which is rooted in faith, is to give each kid a superb academic and spiritual foundation in a loving and secure family setting, she said.St. Clare School has been dedicated to those principles for almost a century. Our children flourish and develop their God-given abilities in our thriving Catholic schools.

I thought back last week on how New Dorp High School and its instructors influenced my life. By coincidence, this week I came onto an article written by Julianna Taliento, an eighth-grader at St. Clare.

The eighth-grader described how St. Clare’s influenced her life as part of the celebrations for Catholic School Week.

This is what Julianna wrote.

Robert Frost wrote a poem titled “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” But this quote from The Outsiders is the one I am most familiar with.

The meaning is consistent throughout the book and the poetry. It illustrates how change is unavoidable regardless of how lovely or amazing something is.

I instantly thought of my experience at St. Clare School as soon as I read this quote and realized its full meaning.

At three, I entered the preschool while clinging to my mother.

I quickly started to sense the warmth and comfort that pervaded the entire facility. I gradually gained friends and gained experience. I still had the same buddies from when I was three. We created innumerable memories and had a great time. In what seems like the blink of an eye, we are at the conclusion of the road here after moving up to the big school together, making our communion, and experiencing a worldwide epidemic.

The eighth grade is where we are. Our Christmas Pageant always seemed to be years in the past. I recall seeing both of my brothers perform, and I had my time only a month ago.

There are countless moments within these walls. For many reasons and in many ways, this school is home. Regretfully, I was away from here for a few months last year, and I think that’s what helped me appreciate and comprehend this past year.

I missed my pals while I was away. I missed the things you don’t even consider, but I also missed my teachers. For several years, I wore my uniform both voluntarily and against my will. standing in observance of prayers. entering the parking area. jokes I tell my classmates inside. It genuinely helps you realize that what matters most to us are the small things, which are also the most remembered and lovely.

Regretfully, everything needs to change.

It has been an amazing journey for myself and my classmates. We—or at least me—came in crying, and I will undoubtedly depart in tears come June.

This is where we grew up. We all arrived here essentially as strangers and newborns, but ten years later, after innumerable mornings, meals, giggles, and I suppose some tears, we depart as a family. Here, we were taught to read, write, interact with others, draw, and pray. We made sacraments, celebrated innumerable Masses, graduated, and will celebrate Mass as a class for the final time in four months in this lovely church.

Nothing Gold Can Stay, therefore on June 13, 2025, we shall transition from students to alumni.

Is there anything further to say?

Brian

By the way, here is some advice for the relatively small group of Never Trumpers on Staten Island: Hold off on raising the food costs for a time if you want to maintain your credibility. Left-wing talk show hosts on TV news are constantly criticizing Trump because food prices haven’t fallen yet. So are some of my frequent e-mail friends who despise Trump. Indeed, cutting costs was one of the many campaign pledges the man made, and he is fulfilling many of them, the majority of which are undoubtedly disapproved of by Never Trump supporters. However, the first week or two of any presidency won’t see a sharp decline in grocery prices. Let’s see what occurs at the petrol pump or at the grocery store checkout line in a few months. Feel free to: if the prices are the same Attack, attack, attack.