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	Editorial: Faith Restored at Our Lady of Charity Daily Times February 24, 2011 http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2011/02/24/opinion/doc4d65d50d088f7003067851.txt These are trying times for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Once again the church finds itself under a very public microscope. The festering problem of priest sexual abuse once again has put the church in the crosshairs of public controversy. Several priests now face criminal charges of sexual abuse in a presentment handed up by a Philadelphia grand jury. And for the first time, maybe in the nation, a high-ranking church official faces charges in connection with the cases. The Rev. Monsignor William Lynn is not charged with abuse. Instead he is facing two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. The grand jury came to the conclusion that Lynn knew about the problem priests and did not take the necessary steps to stop them. More, it indicates that instead Lynn carried out policies of the archdiocese that seemed more interested in protecting priests and the church than the rights of child victims. It's easy when these cases explode into headlines to lose track of the overwhelming good the church does, and the majority of faithful men who serve as priests. Unfortunately, it also pushes onto the back burner another persistent problem facing the church. We refer, especially in eastern Delaware County, to the slow, agonizing decline in Catholic education. One after another, parishioners have felt the stinging news that their parish school is closing. Just last year it was St. Joe's in Collingdale, where emotions were rubbed raw as the faithful battled to save their school, only to see the doors close forever last June. It followed a pattern familiar to Catholics in the eastern end of the county. Enrollment was going down, while costs were headed in the other direction. In recent years no fewer than 13 Delaware County parochial schools have shut their doors, including five in the least eight years. The "miracle" of the fundraising campaign sparked by the efforts of Tommy Geromichalos to save St. Cyril of Alexandria in East Lansdowne were offset by shuttering the windows at Our Lady of Peace in Milmont Park; St. Charles Borromeo in Drexel Hill, St. Alice in Upper Darby; St. George in Glenolden; Holy Spirit in Sharon Hill, and others. Most of these schools had one thing in common. They were all located in the eastern end of the county, where Catholic population was on the decline. That was offset, at least somewhat, by a migration west, and the growth of Catholic schools in the western end of the county as well as in Chester County. But recently we learned that even some of these schools are not without similar problems. And that is why what happened this week is such welcome news for a church in dire need of just that. It was feared that Our Lady of Charity School in Brookhaven, with a tradition of Catholic education dating to 1952, would become the latest victim to falling enrollments. But parishioners were informed over the weekend that was not the case. Our Lady of Charity has been given something of a reprieve. It will remain open for at least one more year. Battling a 39 percent dip in enrollment, the pastor had reluctantly recommended to the archdiocese that the school be closed. As the good folks at St. Joe's in Collingdale can attest, that kind of recommendation is almost always fatal. No one is saying why the decision was made to keep the school open. Some parishioners are going so far as to indicate it could be the work of beloved Monsignor Andrew Hanlon, who died just a week before. He served as pastor at Our Lady of Charity for 15 years. "He loved this school very much and it just seems too much of a coincidence that within days of his death, the announcement is made that the school will remain open," said parishioner Mary Edwards. "I really believe monsignor interceded for all of us here at Our Lady of Charity and I know a lot of people are grateful." A lot of people's faith is being tested these days. At Our Lady of Charity, they continue to keep the faith. A miracle? Not likely. But who knows? It's certainly one a parish, its faithful parishioners and an archdiocese direly needed.
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