On Tuesday, March 28, 2006 the Catholic Archdiocese of NY announced its intention to close Our Lady of Solace School, despite the faithful support this beloved, little Bronx Parochial School has given to and received from the Morris Park Community for the past 80 years. This school was built on a foundation of love, and its graduates have enabled the Morris Park Community to become and remain one of the finest places not only in the Bronx, but anywhere in the world to have a family and raise children. On Friday, April 21, 2006 it was announced that Our Lady of Solace School will, in fact, close its doors forever at the end of this school year.
That's Right! A great place to raise children...In The Bronx!
This may surprise many people who left the Bronx in favor of the suburbs over the past few decades. They did not believe that any neighborhood in the Bronx would remain a safe, friendly yet affordable place to live, so they left. But the residents of the Morris Park Community in the Parish of Our Lady of Solace School did not leave. They remained here largely due to the fact that they graduated from Our Lady of Solace School and wanted their children to benefit by doing the same. The family atmosphere and dedicate staff of Our Lady of Solace School provide qualities that far outweigh all the benefits presented in the suburbs. Now, due to dollars and cents, the bottom line, the, "Little School That Could" has been slated to have its doors closed forever. This will not only hurt the families that are directly affected by this action, it will end the history of Solace graduates remaining in the community. Although Our Pastor has slashed the budget and made as many cuts as possible in effort to save the school, it will close.
The sad thing for the New York City Morris Park Catholic Community is that this decision has been made based on a false premise. The premise is that since the nearby school of St. Dominic is the larger school in the community, the families of closing Our Lady of Solace School will migrate to St. Dominic. Thus, St. Dominic’s enrollment will be full and the school will have a chance to financially support itself. It sounds logical and sounds simple, but only if you do not understand the neighborhoods. Unfortunately, this will not happen. Some folks may switch to St. Dominic, most will not. Most of the families of Our Lady of Solace School identify with the Morris Park Community and identify St. Dominic with the Parkchester Community. They identify St. Dominic with children bused in from other communities and want no part of it. Although St. Dominic is the larger of the two schools, St. Dominic had only enough local children to support two traveling basketball teams in the CYO Basketball League of 2005-2006. Tiny Our Lady of Solace School fielded 5 teams in the CYO. Are you starting to see the big picture?
Here’s what will happen: After the initial influx of students to St. Dominic from Our Lady of Solace School, enrollment at St. Dominic will decline year by year at a faster and faster rate each year. The folks who have had generations of family graduate from Our Lady of Solace will leave the community. This will begin an irreversible trend that will change the religious and ethnic face of the Morris Park Community. In much less than a decade (probably about 5 years), St. Dominic’s enrollment will not be large enough to support the school and it will also be forced to close. The once strictly Catholic Community of Morris Park will no longer exist and be only a fading memory. The Archdiocese of NY will lose an entire community.
In the overall scheme of things, in a country so blessed with good fortune and success, it will take a relatively small amount of revenue from outside sources to keep Our Lady of Solace School afloat. Donations in any amount are deeply appreciated and are usually tax deductible. To make a donation or sponsor a child, contact the school. To help Our Lady of Solace School stay open, call the office at: (718) 792-9947.
To demonstrate your disagreement with the decision of the NY Archdiocese, call:
God Bless You All!