"We cannot sustain unsustainable schools," Chaput said.
The announcement means that 28 percent of the archdiocese's 156 elementary schools will close and 24 percent of its 17 high schools. The closings will displace 1,700 teachers, some of whom will not find new jobs with the school system.
And while the 45 elementary schools will close, more than 80 will undergo changes as well, as students from the closed schools transfer to the new regional schools. The archdiocese said the moves would affect 20,993 elementary students.
The plan is aimed at addressing widening deficits at many of the schools - the annual average was $319,162, a 25 percent increase since 2001. The archdiocese and parishes have spent $751 million to support the schools. Quindlen estimated that the closings could save the archdiocese as much as $10 million a year.
At the news conference announcing the commission's findings, Mary Rochford, the superintendent of schools, said archdiocesan officials would meet throughout January with the affected schools to begin building bridges among them. The Office of Catholic Education, she said, hopes that new names will be selected for the schools and principals selected by March 25.
Parents, teachers, students, and alumni from the targeted schools reacted to the news with grief and anger.
At West Philadelphia Catholic, one of the four high schools that will be shuttered, students left the building sobbing and weak-kneed, holding onto one another for support, stunned that the rumors of closing had turned out to be true.
"My future, it's been taken from me," wept Brandi White, 17, a junior from Overbrook. "I won't get this education anywhere else."
