From a dad who wants what's best for his daughter. That's how much she means to the school.
Freddie Alfonso
Philadelphia
You could see it coming
I started high school in the fall of 1983. I went to George Washington, which is the local public high school, but I'd say that 70 percent of my neighborhood went to the local Catholic high school, Archbishop Ryan.
The only complaint I would hear from parents of friends who went there was how the tuition would go up every year.
When I started my senior year, in the fall of 1986, only about 55 percent of the neighborhood was going to Ryan. The rest started going to Washington.
If they were not so greedy back then, a lot of those schools might still be open today.
Craig Hartzell
Philadelphia
Wrong ones protected
It's a shame that all those Catholic schools will have to close and the students who love their schools will have to merge with other schools.
But the real reason that these schools are closing is not being told by the Archdiocese. The real reason is that the Catholic Church has paid out so much money for the sexual-abuse cases by the Catholic priests that they have no money left to run their schools.
Declining enrollment is a coverup. I saw the students on the news and there certainly looked to me like a lot of students to keep these schools running.
For shame, Archdiocese, you have sacrificed the happiness and education of your students because you chose to protect the priests instead of the students.
Cheryl Gilbert
Oaklyn, N.J.
