Parish Schools

A parish school in Manayunk that survived a plan to close it 18 months ago has announced it will cease operations in June. St. Josaphat, the Roman Catholic elementary school for a traditionally Polish parish, informed parents, students and staff this week that it was impossible to keep the school open in light of dwindling enrollment and rising costs. With only 130 children registered for classes at the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school in the fall, the school was faced with the prospect of raising an additional $334,860 to cover operating costs.

In the face of declining membership, two Roman Catholic parishes in West Philadelphia and their schools are to be merged, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced yesterday. Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, at 63d and Callowhill Streets, had seen its rolls drop from 1,045 parishioners in 1990 to 400 last year; Our Lady of Victory, at 54th and Vine Streets, suffered a drop from 1,347 to 537 in the same period. The new parish and school will be based at Our Lady of the Rosary.

Five Catholic elementary schools in Manayunk are not the only local parochial schools facing possible restructuring. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced yesterday that two Catholic schools in West Philadelphia and the struggling parishes that operate them were considering a merger because of declining numbers of students and worshipers. A draft proposal calls for consolidating Our Lady of Victory, 54th and Vine Streets, with Our Lady of the Rosary at the latter's site at 63d and Callowhill Streets.

Parents and students at St. Josaphat School in Manayunk got some good news at the end of Mass yesterday: Their elementary school might not close in June, after all. Msgr. John B. Wendrychowicz told parishioners that a steering committee that had studied five Manayunk parochial schools with declining enrollments settled on a plan that would close two other schools. St. Josaphat would stay open to house a program for prekindergarten through fourth grade. It now has 169 kindergartners through eighth graders.

A sharp drop in enrollment at a Catholic elementary school in Bridesburg has prompted Cardinal Justin Rigali to approve a temporary plan for sending its students to a neighboring parochial school this fall. In March, Rigali had given the parish councils of All Saints and St. John Cantius permission to consider possibly merging at the end of the 2004-2005 school year because of declining enrollment and rising costs. But an unexpected drop in enrollment at All Saints now has prompted church officials to act before September.

Cardinal Justin Rigali has approved closing a parish school in East Mount Airy and another in Southwest Philadelphia. St. Therese of the Child Jesus Elementary School at Anderson and Upsal Streets in East Mount Airy will close July 1, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's communications office announced yesterday. And, as part of a larger parish consolidation plan, SS. Clement-Irenaeus parish school at Paschall Avenue and 71st Street also will close then. As part of the move, St. Barnabas Elementary School at 64th Street and Buist Avenue will be renamed and restructured as an area parochial school for children from kindergarten through eighth grade for that portion of Philadelphia.

After more than 100 years of existence, Holy Spirit Parish Elementary School in Sharon Hill will close next month because of declining enrollment. The Rev. Martin E. Woodeshick, the pastor who informed parishioners Sunday during Mass, said Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua had accepted the recommendation of the school's study committee to close the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school at the end of the academic year. The last day of classes will be June 6. And the final eighth-grade graduation for the school, which opened in 1901, will be June 11. Six parish schools in a three-mile radius have agreed to accept Holy Spirit students.

Msgr. John Robert Lubicky, 81, a parish priest who had been a tribunal judge for the Diocese of Camden for more than 45 years, died Wednesday of complications from strokes at St. Mary's Catholic Home in Cherry Hill. Msgr. Lubicky was pastor of St. John Vianney Church in Deptford from 1975 until he retired in 1993. A recipient of a law degree from Catholic Univesity in Washington, he continued his duties as a judge for the diocesan tribunal, which handles marriage annulments and canon-law issues, until becoming ill two years ago. Msgr.

Declining enrollments will force the closure of four city parochial schools at the end of the school year, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced yesterday. St. Joachim and Mater Dolorosa parish elementary schools in Frankford, St. Joan of Arc school in North Philadelphia, and St. Charles Borromeo parish elementary school in South Philadelphia will close in June. The four schools have a combined enrollment of 650 students. Students from St. Joachim, Mater Dolorosa and St. Joan of Arc will join a larger, multiparish school at Holy Innocents parish in Juniata Park.

Antoinette Metzger is a fixture at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Berlin. For 86 years, she has been a member of the sprawling church on the White Horse Pike. The church, now celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1902, started the yearlong celebration with a special Mass celebrated by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio and a catered luncheon that was attended by 500 parishioners. During Mass, the bishop invited Metzger to the altar, where she was honored for being the oldest active member of the congregation and was presented with a bouquet of roses.