Catholic School Week

Listening to a local radio station here in Cincinnati, I was directed to this site to help save a very old Catholic school: Save Sts. Peter & Paul School If you are a local, you can help out this school and they are having various fundraising events to keep their school open. This update in particular made me so upset:

At app. 5pm today a call came to an SOS representative saying that our meeting scheduled for tonight at 7pm had been canceled and that they have nothing further to discuss regarding the closing of Sts. Peter and Paul school. Unless we meet the conditions outlined in the letter from the Archbishop by 10m tomorrow, the school will be closed.

I'm sorry, it's Catholic Schools Week? Who was the PR person in charge of this announcement? Let's celebrate the week by closing up some of our schools! I feel it is time to start making the parish a central part of our lives unless we want to see this happening nationwide. The parish should be the social, spiritual and physical center of our lives. I think that is why I look forward to Holy Week each year. We spend almost every day up at church and I feel stronger and closer to Christ, my family and my parish than any other time of the year.

As a disgruntled Catholic, it is easy to not remember our tithing obligation which is probably why this parish school is hurting. After VII, attendance fell from 75% to 30% and that hurts donations as well as parish life. I hope the pendulum soon swings the other way before it is too late.