Letter from Fr. Benedykt regarding St. Bernadette Catholic Academy

January 30, 2014

Dear Friends of St. Bernadette,

Last week, we celebrated Catholic Schools Week, though not without some difficulty. Difficulty both from the cold weather – which resulted in the school being closed on Monday and Tuesday – but also by the unfortunate reality with which we are faced, the prospect of our beloved school closing in June. It came to my attention last week that concerns have been raised that I am not being proactive and resourceful in defending and protecting the school. I want to assure everyone that I am doing all I can to save St. Bernadette Catholic Academy.

Although I had wished to keep this quiet to avoid unnecessary media attention, I have been working with the parish staff, some school alumni, the chairs of the parish and finance councils, and Mayor James Sexton to find ways to keep the school open next year and beyond. I did not initially share my plans because, as I said, I wanted to avoid unnecessary attention, but I also did not want to raise the hopes of you, the parishioners. There was no guarantee that any plan the staff, the council chairs, the mayor, or I came up with would be successful. I felt that to say from the pulpit, “I will fight this! We will do everything we can!” may have given the parish a false sense of hope, given the daunting nature of task.

To keep the school open requires us to raise in excess of $750,000 to cover operating costs as we build enrollment for the future. Some schools, St. Christopher in Midlothian, began asking parishioners to pledge money for several years to keep their school open. While it looks like that strategy may have been successful there, I did not feel right attempting it at St. Bernadette. St. Bernadette has evolved over the years from being a parish school to becoming the loving home of students from 14 different ZIP codes. St. Christopher serves Midlothian; more specifically, they serve only the members of St. Christopher Parish. Knowing that St. Christopher is drastically different from St. Bernadette Catholic Academy, I did not feel right asking only parishioners to bear the entire financial burden of keeping the school open. However, as I mentioned, I have spoken with a generous parishioner who has been soliciting donations on a one-on-one basis from school alumni and benefactors. While he was willing to do that, I did not feel able to justify these actions for myself. I was not going to stand at our pulpit and encourage all of you to pledge with the pressure of the future of our beloved regional academy.

So what exactly has my staff and I been undertaking in order to save the school? The Tuesday immediately after the announcement of the school closing, the principal, Arlene Baumann; and business manager, Kim Osowiec; and I met with the mayor to discuss our options. Together, we decided that our best course would be to ask for donations from foundations set up and run by wealthy individuals. I wrote a letter to these foundations, there were over 10 – many with Chicago connections, for instance one is run by Oprah Winfrey – and you can see the letter on the next page. (This letter was written by my staff & I with assistance from a parishioner who is a professional writer and English teacher.) Follow-up phone calls were also made by me, trying to reach out to wealthy individuals. I have also been contacted by other priests who have offered their assistance. Fr. Michael Pfleger contacted me the Monday after the announcement. It was he who assisted me in contacting Oprah.

I do apologize that I gave the impression that I was not putting my efforts into saving the school – or worse, that I simply did not care. I care very much and I believe you know this about me as my family in Christ. I care about Catholic education, and especially, I care an incredible amount for everything St. Bernadette encompasses and everything St. Bernadette values. It has become my home and you have become my family. However, saving the school will not be an easy task. We need to raise over $750,000 to put us on firm financial ground before I can even approach Cardinal George about saving our school. Even then, should he agree to keep the school open, our task will then turn to raising enrollment in order to keep the school open long-term. I want all of you to know, too, that closing Catholic schools has never been an easy decision for Cardinal George and his advisory board. These decisions are largely the result of decaying conditions, especially financial, and lack of other options.

I would like to ask all of you to continue to pray for our school. Pray that our efforts will be successful and that we will continue to educate children as we have done for the past 65 years. However, please do not mistake this letter for an assurance the school will remain open next year. Part of my reason for wanting to keep my efforts quiet, aside from wanting to keep it out of the press, was that I did not want to put the parish on an emotionally struggling path. I did not want to raise everyone's hopes by announcing that the council chairs, staff, mayor and I were all working to save the school in case we were unsuccessful. Our efforts are still very much an ongoing situation – but hopefully there may be some resolution by the end of February. I simply do not know if anything we try will be successful. St. Christopher has been very fortunate; they can give us hope. But please know that we are not St. Christopher. Our situation is different from theirs. Our school is different from theirs. Our outcome may, unfortunately, be different from theirs. However, please join me in praying for our school.

Lastly, I wish to extend another apology. I will be unable to speak to all of you about this at Mass this weekend. I will be performing at a charitable concert with Fr. Brian Barker in New Mexico, like the one held here last December. I know it may seem trivial given the situation which we face. However, I scheduled the concert last year and simply could not break the commitment. I wish to extend my thanks to Arlene Baumann, who will be speaking on my behalf. I am so proud to see the community of Evergreen Park and the parishioners of St. Bernadette coming together with great determination and love for St. Bernadette Catholic Academy.

Peace,
Fr. Benedykt