The real tragedy behind the closing of Northampton's St. John's School (03/28/04)

The real tragedy behind the closing of Northampton's St. John's School

by Dr. Paula Holoviak

Those of us who are students of history or who have lived through the decade of the 1960s know the famous story of the clash between President Lyndon Johnson and Gov. George Wallace. In a heated exchange on segregation, LBJ challenged Gov. Wallace with the thought of the judgment of history. Would Wallace's monument read "George Wallace, he built" or "George Wallace: he hated."

We are faced with this same challenge as we read about the closing of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Elementary School in the town of Northampton in eastern Pennsylvania. Founded in 1950 by a pastor and parish dedicated to its youth, the school has been suddenly slated to close at the end of this school year.

The reported reason cited, as usual: lack of funding. There was no discussion, no chance to raise tuition or actively fund-raise. The decision was arbitrarily made by Msgr. David Clooney and Metropolitan Stefan Soroka with no input from parents, faculty or the majority of the parishioners at St. John the Baptist Parish.

Let's look at the real reasons behind the closure of this important community asset and the real effects of the loss of yet another Ukrainian school.

Contrary to the words of Metropolitan Soroka, the faculty and parents were not aware of any financial difficulties prior to the one-sentence announcement of the school's closing. Parents and interested individuals promptly formed a fund-raising committee. Within three weeks, $90,000 was pledged toward funding the school, including $50,000 from an anonymous donor, $30,000 in tuition increases and $10,000 in miscellaneous donations.

More importantly, the Pennsylvania legislature, just last month with the passage of Legislative Act 48, expanded a special tax-exempt scholarship fund for private schools. Under this program, the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, businesses donating to a given scholarship program for a specified school could claim up to a 90 percent state tax exemption. This program offers concrete, guaranteed tax benefits and a real opportunity for our Ukrainian schools to raise substantial operating funds.

As a professor of public administration, specializing in non-profit management, I reviewed the financial plan and deemed it to be workable. I also offered my services as well as the assistance of two student interns, to develop and manage a capital giving campaign and to work with the new Pennsylvania tax credit program. In a form letter that I received in late February, Metropolitan Soroka summarily dismissed any fund-raising ideas and never acknowledged my offers of professional assistance.

Yes, no parish should be required to have total funding responsibility for an undertaking as large as a regional school. Education does not make money in either the public or private sector. It exists to inculcate certain societal values necessary to the functioning of the community. St. John's offers an Eastern Christian perspective to Catholic, Orthodox and, yes, even Protestant students.

St. John's is a living example of ecumenism and evangelization. Do our Church leaders take this seriously or is this just another instance of empty platitudes?

St. John's offers more than just education to the Ukrainian community of the Lehigh Valley. Without St. John's School, there will be no religious education beyond the second grade in the parish. There will be no formal teaching of Ukrainian language, culture or history in the Lehigh Valley. The charitable relationships between the school and the orphanage in Kherson Oblast in Ukraine and with the Northampton area food bank will cease.

I have reached a personal crisis of faith. Our hierarchy, Catholic and Orthodox, talk a great deal about the future of our Church and put forth many pastoral pronouncements about youth. Yet their actions do not correspond with their words.

In a recent meeting in sunny Florida in February, the hierarchs of both Churches bemoaned the lack of cooperation between secular Ukrainian community groups and the Church leadership. Could this be happening because, while the bishops meet and discuss, the community leaders actually work with our youth?

The next time you attend a church service, make a mental note of the average age of the congregation. In my own parish at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts this past week, with the exception of my son, the priest's son and the cantor's two boys, the average age of the attendees was probably 70.

So, the next time some hierarch asks for your money to fund a closed or nearly empty seminary or a church in Ukraine, think long and hard about where it is headed. Meanwhile, our secular organizations run camps and teach dance, hold scout meetings and spend their Saturdays teaching language and literature. These are the organizations concerned with our youth. These are the organizations teaching Christian values.

We all know how the story ended for Gov. Wallace. Desegregation triumphed in the South and even Gov. Wallace came to espouse right thinking. As for Metropolitan Soroka, the jury is still out on his legacy. If the closing of our schools is any indication, his monument will surely read "Metropolitan Soroka: he destroyed."

Paula Holoviak, Ph.D., is associate professor of political science at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. This article was submitted on March 18.

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