St. Bernard's gets support for continuing

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

    FITCHBURG – Support for making St. Bernard Central Catholic High School a private Catholic school was sounded Monday at a meeting marked by faith, hope and determination.
    The diocese does not have financial and operational responsibility for private Catholic schools, like it does for central Catholic schools, according to David Perda, superintendent of Catholic schools.
     The meeting, which drew more than 125 people to St. Bernard’s, included presentations and audience questions, suggestions and offers to help.
    Explaining the situation, the superintendent said St. Bernard’s enrollment dropped from 434 students in 2008-09 to 133 in 2018-19. He said 111 are enrolled and 120 anticipated for next year.
    Low enrollment left the diocese paying St. Bernard’s projected $600,000-plus deficit this year, up from $350,000 last year, he said.
    “That gets the attention of folks at the diocese responsible for fiscal affairs,” the superintendent said. “When you’re an accountant looking at just numbers,” the solution seems to be closing the school, as has happened elsewhere.
    But they don’t know the love in this building, he said. His job was to convey to them that St. Bernard’s, the only Catholic secondary school in the area, is a treasure. With secularism increasing and Mass attendance decreasing, Catholic schools are probably the greatest way to keep the faith growing, he said.
    The diocese supports St. Bernard’s becoming a private Catholic school and will cover the deficit of up to $900,000 to keep the school open next year, if enrollment exceeds 100, he said.
    If enrollment dips below 100 by July 15, and the Catholic Schools Office determines that St. Bernard’s cannot operate effectively within the projected deficit, the school will have to close, Superintendent Perda said in a June 6 letter to parents. In that event, students would keep their financial aid and be offered placement at St. Peter-Marian or Holy Name high schools in Worcester, with the diocese providing transportation.
    But at Monday’s meeting he promoted a different route.
     “Embrace what it means to be a Bernardian,”  he said. “We’ve got a special place here. It’s worth saving and we can do it.”
    Increasing enrollment will solve 90 percent of the problems, said Associate Superintendent William J. Mulford. He said St. Bernard’s has always been well managed and has no debt. But the school is behind on fund raising and it’s hard to make ends meet with so few students, so the diocese has been paying the deficit for several years.
    Incoming Principal Linda D. Anderson suggested increasing enrollment by teaching critical thinking and using technology, moving away from educational methods that don’t work for today’s students.
    “We care about the development of their souls,” she added. Educators need to reach children’s hearts to reach their brains, and can do so at a Catholic school.
    “I think it’s important to treat young people as adults because, in so doing, they become adults,” she said. She spoke of letting the students share their ideas and having them serve the community. She asked everyone to share their blessings and inspire local people with their Bernardian spirit.    
    “The Sisters of the Presentation – next to our parents, they raised us,” Paul Constantino, incoming dean of students, said of the religious sisters who began St. Bernard’s. “We owe them this fight. … We need everyone to be all in. … Why are we here? The Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Retired sisters told him they’re praying, he said.
    Timothy John “T.J.” Fluharty, a parent, asked listeners how many had heard threats of St. Bernard’s closing in previous years. A few raised their hands, and he reminded them that they stuck with the school. Now they have another year of support from the diocese, which provides more time to do strategic planning and fund raising, he said.
    A listener asked that the diocese make a two-year commitment to support St. Bernard’s. Superintendent Perda said they considered staggering the money over multiple years, but decided the diocese would take responsibility for the coming year, then turn the school over to whatever entity takes it on. The diocese doesn’t have more money to give; what it’s giving shows that Bishop McManus wants St. Bernard’s to succeed, he said.
    People have ideas for fund raising, he said. An application would need to be made for a nonprofit, tax exempt organization to hold that money, which would not be given to the diocese, he said. He said St. Bernard’s doesn’t owe the diocese any money.
    Robert Walsh, a 1978 graduate, said it seemed like a double standard that the diocese wouldn’t let St. Mary’s School in Worcester close, but doesn’t want to fund St. Bernard’s, a central Catholic school, although the diocese is running a capital campaign.
    “This is shameful,” he said. “We have to keep St. Bernard’s open.”
    Superintendent Perda explained that St. Mary’s is a parish school, so it’s the pastor’s decision whether to keep it open.
    Speakers said everyone will receive phone calls or can make calls to get questions answered, and plans for a web page and mentoring for new students were mentioned.
    “I think it was really a positive meeting,” Keith Boissoneau, a parent, told The Catholic Free Press. “We had a positive message to tell. … We can’t wait to get started.”
    “I felt like the diocese came across as really supportive,” said Amy Maynard, another parent. She called the meeting faith-filled.
    “We’re here for the Gospel,” she said. “We’re here to spread the Gospel.” She rejoiced that school administrators who spoke of faith have the students’ ears.
    “I’m very excited to join the Bernardian family,” said her son Patrick Ginnity, an incoming freshman who just graduated from St. Anna Elementary School in Leominster. “I’m ready to start a new chapter in my Catholic life.”
    “I absolutely love this place and I loved the fact that Mr. Constantino talked about the sisters,” said Karen Leger, a 1965 graduate, one of four generations in her family to attend St. Bernard’s. “I’m glad to hear the sisters are praying for us.”