Our Lady of Lourdes School in Massapequa Park is closing in June due to very low enrollment.

This follows the closing of Corpus Christi school in Mineola. I am a big fan of Catholic schools, but it is simply too expensive to run as many schools as the Diocese currently has. The remaining schools need to be financially secure and thoroughly Catholic, or they should be closed as well. I do not like the idea of Catholic schools existing only for the wealthy but that has been the case for awhile now. If the schools are financially secure, then the schools can be available for all Catholics, especially with the Tommorrow's Hope Foundation helping out. There are three ways Catholics can focus on Catholic education:

1) Educating their children in the faith at home - obviously parents are the primary teachers of the faith.

2) Concentrating on Religious Education in the parishes. The overwhelming majority of young Catholics are educated in CCD programs - not Catholic schools. CCD needs to be more professional, more orthodox and more widely used especially at the high school level.

3) The remaining schools need to focus on passing on the faith to the young, rather than just providing an option for private schooling to wealthy Long Islanders. Lay Catholics on Long Island might start an orthodox Catholic school, perhaps using the Montessori model, in order to foster a truly Catholic environment.