To the Editor:
Thanks to reporter Joseph Myers for giving us the details of the plans to consolidate Catholic schools in South Philly (“Consolidating Catholic Education: Annunciation and St. Nicholas,” Jan. 12). My own parish school, Annunciation, B.V.M. is one of them. Of course we are all dismayed at this news.
Soon after, and at the suggestion of the Blue Ribbon Commission, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput urged Catholic school parents to petition their representatives in Harrisburg to pass a voucher bill that he hopes will benefit the cash-strapped parochial system.
First of all, the proposed voucher bill, which failed to pass the legislature last year, was meant to enable the poorest children in the poorest performing public schools to transfer to another school, public or private. It was never intended to pay tuition for middle class Catholic children already enrolled in parochial schools nor to give their parents tax credit for such tuition.
The archbishop needs to check out the Pennsylvania Constitution, Article III, Section 15 clearly says: “No money raised for the support of the public schools of the Commonwealth shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian school.”
Choosing a Catholic school education is a right not an obligation. Asking the state to pay for it would be just like asking them to buy us books so we do not have to use the public library, a false hope.
Gloria C. Endres
South Philadelphia
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1. Paula Ferrazzano said... on Feb 4, 2012 at 08:20PM
“Vote for vouchers and watch the Madrassah Academies spring up out of nowhere.
I for one have no desire to jeopardize this nation's secular status in order to fund any religious oriented school or academy.
Solve the problem by making good quality public education work. We, the taxpayers, are paying for it and we should not be tolerating failure. The Archbishop is wrong. He should read to proposed legislation and the Pennsylvania Constitution before he starts making asinine suggestions.”