The Diocese of Rockville Centre Monday dealt a crushing blow to a group hoping to open an independent Catholic high school on the former McGann-Mercy campus.
Bob Terry and Shawn Leonard, representing the Friends of East End Catholic Education, went to a meeting with diocese officials to set out details of their plan for the new high school.
Instead, they were told the diocese had already finalized a deal to sell the property for over $10 million two weeks ago.
The news was delivered by the diocese’s chief financial officer Thomas Doodian and its chief operating officer and general counsel Thomas Renker. They did not reveal the identity of the buyer.
The Friends of East End Catholic Education group posted news of the meeting to its website Monday, sparking speculation, outrage and angry comments on social media.
The group had been seeking a second meeting with Bishop John Barres since April, when Terry and Leonard met with the prelate to make an initial pitch for an independently run Catholic high school. They left with the impression that the bishop was open to the idea, a group spokesperson said after that meeting.
The group set to work developing a “sustainable business plan” to show the endeavor could succeed and were hopeful they’d be able to open the new school in September, according to Kerry Wilkie. But the group had trouble getting a second meeting scheduled and ultimately did not succeed in getting a second audience with the bishop. The Aug. 13 meeting was set with Doodian and Renker who had apparently been tasked to deliver the news that the diocese was not interested.
Diocesan chief communications officer Sean Dolan has not returned repeated calls or answered emails inquiring about the status of the former high school since the diocese stunned the East End Catholic community in March with the announcement that the high school would close in June. The diocese cited declining enrollment and the resulting financial stress as the reasons for closure.
“Bob and Shawn asked why our group was not notified, he replied the offer was finalized two weeks ago. They were not interested in discussing our sustainable business plan,” the Friends of East End Catholic Education group posted on its website Monday. “Bob and Shawn presented aerial maps indicating improvements Mercy families and alumni have contributed to the property since the diocese took over in 2004 until present 2017. They had no response.”
According to the group’s website, the school community raised money for improvements at McGann-Mercy costing more than $13 million since 2004, when the diocese took over the school.
Monday’s meeting was first reported yesterday by The Riverhead News-Review.
Speculation ran rampant on the group’s Facebook page after the news of the sale hit Monday, with many people wondering whether the Riverhead Charter School or Northwell Health had purchased the property.
Riverhead Charter School principal Raymond Ankrum said last week the charter school had reached out to the diocese but had not gotten any response. The charter school has been approved by the state to expand its enrollment to include grades 9 through 12, beginning with grade 9 in 2021. The charter school’s board is still discussing how to proceed, Ankrum said. The school can accommodate its 9th grade class on its present campus, Ankrum said, so it still has time to work things out.
PBMC president and CEO Andrew Mitchell said yesterday the hospital is not buying the adjacent McGann-Mercy site. Hospital officials were not even made aware it was for sale, Mitchell said.
Riverhead Central School District officials have discussed whether the former Catholic high school could alleviate the district’s growing space crisis, according to one school official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. But the district had not made a decision to bid on the site, the official said.
People expressed outrage and feelings of betrayal in the Mercy High School Frieds Facebook group.
Wrote one frequent commenter: “The Diocese should be ashamed of themselves having their own parishioners work that hard and volunteer hours at their request for a plan and already have a buyer – which they always had long before June – and not the entertain the plan. They had the two people take time off from work I am sure, spend time and gas money to drive to their offices to be ignored? NO MORE DIOCESAN APPEAL CONTRIBUTIONS EVER! AT THIS POINT, I DON’T EVEN WANT TO GIVE TO MY OWN PARISH ANYMORE. THE DIOCESE SHOULD JUST CLOSE DOWN AND GO OUT OF BUSINESS.”
Replied another: “This Diocese could be a case study for a “how not to” treat people with respect and decency. Feels like they have taken the low road since last summer.”
Others pointed to the persistent clergy sex abuse and cover-up scandals that have plagued the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. Payments in damages to victims — either as a result of legal actions or settlements to keep allegations out of the public eye — are estimated to be more than $3 billion.
The Diocese of Rockville Centre in October launched a compensation program for victims of sex abuse. The diocese received 292 claims before an April 30 deadline, an administrator of the program told the L.I. Herald last week.
A Pennsylvania grand jury report released yesterday named Barres as one of the leaders of the Diocese of Allentown, where he served as bishop from 2009 through 2016, who allegedly participated in the cover-up of clergy sex abuse in that diocese. See separate story.
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