The Archdiocese of San Antonio is running through its budget on padlocks, announcing the permanent closing of a facility in the last three months, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Fr. Jimmy Drennan, pastor of St. Margaret Mary Church on the city's southeast side, says St. Margaret Mary School will close permanently this week and will not begin classes this fall.
The problem--declining enrollment.
When St. Margaret Mary School was opened by Archbishop Robert Lucey back in 1956, it boasted more than 1,000 students. Only 53 had enrolled for the fall semester.
Fr. Jimmy had attempted to save the school earlier this year by scrapping its junior high grades, but he says summer enrollment numbers indicated that the move was not enough, and the entire school will have to be shuttered.
The Archdiocese cited the 'changing demographics' of the southeast side, with more and more young families deciding to locate on the city's north side, and sending their children to booming Catholic schools there.
In May, the Archdiocese announced plans to permanently close St. Stephen Catholic Church on the city's west side for the same reason...the changing face of the neighborhood and declining attendance at mass.