What makes a school Catholic? That is the question that many of the parents with children in Our Lady of Libera School in West New York are trying to answer.
A decision to withdraw all of the nuns working in the school in June, including the school’s principal, Sister Lois Zampese, has had the parents wondering what will become of their kids’ religious education. There are 356 students in grades pre-K through 8.
“[The sisters] were the most important reason why I put my daughters here,” said Alexandra Zapata after dropping her daughter off in the morning recently.
However, Jim Goodness, a representative from the Archdiocese of Newark, the district that the school falls under, said that this decision was more a shortage of personnel within the sisterhood, and not a problem in the school.
“The number of women continuing to join [the sisterhood] has gone down,” said Goodness.
Goodness also said that all of the lay religion teachers that would be hired would be certified catechists, and therefore, the students would not be losing the quality of the school’s religious teaching.
“We are in the process of beginning to look for a new principal now,” said Goodness. “The commitment to the school is still there.”
Catholic or private?
In a letter sent to parents from Rotunno, the priest reminded the parents that it is not the nuns that make a school Catholic.
“What makes a school Catholic? You do,” said Rotunno in a letter sent to the parents.
However many parents still feel that having nuns in a school adds more structure and guidance.
“Having a nun gives that security and firmness of being a Catholic School,” said Dania Gonzalez.
“[The sisters] shouldn’t be taken out of the school,” said another parent who wouldn’t reveal her name. “This is a Catholic School. The parents should have been able to vote on this.”
However Lauretti does think that a Catholic school can be led by lay administrators, teachers that are not sisters, but still Catholic.
“We have a lot of Catholic schools in New Jersey that are run by lay administrators,” said Lauretti. “And they certainly are Catholic.”
Many parents are also concerned because they do not want to send their kids to public schools.
“If you talk to kids from public schools and kids from Catholic schools,” said Gonzalez, who is concerned about the security in public schools, “you can see a difference between an eighth grade girl in a Catholic school and an eighth grade girl in a public school. I think that has a lot to do with having a nun in the school.”
Gonzalez also added that she would still bring her children to Our Lady of Libera as long as the new principal was qualified.
Being transferred
While Sister Francis Lauretti, the Superior in the Order of Filippini Sisters, said that the decision to withdraw the sisters from the school was largely due to a shortage of personnel within the order, she also mentioned problems between the sisters and the parish priest, Father Phillip Rotunno.
“There were differences between the pastor and the principal,” said Lauretti, although she would not comment on what those differences were.
“They just couldn’t agree,” said one parent who chose not to give her name.
The three sisters currently in the school would be reassigned to other schools. Zampese was the principal of the school and the only full-time sister in the school. The other two sisters worked part-time, one as the librarian and the other as an administrative aide.
“It was a sad decision that we had to make,” said Lauretti of transferring the sisters out of Our Lady of Libera. Sister Lois Zampese, the principal, declined to comment.