Pray All You Want, Dougherty's Done

Pray all you want, but don't get your hopes up. The likelihood of Cardinal Dougherty High School staying open next year is not likely at all.

That's the take-away from a letter the Archdiocese of Philadelphia posted on the school's Web site.

"We ask that you not give credence to those who would say that Cardinal Dougherty High School will stay open," school Superintendent Mary Rochford writes.

Her letter went up Friday – the very same day supporters rallied behind two former Dougherty students who presented a "letter of intent" to buy the school for $20 million, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.

A Little CD Tune to Lift Your Spirits

"There are many well-intentioned people who have ideas or thoughts as to how CDHS can be saved. Please know that if it were possible in any way at all to have saved the school then the Archdiocese of Philadelphia would have done so," Rochford told parents.

That sentiment provoked Steve Schmidt, one of the alumni trying to keep the school open, to counter with a plea over the weekend asking all CD alumni to donate $100 immediately. Schmidt accused church leaders of abandoning the CD family.

"This drastic step came from the Archdiocese's unwillingness to let the church (us the community) be involved in any decisions," Schmidt said.

The Archdiocese announced in October that both Dougherty and Northeast Catholic would close. Student populations have dwindled so much that there's not enough money to keep the schools operating.

Rochford's letter warns that even if someone were able to keep the school open and operating, the church would not support the move, the school would not be called Cardinal Dougherty and there is no guarantee it would even be Catholic.

"We would also caution that when one is talking about children's educational lives the mission is so critical it should not be left to an untested experiment," says Rochford.

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