Massive Catholic school closings across the nation

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput has been ordered to close a massive numbers of Catholic schools, privately recommended to him against his wishes.

But Philadelphia is just one city that is being forced to close Catholic schools for many reasons.

As head of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for only three months, Archbishop Chaput had requested permission from the priest's council to put off the large number of Catholic school closings that had been assigned to him.

"So I took the question to the priests' council," Chaput said in an interview after Friday's news conference that unveiled the closings, "and I asked them if we should postpone it for a year."

His advisory body of senior priests answered no, Chaput said. "They told me, 'Don't postpone. We have to do this now.' So I'm taking the advice of the priests' council," reported Philly.com.

According to Philly.com, "the prospect of more tough decisions awaits the archbishop - still so new here he called it 'the Denver archdiocese' at the start of Friday's news conference, a reference to his previous position."

What he is referring to are a gradual parish closings and consolidations in Philadelphia during the next year-and-a-half, in addition to the Catholic school closings.

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