A first post, apparently from Facebook but forwarded via e-mail, reads much like the announcement on the Newman ordinariate group's web page:
It is with sadness that the Norbertine Fathers are closing St. Michael's Prep due to the need to sell the property to get needed revenue for the new Abbey site. We will have one more year next year, but that's the end. This new void is coupled with the existing void of having a similar classical education for girls in Orange County. BUT, I'm not giving up without trying hard to meet the even greater need. This news, with the forced sex ed by the State of California, is dire indeed for current and future generations. St. Michael's isn't closing because of lack of enrollment or financial solvency; there is a huge waiting list and they are financially solid. It's just a practical need for big money to pay the bills of the new site by selling its current property. So... If there's a desire to reclaim traditional Catholic education in Orange County, classical in curriculum and strong in religious education, daily Ma! ss in the Ordinariate Form, and a co-ed parochial day school, we need to inc [forwarded text ends here]This was followed by a second message intended to clarify the first:
I wanted to clarify something. I had previously written that the reason that St. Michael's Prep was closing was a matter of needing money. There's actually other related matters: the Abbey doesn't have the personnel to run two pieces of property, there has been a growing interest among confreres to open a seminary (which is great news!), and other matters that go along with it. I did not mean to give the impression that the decision was merely about the bottom line. If anyone was thinking, especially because of what I wrote, that there was anything less than good intentions or actions by the Norbertines, please forgive me! That is not the case! They have been, are, and will continue to be nothing but the best for Orange County and beyond!Nothing to see here, move on! Nothing but good things! Nothing! Nothing!
My regular correspondent asks a more specific question: why, "after more than 50 years", are the Norbertines closing the school? The question that the post just above tries to answer is why they don't want to run a school in the old building while moving the abbey to the new building -- but why was a school apparently left out of the plans for the new facility from the start? Other than a "growing interest among confreres to open a seminary", no reason for such a major change in direction is given, especially if there's a "huge waiting list". But everything is perfect, perfect perfect!
Actually, a visitor who's followed the St Michael's story for some years says that original plans for the move did include a school at the new site, along with a summer camp, but at a certain point, these plans were dropped without explanation. However, the report is that over the years, there were allegations of practices like fagging, hazing, bullying, and worse, which would not be unusual for any boys' boarding school, but legal complications may have arisen in the case of St Michael's which have mostly been kept quiet.
But let's return to the announcement on the Newman group's web page, linked in Thursday's post:
With the closing of the boys high school of St. Michael’s Prep, the previously existing need for a girl’s equivalent, and the coming challenges posed by the gender/sexual curriculum in public and charter schools, the need for classical Catholic education in Orange County, California has never been greater.The remedy proposed is a vaguely defined home school co-op. But how does a home school co-op replace a fully accredited boarding school? And how does a home school co-op fill a need for a new Catholic girls' school? The co-op, for starters would be co-ed, at least as the vague plans suggest.
Beyond that, there are two Catholic girls' high schools in Orange County now, Rosary Academy in Fullerton and Cornelia Connelly School in Anaheim. There are several other Catholic high schools in Orange County that may be either boys' or co-ed, Santa Margarita (co-ed) in Rancho Santa Margarita, Junipero Serra (co-ed) in San Juan Capistrano, Servite (all male) in Anaheim, and Mater Dei (co-ed) in Santa Ana.
So someone is going to have to be clearer on where the "void" is for Catholic education in Orange County, but even the announcement on the Newman site is unclear about it: if the public schools are to implement unsatisfactory sex ed classes, that's certainly one more good reason to send children to Catholic schools -- but what's wrong with the ones that are already in existence? Those are two different problems. And of course, the schools listed have existing programs and accreditation, while the co-op would have to start from scratch.
This leaves out the question of why parents who could apparently well afford to send their sons to a Catholic boarding school would want to turn around and send them to a cut-rate co-op with Mrs Schmidlap teaching history. OK, you pack your son up for prep school in Silverado, or you pack him up for prep school wherever else. Where's the void?
What problem are they trying to solve?
