NEWS AND VIEWS

Newark parish ponders future of financially strapped school

by the Rev. Bohdan Lukie

So many of our glorious Ukrainian institutions have sprung from a small seedling, have spread their roots into the inner fabric of our society and have grown into mighty oaks, providing both nourishment and life for future generations.

In 1939 a dedicated group of Ukrainians in Newark, N.J. gathered their 20 children together and under the guidance of the Basilian Sisters created St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School. With the growing moral and financial support of the Ukrainian community, this seedling quickly sprang up and flourished with over 100 children enrolled by 1947.

God continued to abundantly bless this newly created educational institution with numerous children of the new Ukrainian immigrants arriving in the late 1940s. A vision of our own Ukrainian Catholic school guided the early pioneers to create a new structure in 1953 and by 1960 the school flourished beyond all imagination with over 500 children receiving an excellent academic education, and ethnic and cultural formation. Graduating classes of 45 students and kindergarten classes of 35 little ones became the annual norm.

However, in the course of time, even mighty oaks became aged and cease to grow. With the shifting of the Ukrainian population from the Newark vicinity to greener pastures beyond the reach of the school, St. John's school unhappily witnessed an ever-diminishing enrollment. Many and varied attempts were made to reverse this unfortunate trend and for a brief moment with the new Fourth Wave of immigrants, the school again, against all odds, began to flourish. However, even this burst of renewed energy was short-lived.

In the past 15 years, other Ukrainian communities in Philadelphia, Jersey City and Elizabeth, N.J., to mention a few, were forced to acknowledge that they could no longer fulfill their mandate and reluctantly closed the doors of their once illustrious Ukrainian educational institutions.

In recent years, St John's in Newark, the alma mater of thousands of successful Ukrainian graduates, has struggled valiantly against all odds to maintain and solidify its future. Generations of Ukrainians have personally sacrificed much time and energy; they have contributed financially beyond their means to ensure that St. John's School would stand strong and tall.

However, from all appearances, St John's, as a proud educational institution, for various and obvious reasons, has also sadly run its humble course. Even the mighty oak, with time, age and lack of nourishment, begins to crumble and dies. Student enrollment has drastically diminished. Graduating classes of eight or 10, kindergarten classes of six or seven, and the student enrollment of 80 now has become the unfortunate norm. To be viable St. John's School must boast of a student population of 130 and this dream, at this juncture of history, seems unattainable.

Loyal and generous alumni of St. John's, determined that their alma mater would not become part of American Ukrainian history, have stepped forward recently to bolster the finances with their generous donations, but even this is sadly insufficient to ensure its future.

In the past five years, St. John's Parish alone has contributed over $600,000 to maintain and support its Ukrainian Catholic school, but the parish, which annually discloses all its financial statements, has basically depleted its monetary resources and cannot support its "glistening gem" for another year without the possibility of bankruptcy.

All interested parents, all parishioners and especially all alumni are invited to a general informational meeting on Sunday, December 15 after the 9:30 a.m. divine liturgy to discuss, to propose and to implement constructive and positive solutions to ensure the future of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic school beyond the 2002-2003 academic year.

If you have been part of St. John's past, please be part of its future.

The Rev. Bohdan Lukie is pastor of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Newark, N.J.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November 24, 2002, No. 47, Vol. LXX

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