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Helen McCaffrey --------------------------------------------- January 8th 2010
Bishop Joseph Galante,
Diocese of Camden
Father Michael Fields,
Pastor of Saint Ann’s Church
Mr. Richard Turco,
Principal Wildwood Catholic High School
At this time of utter disbelief
and shock I find that I must express to you how your unilateral decision to close Wildwood Catholic High School has affected
my family, specifically how it has shaken our faith in our church to its core.
My wife, Carla, and I grew up in
Philadelphia and attended Catholic grammar schools (Saint Gabriel’s and Saint Clemens). We both agree those years formed
the basis of our beliefs in God and the church. Neither of us however attended a Catholic High School, due to decisions at
the time that were out of our control by our parents.
Carla and I were married in Saint Ann’s Church and
watched as our family blossomed by the grace of God. Our children are 20, 17, 14 and 3 years old and we have sent all three
school age children to St. Ann’s Regional School from K to 8th grade. Our oldest son attended Cape May Technical High
School and although he has done well, currently serving our country in Iraq we realized that we should have sent him to Wildwood
Catholic.
Our daughter is currently a senior at Wildwood Catholic and will graduate, by your choice, a member
of the last graduating class in 2010. Her brother was to have attended Wildwood Catholic as a freshman the following year
as would our youngest son some years down the line.
We have experienced attending Public High School and made
that choice for our son but were so impressed with Wildwood Catholic High School that we realized that we must and would send
our remaining children to Wildwood Catholic High School, that is until January 5th, 2010. We have made sacrifices to send
our children to Catholic schools in the past and are committed to, into the future (until recently).
My wife and
I truly understand business decisions and tough choices that must be made from time to time. We can accept when all efforts
to save a service or maintain a benefit have been exhausted however we cannot and will not accept a decision like this in
the manner in which it was done to our family and the Wildwood Catholic High School Community.
When we, personally,
overhear 15 year old children making comments that they are going to “change” their religion to something else;
when we as adults feel so betrayed by our church and it’s leaders; when we as a community are so shocked by the manner
in which this is decision is given to us…then we know that you have either simply made a very poor or a cold calculated
uncaring decision. We know that humans are fallible and make mistakes. We have been taught to “forgive and forget”
and we want to so very much believe in our church and its leaders.
Therefore our family simply asks you to reverse
your decision to close Wildwood Catholic High School and begin a process within the community to save the school for future
catholic generations to build their faith upon as we have done.
As a family we will continue to submit to you
our tithes and donations each Sunday but will do so in Wildwood Catholic “Crusader Dollars”. The church may redeem
from my family at any time after it is announced that Wildwood Catholic High School will remain open. No longer will my tithes
and donations fund inner city catholic education while the children of Cape May County are denied theirs.
We truly
believe that you, Bishop Galante and You Father Fields, do not realize just how much your decision has shaken our faith in
our church. True we may only be one family at this point in time however you have affected my children’s future families
as well. Multiply that by the Wildwood Catholic Community and you would realize that this will have disenfranchised thousands
of Catholics in the South Jersey region and given the times that we live in now... even one lost soul… is much too
great a loss for our Catholic Church to bear.
The Adair Family
Richard and Carla
Richard,
Deanna, John and Aidan
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