With yesterday's announcement that Immaculate Conception and St. Mathias schools were closing at the end of this year, it leaves just one Catholic school in the city - St. Christine's on the West Side. It is a sad state when a city of 70,000 can't support more than one Catholic School, but the numbers just aren't there. According to the Vindy, enrollment at Immaculate Conception is at 63. As recently as 1998, there were 164 pupils. In the 1960s, there were more than 700 students. Only ten of the current 63 pupils are Catholic, and only four are from Immaculate Conception parish. Clearly that is not sustainable.
I can remember when as a young lad in the early 1990's at St. Rose in Girard, that St. Edward's (North Side), St. Dominic's (South Side), St. Anthony's (North Side), St. Brendan's (West Side), and St. Patrick's (South Side) could all field a team or two for the Parish Basketball League. Now all are closed and the only parochials in the area are St. Christine in Youngstown, Holy Family in Poland, St. Nicholas in Struthers, St. Joseph in Campbell and St. Luke and St. Charles, both in Boardman.
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