Eight North Jersey Catholic schools to close permanently due to COVID-19 pandemic

Eight Catholic elementary schools, including three in Bergen County, have become casualties of the pandemic and will permanently shut their doors, the Archdiocese of Newark announced Tuesday.

They join a growing list of Catholic school closures, including 10 announced by the Newark Archdiocese just months ago.  

The archdiocese said this round is "in response to the urgent need to address enrollment loss and growing financial challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic."

Among the schools that will not reopen in September are Transfiguration Academy in Bergenfield, St. Joseph Academy in Bogota and The Academy of St. Mary in Rutherford. St. Mary High School in Rutherford will continue to operate. 

Also closing are St. Francis Xavier and Ironbound Catholic Academy in Newark. Mother Seton and St. Augustine School in Union City will be merged with St. Joseph of the Palisades in West New York, and Our Lady of Guadalupe in Elizabeth will consolidate with St. Joseph the Carpenter in Roselle. 

"The difficult decision to further consolidate our Catholic schools follows considerable discussion and examination of their viability under the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, archbishop of Newark, said in a statement. "Education remains a crucial element in the life and mission of this Archdiocese."

Families affected by the closures are encouraged to enroll in nearby Catholic schools and are offered assistance with the transition, including tuition assistance for the 2020-21 school year, the archdiocese said.

Bogota Mayor Chris Kelemen lamented the closing of St. Joseph Academy in Bogota on his Facebook page Tuesday morning, saying it was the school his granddaughter attended.

"We are all greatful for the memories, values, generosity, friends and families met through St. Joseph’s School. I am very sad to say 'farewell' to such a wonderful place that many loved," he wrote, adding that it was his granddaughter's "stepping stone as she started her early childhood education last September."

The closures follow the shutdown of 10 Catholic schools in Bergen, Essex and Union counties in June. That list included Academy of St. Therese of Lisieux in Cresskill and St. Anne in Fair Lawn. 

Earlier:10 NJ Catholic schools closing at end of the school year

Push to save the school:Parents' bid to keep Cresskill Catholic school open falls short

Tobin said in Tuesday's announcement, “I recognize that this news is profoundly painful for our students and their families, teachers and principals, school communities, and those who support Catholic education, as well as for our archdiocesan community."

The coronavirus has added pressure on Catholic schools at a time when the system is increasingly feeling the effects of rising costs, a more secular society and fallout from the priest abuse scandals.

“It’s not a pretty picture right now,” Sister Dale McDonald, public policy director of the National Catholic Educational Association, told NPR in July. She said about 100 schools have announced in recent weeks that they won’t reopen this fall. McDonald feared that number could more than double.

The Newark Archdiocese, which covers Bergen, Essex, Union and Hudson counties, has lost a third of its schools in the past decade, shrinking from 121 in 2009 to 81 today. 

Some school communities, including that of St. Therese in Cresskill, have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in a bid to stave off closures, but the efforts have rarely been successful. 

Ricardo Kaulessar is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com Twitter: @ricardokaul