Group says Cathedral crucial to church’s future in Springfield

Date: 12/4/2014

SPRINGFIELD – Alfredo DiLascia believes that changes in how Cathedral High School is marketed and in attitudes about Catholic education will not only make a new Cathedral financially sustainable, but also it will also ensure the future of the Catholic Church locally.

DiLascia is the chairman of Committee for Cathedral Action, a group of Cathedral alumni, elected officials, the board of Cathedral High School and current Cathedral staff, administration and students, all of which are promoting the construction of a new school.

The committee is organizing Dec. 16 as “Save Cathedral Day” and is asking people in the region by wearing purple, the school color, that day or display a lawn sign or bumper sticker, DiLascia explained to Reminder Publications.

The group’s meeting on Nov. 20 attracted close to 500 supporters. Rather than criticizing the diocese’s recently announced decision to go through a process to reach a decision that was damaged by the June 1, 2011 tornado, DiLascia said the supporters want to be positive.

“We’ve pulled out all the stops to get people to give to the endowment fund,” he said.

He added the group‘s mission is “simple.” It wants to see a new Cathedral High School built, a school with the educational amenities that will serve and attract students.

Although former Bishop Timothy McDonnell had announced on March 3 that Cathedral would be rebuilt, Bishop Mitchell Rozanski recently said the decision to rebuild would be made only after a process that should reach a decision near Christmas.

“The whole going forward [movement] seems to be in doubt now,” he said.

DiLascia said it was his opinion that Rozanski listened to “an inner circle” of priests and diocesan officials about Cathedral.

“It was a small sampling of opinion,” DiLascia said, that came for the “wrong perspective.”

He noted that at a time in which Pope Francis is calling on church officials to listening to their flock, DiLascia said, “the flock is those 500 people who came to St. Anthony’s and the whole community.”

DiLascia stressed “undeniably there is a consensus.” He added the bishop’s decision is “an initial wrong reading.”

DiLascia strongly disputes some of the arguments put forth by diocesan officials about how Cathedral could not be self-supporting in the future because of declining enrollment. He said the diocese brings up the subject like “the constant beat of a drum.”

Studying other Catholic high schools, he said it is “very possible” to attract a student body between 500 and 600 children. DiLascia estimated the market for Cathedral is both Western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut, an area of about 500,000 people.

He cited two schools as examples, Central Catholic High School in Lawrence with a student body of 1,305 and East Catholic High School in Manchester, CT. He noted both schools are self-supporting and added that Lawrence is not a wealthy community.

He cited a lack of clarity of purpose and “terrible” communication as two factors hurting the cause of Catholic education.

The diocesan officials “lament over the funding instead of looking at it as joy to educate our children,” DiLascia said. He also believes the endowment fund started by McDonnell cannot be successful unless there is a commitment to rebuild Cathedral.

The Diocese of Springfield lacks a strategic belief that Catholic education is vital, DiLascia said.

He believes the future of the church will be guided by the decisions made about Catholic education. “The pews in the not too distant future will be empty,” he predicted if nothing changes.


City Councilor Timothy Rooke is part of the committee and he said  every Sunday evening at 5 p.m. there will be a rally in show of support for Cathedral in front the of the school’s site. The rally drew 25 to 30 people, while the second one attracted between 80 to 90 people.

Rooke urged people interested in saving the school to donate any amount they can to an endowment fund. if the support group received 2,000 pledges, Rooke said the D’Amour family has promised to donate $500,000.

Class of 1978 alumnus John Gormally, owner of BusinessWest Magazine and the former owner of WGGB-TV, also recently donated a check for $500,000 to the school.

To donate go to http://cathedralhigh.org/giving/endowmentpledgepage2.php.

Rooke said there is a great deal of support for rebuilding the school and conveyed this sentiment in a telephone call to Rozanski several weeks ago.

Rooke said Thomas Henshon, president of Pearson Systems, has offered to rebuild the school at a  cost of $30 million provided the rest of the insurance funding goes into an endowment fund to help students and to attract the best teachers.

Rooke added there is a group of people ready to donate $1 million to the school if the athletic fields are named after former Cathedral coach Billy Wise. The building trades has offered to donate $1 per hour for every union worker rebuilding the school, Rooke said.

Finally, Rooke said that as an insurance executive if he was underwriting the diocese’s insurance, he would donate any commission he would make to Cathedral. He said the bishop expressed his gratitude about learning about the support.