PHILADELPHIA — Even as financially strapped Catholic schools close across the country, no one in Philadelphia thought the church would shutter Cardinal Dougherty High School.
Not the flagship campus that once boasted 6,000 students and billed itself as the biggest Catholic school in the world. Not the school whose marching band once played for a pope, a princess and a presidential inauguration.
But the unthinkable came to pass in October when the Philadelphia archdiocese said 2009-10 would be Dougherty’s last school year. A victim of declining enrollment and changing demographics, the school will close this month after 54 years and more than 40,000 graduates.
Nationwide, 174 Catholic schools have closed in the past year, compared with 24 opening, according to the National Catholic Education Association. Catholic school enrollment in the U.S. has declined 20 percent in the past decade. The Associated Press
