Schools
Our Mother of Consolation Will Not Merge
Holy Cross of Mt. Airy won an appeal to stay open, and so OMC will not merge with the school.
Chestnut Hill's Our Mother of Consolation will not be welcoming the students from Holy Cross, of Mt. Airy, after all next year.
The two school were recommended to merge next year at the Chestnut Hill site by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's Blue Ribbon Commission, which would close the Holy Cross parish school.
The two schools, however, appealed that decision. And the Archdiocese announced Friday that they had won the appeal.
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School officials from Holy Cross had said they were optimistic about the process, in part, because the OMC building doesn't have enough room to fit students from both schools.
Holy Cross Principal Bryan Werner said at a public meeting last month that commission didn't have the right information on hand when it made its decision. The documents it was working with said OMC would be able to hold 330 students when, in fact, it can only have 230.
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"We believe that we have a very sound case to remain open," Father James Cox said at the meeting.
His words proved to be correct. Holy Cross was one of 18 schools whose fates were altered during the appeals process.
According to the Faith in the Future website, OMC is now enrolled at 77 percent capacity.
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