Renewing Catholic Education on Long Island

St. Mary’s High School, a small parish-run Catholic school, sits just over the city line in Manhasset, Long Island. The school serves 334 students, while another 266 attend the jointly governed elementary school. St. Mary’s is undertaking a multiyear effort to rededicate itself to classical education and the rich Catholic tradition.

These efforts come at a perilous time for Catholic schooling in the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Elementary school enrollment has shrunk by half since 2016, and high school enrollment is down 28 percent. The diocese’s high school enrollment is concentrated in three large schools—St. Anthony’s, Kellenberg, and Chaminade—which cumulatively serve two-thirds of Catholic high school students, with the remaining third spread over six schools, including St. Mary’s. For the other schools to survive, they must commit to an unclouded vision of Catholic education, centered on academic excellence and moral values grounded in the faith. St. Mary’s may point the way.

St. Mary’s success is driven in part by its clergy. The parish runs the elementary, middle, and high schools, and its priests are deeply involved. The pastor, Father Robert Romeo, strongly supports the schools, and his young associate, Father Dominik Wegiel, serves as the high school’s chaplain. The schools’ president is Father Elias Carr, a theologian as well as a priest. Four nuns from the esteemed Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, teach at the schools and work to prepare students for the sacraments.