{"id":36239,"date":"2026-01-26T16:01:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/2026\/01\/26\/6-chicago-area-catholic-schools-to-close-this-spring-archdiocese-says\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T16:01:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:01:36","slug":"6-chicago-area-catholic-schools-to-close-this-spring-archdiocese-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/2026\/01\/26\/6-chicago-area-catholic-schools-to-close-this-spring-archdiocese-says\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Chicago-Area Catholic Schools To Close This Spring, Archdiocese Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction to the Closures<\/h2>\n

CHICAGO \u2014 Six Chicago-area Catholic schools will close this spring due to low enrollment, the Archdiocese of Chicago announced. In a Friday email, the archdiocese said St. Francis Borgia in Dunning, Sts. Bruno and Richard School in Archer Heights, St. Jerome School in Bridgeport, St. Stanislaus Kostka in Wicker Park, Our Lady of Humility in suburban Beach Park and St. Hubert in suburban Hoffman Estates will all be closing at the end of the school year.<\/p>\n

Reason for the Closures<\/h2>\n

\u201cWe made these decisions with heavy hearts after months of discussions with each school. We know the importance of these schools in each community. Unfortunately, the enrollment of each school is too low, and the ongoing deficits are too high,\u201d Greg Richmond, superintendent of schools for the archdiocese, said in a statement. \u201cMany people have worked hard at each school to raise money and try to boost enrollment. We recognize and value those efforts but, in the end, the schools were not able to close the gaps and they are no longer sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Support for Impacted Families and Staff<\/h2>\n

The archdiocese said it will help impacted families enroll in other Catholic schools and help teachers and staff find employment at schools within the archdiocese.<\/p>\n

Community Efforts to Save the Schools<\/h2>\n

Parents and alumni launched a GoFundMe for St. Francis Borgia, 3535 N. Panama Ave., in the fall after the archdiocese announced the school had to raise $400,000 to cover expenses for this year and next year. As of Monday, the GoFundMe has raised $6,755.
\n\u201cSt. Francis Borgia isn\u2019t just any school. It\u2019s where our children form lifelong friendships. It\u2019s where teachers know every student by name. It\u2019s where faith meets education, and where students feel safe, supported, and loved,\u201d organizers wrote on the GoFundMe page. \u201cThe halls of Borgia are filled with memories \u2014 first days of school, Christmas plays, sports, graduations, and moments that families carry forever. Losing this school would break the heart of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Francis Borgia School<\/h2>\n

St. Francis Borgia school as seen on Dec. 12, 2025. Credit:<\/span> Molly DeVore\/ Block Club Chicago<\/span>
\nScott McDonald, director of communications and marketing for the Chicago archdiocese\u2019s Office of Catholic Schools, said the decision to close St. Francis Borgia was made because the school\u2019s enrollment was too low and the budget deficit too high.<\/p>\n

Impact on the Community<\/h2>\n

Caty Curry Hansen, who has been a St. Francis Borgia parent for 17 years and a parishioner for more than two decades, said enrollment began to drop in the 2000s. When her family started at St. Francis Borgia in 2009, there were around 225 students, she said.
\nHansen, who has taught at St. Francis Borgia since 2020, has had three children graduate from the preK-8 school. She currently has a fifth-grader and an eighth-grader enrolled there.
\nThe school\u2019s veteran teachers and strong sense of community set students up for success, she said.
\n\u201cYou just see the difference it\u2019s made in kids lives over the years, the strong foundation it\u2019s given so many,\u201d Hansen said.<\/p>\n

St. Stanislaus Kostka Academy<\/h2>\n

\"\"St. Stanislaus Kostka Academy at 1255 N. Noble St. on Jan. 16, 2026. Credit:<\/span> Quinn Myers\/Block Club Chicago<\/span>
\nIn Wicker Park, St. Stanislaus Kostka Academy announced its impending closure on Thursday through a letter sent to families and staff by the Rev. Anthony Bu\u015b.
\nThe school at 1255 N. Noble St. has been open since 1874. It\u2019s an anchor for the local Polish community and other groups and regarded as the \u201cmother church of Chicago Polonia,\u201d said Daniel Pogorzelski, a Polish-American historian and community activist.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

The closure of these six Chicago-area Catholic schools will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the communities they serve. The archdiocese\u2019s decision to close the schools due to low enrollment and financial difficulties is a difficult one, but it is hoped<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction to the Closures CHICAGO \u2014 Six Chicago-area Catholic schools will close this spring due to low enrollment, the Archdiocese of Chicago announced. In a Friday email, the archdiocese said St. Francis Borgia in Dunning, Sts. Bruno and Richard School in Archer Heights, St. Jerome School in Bridgeport, St. Stanislaus Kostka in Wicker Park, Our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/bcc-newspack.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_6714-scaled.jpg?w=1920&resize=1920,1280&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36242,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36239\/revisions\/36242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}