The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has closed down a lot of Catholic schools recently including the elementary school my five children attend. But we're far from alone.
I was searching around the internet about all the different school closings when I came upon news that St. Cyril's school in Lansdowne which had been reccomended for closure by the archdiocesan Blue Ribbon commission was now remaining open as a mission school.
I saw the news and couldn't help but smile.
Why? Because there's a story behind the news story. And it's a great one. It happened just a few years ago. If you put this story in a movie nobody would believe it. Too corny, they’d say. Waaaay too Frank Capra. This is a story about community. The kind of community that many didn’t think still existed in America; the kind that still believed in wishes and miracles. But mostly this is a story about a little boy who refused to give up on a miracle. When told it was impossible he believed the way only 12 year olds can.
This is a story about Tommy Geromichalos. Six years ago, Tommy was a 12 year old boy from Philadelphia with a wish. Tommy has a serious form of cystic fibrosis. So when the Make-A-Wish Foundation asked him what he wished for he gave an answer they didn’t expect. His sister who also had C.F. had wished to meet Celine Dion.
Tommy didn’t want to meet a celebrity. He didn’t want to play basketball against an NBA hero. His wish was simple: Save my School. You see, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was closing Tommy’s elementary school because much of the Catholic population had moved into the suburbs and the urban neighborhood just couldn’t support the school anymore. Here’s the letter Tommy wrote:
“My name is Tommy. I am 12 years old and I have Cystic Fibrosis. I have a special EMERGENCY WISH that I hope can come true. You guys are my last hope. My wish is to keep my school open until I graduate 8th grade. I go to St. Cyril of Alexandria School in East Lansdowne, PA. I’m in 6th grade. The Archdiocese plans to close my school. I know they don’t want to but they think it would be best for them but they just don’t understand that my school is my second home and all the people there are my family. On October 31st, my Aunt Lorrie died of Leukemia and cancer. She graduated from St. Cyril’s in the 1950’s, so did my Aunt Marcella and my other relatives including my sister Samantha, she is 15 and she has CF too. I am the last one in my family to go to St. Cyril’s. All my life I have waited to be on the 3rd floor, that’s where the 6th 7th and 8th graders are. Everyone knows that Miss Cashwell is the best 8th grade teacher in the world. When I am in 8th grade I will have the chance to have fun and learn. It’s a tradition at St. Cyril’s that 8th grade goes to Washington D.C. and all the 8th grade Altar servers get to go to Dorney Park. We also have the best I.H.M. Sisters you will ever find in any school. Sometimes reading is hard for me because have Dyslexia but I have the best teacher named. S. Ann. She has taught me and all my buddies since we were in 1st grade. We are a team and she wants to stick with us and help until we graduate. S. Ann has always been there for me and my family even when I was in the hospital.I don’t’ make CF a big part of my life because, I just want to be a normal kid but sometimes it’s just too hard. I’ve been in the hospital for C.F. with IV’s in my arm and I’ve had surgeries on my stomach and my polyps. One time when I went in the hospital I even cried because I was afraid that God didn’t love me because I asked my Mom “how can God love me if he makes me suffer?” My mom cried and told me God loves all of us and some things happen for reasons we don’t know about. Father Kearns came to visit me at St. Chris and he talked to me and I got my faith back again.
I don’t’ know how to save my school and I need your help. I’ll do anything that can make a difference. We need a MIRACLE. Please help me convince Cardinal Rigali to keep my school open. My faith is strong because I go to a Catholic School. The spirit of St. Cyril is alive in me and everyone else who has been a part of St. Cyril School. Please help me Save my school. This is my Christmas Make A Wish.”
Make A Wish Executive Director Dennis Heron said his request “blew us away.” But after researching the issue and contacting the archdiocese they came up against a cold hard reality. It cost $175,000 to run the school each year and the money just wasn't there.
Tommy’s mother Connie, who was a librarian at the school, told her son it was a “no-win situation.” It just wasn’t in anyone’s power to do. She warned him that if he didn’t change his wish he likely wouldn’t get another one. He insisted there was no other wish.
Pastor Kearns said his wish was the same as the little boy’s. “But there is a limit to what can be done,” he advised the boy.
The school announced it was closing. But here comes the fun part.
A waitress at a bar told a local newspaper columnist about Tommy’s story and he wrote a column. Soon, other newspapers and television stations ran the story about Tommy’s letter. The St. Cyril’s community and the entire city was moved.
Soon, there were Beef and Beer fundraisers, a Dance-A-Thon, a pizza sale, and a charity basketball tournament, and car washes. “I Believe” T-Shirts were sold. A local Dodge dealer even donated a car for a raffle. Alumni of the school came to fundraisers and met old friends they hadn't seen in years despite perhaps living within a mile of each other. The community was brought together.
By the end of March, the $200,000 “Save our School” goal was met and surpassed. Cardinal Justin Rigali paid a visit to the school and announced the school was off the chopping block.
Tommy graduated from St. Cyril's. In fact, he just graduated from Monsignor Bonner High School and starts college next semester. And this kid...well, young man, showed up at the newspaper to thank the columnist and the editors of the paper for all they'd done for him. He thanked them.
That's the kind of thing that just makes you think Catholic schools are doing something right.
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Faith has made us Whole.
This is wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
Gorgeous story. Just awesome.
That is what trust in God looks like!
To be both Catholic and a CFer makes for amazining people. I don’t know this young man, but in a way I do. You see, our firstborn, 17 year old son who just graduated from high school also has CF. We’ve had 6 more babies, all with the 1:4 chance of CF (one more has it) and others think we’re selfish, simple-minded, and religious robots (converts, actually). If only they knew . . .
Best wishes and prayers to you, Tommy, from friends in Alaska, and thank you, Mr. Archbold, for writing!
Thank you for publishing this inspiring story.
It appears Tommy got more than he wished for—St. Cyril School is still open.
All I can say is “WOW” vis-a-vis this entire story in terms of grace at work in the world.
Allison Howell, God bless you and your family. Besides, any of the reasons that you’ve stated leveled at you and your family by other people that supposedly make you “selfish, simple-minded, and religious robots” can easily be thrown right back in their faces: what, after all do they worship? That will tell you everything you need to know about their religion qua religion—nothing says that that religion has to be conventional in order to qualify.
It is great, if Tommy can bring out his wishes and all pple was move that means God is performing and proof his greatness
That brought tears to my eyes.
I’m glad that they were able to pull it off, and the Archdiocese wasn’t duplicitous in their handling of the situation.
Unfortunately, the Archdiocese of Louisville was not the same way when they announced that they were closing my alma mater. The alumni were told that if we raised X amount of money, we could stay open. Well, the money was raised, and the Archdiocese still closed the school (even though its enrollment was on the rise). It turns out that they had sold the school building to Catholic Charities before the principal had even been notified of the school’s closing. And then the Archdiocese blocked the community’s pleas to continue the 100+ year-old school in a different location.
Almost 10 years later it still rankles a lot of people. A lot of other schools have been closed/combined, but the thing that hurts is that they gave us false hope just to shut us up when it seems that they had no intention of following through on the “deal”.
I’m a story consultant to Hollywood. I’m also a Catholic apologist. So, don’t misread this. While this may at first blush pull on a few heart strings, this is not a story of significant moral value. What happens is a sick child plays on the sympathies of a community toward a selfish end. Read his letter again. It’s all about what HE wants. It’s not about what’s good for OTHERS. The only reason people gave money is because he is sick. It might make a good “Make-a-wish” wish (and it’s definitively is better than meeting a celebrity), but it’d make a terrible movie, UNLESS there’s more to the story in terms of saving a community, or saving something bigger than the protagonist, which is the little kid. In a good story with moral significance the protagonist is a hero because he or she sacrifices something for something bigger and greater than themselves. That does not happen here, or if it did, it’s not told.
Hey Stan,
We know the type of stories that consultants from Hollywood provide. Boy what a heel!
I agree with Stan. His analysis of the story is spot on. In giving it, he necessarily comes across as unsympathetic to the sick child, but I don’t believe this is so. He is giving a correct critical analysis of the event, not a verdict on the child or the result he achieved.
I don’t know if I totally agree with Stan, but it is legitimate that he examine it “as a story”, because Matthew has written this piece because he considers it “a good story”.
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I don’t know if Tommy’s is a totally selfish wish, or if it is, that it is necessarily bad. Tommy has infinite value. Stephen Spielberg’s AI was about the undying wish of an artificial boy.
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I see a different dynamic at work. We all want to hold on to whatever we consider good but that is impossible in this life. Isn’t heaven the only place where everything good is recapitulated?
Stan, was it really all that selfish? He could have wished for many other things but he wished for his school to stay open. Because of his tenacity, it did remain open. He called attention to the fact that it was important in his life and ultimately other children who could also still attend his school.I think there is a little bit of selfishness in your comment as well whether you realize it or not. You injected the possibility of making a movie. You informed us that you are a movie consultant. Wasn’t your comment all about YOU too? I don’t mean to be snarky, but really, you ruined a beautiful story for me. God moves in mysterious ways, perhaps we don’t yet know the real ending for the reason this school is stay open. I do know one thing, it inspires me to send a donation to my Catholic school, also struggling to stay open.
Please do a follow up, Matt. Stan is right…there are more and other facts that some good journalism will find that tell the whole story, not just the focus on Tommy. Your MISSION, Matt, should you accept it, is to find what Paul Harvey referred to as the “rest of the story,” and in this case I will bet Tommy’s role is just the tip of an iceberg of charity, love and goodness in the lives of many- other students, staff, teachers, parents, community - and there might even be some tidbits about how the folks in the AB’s office dealt with this and changed their minds. And what has happened in the ensuing years to insure that the school has remained open…after Tommy has graduated? Thank you, Stan, for spurring Matt on to do this Mission. THIS POST WILL SELFDESTRUCT IN 60 SECONDS. guy mcclung rockport tx
I am very proud of you Tommy may god and the blessed mother bless and keep you, i pray for you and your family please pray for me. Stay very close to jesus in the blessed sacrament he will love and bless you always. peace robert.
I’m amazed at the comments. The point of Make a Wish, as I understand it, it to do something for the child himself. The fact that other people benefited is a plus. The is a story of one person making a difference. The boy, the waitress, the newspaper reporter all fit the bill. Hurray!
Oops! Please pardon the typos that I made in my state of exuberance.
“Ronnie Polaneczky: St. Cyril in need of another miracle”
http://articles.philly.com/2012-01-10/news/30612031_1_parish-school-catholic-schools-dan-and-connie/
http://www.saintcyril.org/fundraisernews.htm
Anyway, regarding the positive effect of Tommy’s wish: http://delcoheronsnest.blogspot.com/2008/06/print-column-thanks-tommy.html
Here’s his handwritten wish: http://www.saintcyril.org/tommyswish.htm
Lovely story, thank you!
Maybe other dioceses will re-examine policy as younger couples return to urban areas.There has been a shift in that direction recently.
In 1955, future Nobel Prize winning economist, Milton Friedman, introduced the idea of parental choice in education, via a voucher, in America. That was fifty-seven years ago. What are we waiting for? Do we actually want our children attending atheistic, socialistic, government schools, or do we simply not care? Catholic schools in America are going extinct. Vouchers would save them. Does the institutional Catholic Church care? If so, where’s the evidence?
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
2229 As those first responsible for the education of their children, parents have the right to choose a school for them which corresponds to their own convictions. This right is fundamental. As far as possible parents have the duty of choosing schools that will best help them in their task as Christian educators. Public authorities have the duty of guaranteeing this parental right and of ensuring the concrete conditions for its exercise.
Dennis O’Donovan,
Several states are attempting to use school vouchers but the teachers unions/associations are trying to stop it in court.
@Kathleen: In 2002, the United States Supreme Court in the Zelman v. Simmons-Harris decision ruled that vouchers were constitutional as long as the voucher was given to the parents and not directly to a religiously affiliated school.
The term Blaine Amendment refers to constitutional provisions that exist in 38 of the 50 state constitutions in the United States which forbid direct government aid to educational institutions that have any religious affiliation. These were aimed at Catholics, most notably the Irish, who had immigrated and started their own parochial schools.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in an Arizona case, said that Blaine Amendments to state constitutions were rooted in anti-Catholic bigotry and called for their removal.
Dennis,
Thank you. That does sound familiar.Clarence Thomas is one of my heroes.
This isn’t really so much about how great the modern Catholic schools are. It’s about what ALWAYS could have been done by the power of people, but WASN’T. The newspapers were always there. The barbecues were always possible. This little sick boy had Biblical faith; the Diocese didn’t. Even the little Dutch boy wouldn’t take his finger out of the seawall, during a whole stormy night alone in the ditch, until he had saved his whole region from a devastating flood. And that isn’t even a Christian story.
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