It was recently announced by the Order of the Franciscan Sisters that Madonna High School on the Northwest Side of Chicago would be closing permanently at the end of the 2000-2001 school year (“Madonna High succumbs to financial woes,” Metro, Jan. 18). Madonna has been an important pillar of our community for the past 50 years; and our community and the children of our community can ill afford to lose this model institution.
Madonna has in the past taken the young girls of our community and molded them into fine young women, who have gone on to college and from there on to professional careers. Like the young ladies of the past, the current student body asks only for the education they were promised when they chose to attend Madonna. These young ladies chose Madonna over other high schools for various reasons, but the fact remains they chose Madonna, and the overwhelming majority do not want to go anywhere else.
As for the community, we have seen Madonna bring us together through its many social events over the years. We have seen our sisters, daughters and granddaughters graduate from its hallowed halls. We need and want Madonna High School in our neighborhood and will fight to keep it here.
It is with great urgency that I call upon the other community organizations in our area, as well as our local politicians and Cardinal Francis George and the whole Chicago archdiocese, to unite with us and help save not only the foundation of our community but the foundation of our children’s lives.
