As the bells rang to assemble students at Chicago`s two Roman Catholic high school seminaries Wednesday, they tolled a death knell for Quigley South and signaled new hope for Quigley North.
At midmorning assemblies, students were told by their rectors, as the principals are called, that a new seminary to be called Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary will open in September at the Quigley North site, while Quigley South will be closed.
”I have never had a death in my immediate family, and I thank God for it. I think I know what it feels like now,” said Osvaldo Rubio, a junior and student body treasurer at Quigley South.
The school, which opened in 1961, is the larger and more modern of the two facilities, situated on a spacious campus in the 7700 and 7800 blocks of South Western Avenue.
But its $1.2 million annual subsidy from the archdiocese is 50 percent higher than that for Quigley North, which opened in 1918 and has graduated some of the Chicago area`s most prominent citizens, including Cook County Assessor Thomas Hynes and Illinois Senate President Philip Rock (D-Oak Park). In past weeks, rumors that Quigley North might close had energized alumni into a campaign to save it. But there had been no speculation that Quigley South would close, and the bad news Wednesday came as a total shock to its faculty and students.
The demise of Quigley South was the first announced closing in a week when two dozen or more Catholic schools and churches are expected to learn that they, too, will be soon be shuttered as part of a drastic fiscal rescue plan.
Archdiocesan officials are already informing the pastors involved, and parishioners are to be told of the closings at this weekend`s masses, beginning Saturday. Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, who was out of town Wednesday, will officially announce the list on Sunday.
Despite the fact that few recent graduates of either Quigley have gone on to be ordained into the priesthood, Bernardin is insisting that Chicago retain one prep seminary. But Quigley North may not be its final site.
”During the first year, further consideration will be given to its permanent location in the future,” according to a statement issued Wednesday by Bernardin and relayed to the students at morning assemblies by their rectors, Rev. Thomas Franzman at Quigley North and Rev. John Klein at Quigley South.
The statement sought an inclusive tone, saying both seminaries were being closed in favor of the new school opening at Quigley North.
It spoke of ”combining the best of the present Quigleys.” It named Klein as president of the new seminary.
But despite such niceties, there was no doubt where the falling ax was felt Wednesday.
At Quigley North, 103 E. Chestnut St., there was utter jubilation when Franzman read the cardinal`s words that the new seminary ”will be located, for the present, at the site of Quigley North. . . .” Students cheered and applauded wildly.
But 13 miles away at Quigley South, the reaction was one of complete devastation when Klein told students that their school would be closed in June.
”For some this will be a crisis in faith, and for some a new beginning,” Klein said. ”Certainly I am saddened to see what I consider an excellent institution closing. On the other hand, as a priest of the archdiocese, I realize there are larger issues.”
Officials of the archdiocese and the two schools vowed to work toward the goal of a unified seminary. But in the immediate aftermath of the assemblies for 604 students at South and 180 at North, a tale of two Quigleys emerged.
It was the best of days, and it was the worst of days.
At Quigley South, lines quickly formed at telephones as downcast students called parents to talk about the sudden announcement. In deference to the confusion, disbelief and anger, classes were dismissed early, at 1:30 p.m.
”Quigley was the world to me, I never thought of going anywhere else,”
said Chester Brown, a junior and a member of the National Honor Society. ”I was going to make my senior year my best, and they up and tell us that the school is not going to be here. We are just crushed.”
He and others bitterly noted that they had already invested $255 each for Quigley South class rings.
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At Quigley North, student body President Jim LoBianco, a senior, said the first part of Bernardin`s statement, that he was going to close both Quigley North and Quigley South, ”was like a bombshell. Everybody slumped. But when Father Franzman said the new site would be here, there was incredible elation.”
He and others were convinced that Quigley North would continue to be the seminary site beyond next year.
”I know it`s only one more year for sure, but I see hope for finishing high school here,” said freshman Brian Cunningham.
Senior David Rodriguez said he felt the announcement was a ”vote of confidence” in his school as a first training ground for the priesthood.
”I`m seriously considering the priesthood,` he said. ”There are not enough priests out there, and certainly not enough Hispanic priests.”
Arguments have been made against maintaining any prep seminary in Chicago, and many such schools have been eliminated in other dioceses because they don`t produce enough priests. Five of the 10 priests ordained by the Chicago archdiocese last year came from the two Quigleys, as did three of the eight scheduled for ordination this year, Klein said.
In a letter to Quigley South parents, Bernardin said ”every effort”
would be made to enable their sons to enroll at Quigley North. But whether students would transfer to the North Side school or transfer to closer Catholic or public schools remained to be seen.
Brown said it takes him about 45 minutes to travel to Quigley South from his home in the South Side Chatham neighborhood. It would take him almost twice as long to get to Quigley North, he said.
”How can I go to (St.) Rita or (Brother) Rice?” asked Osvaldo Rubio, who lives in the Little Village neighborhood on the West Side. ”I turned them down originally when I chose Quigley. It`s just so insane.”
Quigley South, which Pope John Paul II visited during a trip to the U.S. in 1979, draws students from 140 parishes in the city and suburbs.
”We draw students from Sauk Village to Cicero,” Klein said. ”Our first buses begin to pick up students at 6:10 a.m., two hours before classes start. Transportation will surely be one of the challenges of the new school.”
Quigley North`s size is also a concern.
Rev. Hal Stanger, director of vocations and admissions at the school, said it could accommodate 500 students-almost 300 fewer than the current enrollment at both schools.
Each school had continued accepting applications for next fall`s freshman class, despite rumors of closing, Stanger said. About 140 freshmen have registered at South, while 38 have registered at North.
Franzman said there might be some expansion possibilities, including sharing space with Cathedral High School less than two blocks away.
Quigley North alumni who have been submitting alternative proposals to preserve their old school say the effort will build from Wednesday`s announcement.
Attorney John Sullivan, a 1962 graduate and a leader in the campaign to save the school, said ”the cardinal`s decision is an absolute green light for us to keep working on proposals.”
Alumni efforts have proceeded with an informal motto: ”The death of Quigley North is greatly exaggerated.”
At Quigley South, however, the mood was funereal. During a free period, one student stood alone on the front steps with tears staining his cheeks.
”I just can`t talk about it,” he said.