Committee to Save St. Philip School appeals to the Vatican

A group working to reverse Bishop David Zubik’s decision to close St. Philip School in Crafton is asking the Vatican to step in on its behalf.

The Committee to Save St. Philip School has been working to reverse a decision made by Zubik in February that will lead to the merging of two schools into one.

The plan includes merging St. Philip with St. Margaret of Scotland in Green Tree. Students from both schools would be housed at the facility in Green Tree starting in the 2021-22 academic year.

The committee appealed Zubik’s decision 10 days after and has since worked to meet with Zubik and St. Philip’s pastor, The Rev. James Torquato. Zubik denied the group’s appeal, and efforts to meet in order to avoid further litigation have failed, said Colin Wrabley, the committee’s procurator, or spokesman.

Wrabley said Thursday during a virtual press conference that the group remains ready to meet with Zubik and Torquato. Meanwhile, the group is waiting to hear back from Vatican authorities on whether the Catholic Church’s version of the Supreme Court will hold a hearing for the case.

Philip Gray, the committee’s canon lawyer, said they will know within 90 days whether the case will be heard by a panel of judges. Gray is president and canon lawyer for the St. Joseph Foundation, a lay group that takes on legal issues in Catholic canon law.

The group’s appeal asks the Vatican to revoke Zubik’s decision to merge the schools, invalidate the “alienation” of the school from St. Philip Parish without consult or consent and return the school to the patrimony of St. Philip Parish, Gray said.

Gray, who is based in Ohio, said canon law treats property a bit differently than civil law, in that the church recognizes a property’s monetary and spiritual value. To that end, canon law protects schools by making them a subsidiary of the associated parish, not the diocese. In order to be “alienated,” therefore, Gray said, the parish that is associated with the school must act – not the diocese.

“That ownership was usurped in the process that the diocese used to merge the schools and close St. Philip,” he said. When a parish decides to close a school, he said, the decision must be in consultation with everyone involved and receive consent.

“None of those consultations took place,” Gray said.

Zubik’s decision also was not properly distributed out to families and constituents, he said. Rather, the announcement was spread through more informal channels. Zubik’s decision also did not include instructions for an appeal – which requires a filing within 10 days.

“Nonetheless, by the grace of God, they were able to understand the process and on the 10th day … filed (an appeal) to the bishop,” Gray said.

Gray said he has been a canon lawyer for around 26 years. In almost every case where he suggests a meeting with a bishop to resolve an issue, the bishop is willing to do so.

“In this case, (Zubik) did not do that,” he said.

When Zubik denied the group’s appeal in March, the bishop reached out to the committee to meet. But the requested meeting did not include Gray, so the committee declined to meet.

Gray said internationally the Apostolic Signatura (known as the Catholic Church’s supreme court) hears about 20% of all cases brought to it. He said 60% of his office’s appeals to the Vatican get a full hearing. His office, Gray said, handles more appeals to the Vatican than any other in North America. More than 25 cases in his office involve parish mergers or school mergers.

“When we see the kinds of violations of process that we see here in this case, those are the cases being accepted for hearings at the Signatura,” he said, adding that 80% to 90% of those cases are won.

“We’ve had successes with these kinds of cases and I’m very confident my legal argumentation is correct. Very confident in that,” Gray said.

Wrabley said the group is only asking for transparency.

“Our own pastor won’t tell us what he said and what he did in the course of the meeting that led to the recommendation to close our school,” Wrabley said. “The bishop, and the hierarchy and the clergy of this diocese won’t tell us either. They’re hiding. I don’t know why they won’t tell us. But make no mistake – they may say they’re being transparent. They are not being transparent. They are not even willing to talk to us.”

But, he said, he and the committee remain willing to meet for a sit-down meeting so that they can avoid further litigation.

In a statement, the diocese said Bishop Zubik invited the committee to a meeting after it appealed.

“However, they did not agree to that meeting. Bishop Zubik reaffirmed the original decision to effect the merger of St. Philip and St. Margaret Schools,” the diocese said. “The implementation committee of the merged school continues to move forward to ensure a successful opening in the fall. The merged school is open for enrollment.”

As for the ongoing litigation, the diocese said it is “for the Vatican to determine if the appeal has merit.”

Diocese officials have said the merger is part of its regionalization process that began in 2016 to “keep Catholic schools affordable and accessible.”

There are 10 Catholic schools in the southern portion of Allegheny County and two in Washington County that make up the South Regional Catholic Elementary Schools (SRCES). The board was established in July 2020 and since then, its president, the Rev. David Poeking, said the process has been well-publicized.

Poeking – and Zubik – have also said the merger is not a closure of St. Philip School.

“It isn’t that a history comes to an end, but an opportunity for people to come together to show the best of both worlds,” he has said.