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St. Anthony School in Temperance and St. Dennis School in Royal Oak will close at the end of the current school year, parents and students of the schools were informed this week.

In the cases of  schools, the pastors, principals and lay leadership had come to the conclusion that closure of the schools was necessary due to financial concerns and declining enrollment. They met earlier this month with Archbishop Allen Vigneron and his priest advisors, known as the College of Consulters, to discuss their conclusions. Archbishop Vigneron subsequently granted both pastors permission to close the schools.

Both St. Dennis and St. Anthony are parish-sponsored and funded. St. Anthony School currently has 34 students. St. Dennis currently has 113 students, and also has four other Catholic grade schools within a five-mile radius.

"While it is sad whenever a Catholic school has to close, the financial realities in both of these situations, in terms of economic factors and declining enrollments, were too difficult to ignore," said Ned McGrath, director of communications for the Archdiocese of Detroit. "These decisions originate with the people closest to the situation – pastors, parish councils, school administrators, committees, and those from the parish and school communities – where a conclusion is reached and, ultimately, proposed to the archbishop."

The Catholic Schools Office of the Archdiocese of Detroit will be working with the school communities affected to help find alternate sites for Catholic education for their children. Following these two closures, there will be 74 elementary schools and 23 high schools in the Archdiocese of Detroit. These schools are enrolling students now and tuition assistance is available.