Parents claim nuns are cashing in by closing Montessori preschool

New York Times ^ | 03/27/2015 | By Julia Marsh

[BJ1]

And if all this is true, why can’t nuns close a school if they want to?

[Cowboy Bob]

“Well I’ll be damned if you do what you want with you own property. You work for me and do as I tell you!” -New York City Liberal

[Da Coyote]

And whose school is it?

Thought so.

[SeekAndFind]

I think the parents are going to lose this lawsuit.

It’s just bad PR for the Catholic order, that’s all.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I don't get it. Is there something missing in this article? Aren't property-owners allowed to sell their property?

What kind of law says they can't sell it?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

“It's clear that the defendants plan to close the school, stop providing education to the children of working mothers, sell the school’s property and transfer the money to the Sisters of St. Francis to use for other purposes, none of which is to educate children,” the Manhattan civil suit says.

So?

[Salvation]

Perhaps their order is growing and they need more housing for novices and postulants.

[BJ1]

The more I think about this more annoying this story is. We have way too many people thinking they have the authority to tell other people what to do. This all stems from a large government that does just that to placate different voting blocs. It’s annoying to no end.

[SeekAndFind]

Nothing wrong legally with what the Sisters of St. Francis are doing.

But would St. Francis approve?

[trisham]

I wonder how old these nuns are? Are they past retirement age? If so, I can understand why the church would sell the property.

[lewislynn]

the Sisters of St. Francis — who bought the West 15th Street facility for $5,000 in 1901 — want to sell the school’s two brick brownstones and hoard the money.

It's theirs, they should be able to do what they want with it.

But sadly the nuns will lose and they are about to reap what they sow.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: But sadly the nuns will lose and they are about to reap what they sow

One compromise is to delay the closing of the school until all of the kids have finished the school year.

[Cicero]

I know nothing first hand about this. But I would guess that this is one more group of nuns who turned liberal post Vatican II. What was once a Catholic School is now a Montessori school, would seem to be an indicator.

I would also guess that if they are a liberal order, they are probably getting no new recruits into their order, and are all growing older. They need the money to provide for nursing homes and healthcare, the kind of job that younger nuns in the order would once have done.

It’s their school. They have a right to sell it. I suspect that the whole business is a sad one.

[maine-iac7]

um - I would think that. with @0 million, they cold take a small portion and set up the school in another location????

[latina4dubya]

oh brother! the nuns should double the tuition... see how many want parents want to continue...

people are so self-centered...

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Yes.

[maine-iac7]

TWENTY Million

[muir_redwoods]

“The deal you once found acceptable but now, no longer do; I’ve decided unilaterally that it’s perpetual and cannot be cancelled”

[Tax-chick]

The $10,000-a-year tuition at the school — which was accredited as a Montessori school in the 1980s — makes it by far the cheapest Montessori school in the borough.

It's a preschool for the children of struggling single mothers, you see.