BROOKLYN DIOCESE TO SHUT 26 SCHOOLS February 10, 2005 -- Twenty-six Catholic elementary schools in Brooklyn and Queens will close after the school year — forcing more than 4,100 youngsters to find new schools before September, the Diocese of Brooklyn said yesterday. The largest blood-letting in diocese history — announced on Ash Wednesday — comes less than four months after The Post first reported that as many as 25 parish schools were facing the closing bell because of dwindling enrollment. The affected schools, 17 in Brooklyn and nine in Queens, represent more than one in six schools in the diocese.