Before you read about St. George Parish in Port Richmond-how about a history lesson about St. George and the dragon?

The story of Saint George and the Dragon took place in a place called Silene. The town had a massive pond, where a plague-bearing dragon dwelled that envenomed all the countryside. To appease the dragon, the people of Silene used to feed it two sheep every day, and when the sheep failed, they fed it their children, chosen by lottery. (Please note that cheesesteaks, hoagies and soft pretzels were not yet invented).

It happened that the lot fell on the king’s daughter. The king, distraught with grief, told the people they could have all his gold and silver and half of his kingdom if his daughter were spared; the people refused. The daughter was sent out to the lake, decked out as a bride, to be fed to the dragon.

Saint George by chance rode past the lake. The princess, trembling, sought to send him away, but George vowed to remain. The dragon reared out of the lake while they were conversing. Saint George fortified himself with the Sign of the Cross charged it on horseback with his lance and gave it a grievous wound. Then he called to the princess to throw him her girdle, and he put it around the dragon’s neck. When she did so, the dragon followed the girl like a meek beast on a leash.

She and Saint George led the dragon back to the city of Silene, where it terrified the people at its approach. But Saint George called out to them, saying that if they consented to become Christians and be baptized, he would slay the dragon before them. The king and the people of Silene converted to Christianity, George slew the dragon, and the body was carted out of the city on four ox-carts. “Fifteen thousand men baptized, without women and children.” On the site where the dragon died, the king built a church to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint George, and from its altar a spring arose whose waters cured all disease.

On the day the Archdiocese and Blue Ribbon Commission announced its recommended school closings, St. George School at 2700 E. Venango Street in Port Richmond was one of them. By 7 p.m. on Friday evening, an impromptu meeting was called and it was standing room only in the church hall as parents, alumni and parishioners spilled out to the pavements like they do on (Bingo Sundays, Spring Festival shows and the annual Christmas bazaars) to hear the news and of course, being dragon slayers, the plan of attack.

St. George School Principal and alumnus (Class of 1988) Danny Markowski stood before the group and said he was stunned at the phone call from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia ordering him to a meeting along with pastor, Monsignor Joseph Anderlonis to be told in person their school was on “the list”.

“I don’t want to stand here and tell you things that I don’t know, we are as stunned as you are, I’m astonished, they didn’t even come in and look at our books, our finances, tour our school,” said Markowski. He asked parents for more time because he and Anderlonis were to attend another administration meeting on Tuesday, January 10th and he then organized another St. George School meeting for last night, when he would have more information and answers. “Only time will tell the challenges ahead, and we pray for the fortitude and grace to handle it with dignity. The focus of our faculty at this time is to continue to educate our students successfully as we’ve always done…”business as usual!”

Markowski keeps thinking, “Don’t fix what isn’t broken”. Although one of the smaller schools in the Archdiocese, Markowski’s enrollment numbers have stayed healthy. His faculty is made up of many St. George School alumnae and some of his student body is third, fourth or fifth generations of their family attending that school. “We have students whose great-grandparents went to school at St. George.”

St. George parent and alumnus (class of 1990) Donna Pazdunkiewicz-Conway sprung into action and took to the worldwide web and started a Save St. George School petition drive on change.org asking for supporters to sign her pledge. As of press time, she was at almost 500 signatures. The pledge is as follows:

We, the parents, students, and alumni of St. George Catholic Elementary school, located in Port Richmond do not agree with the Blue Ribbon Commission recommendation to “partner” with a regional school. Our beloved school and parish has been serving the families of our community for over 110 years. We are a strong pillar of faith, education, and faith formation in Port Richmond. St. George School is not operating in a deficit and has a good enrollment, close if not at capacity. We utilize our space well. Many of the teachers and staff employed have taught there 15+ years, are alumni and parishioners of our church. Besides the dedicated staff, the academic programs are excellent. St. George is Middle States Accredited. The school has a state of the art computer lab and program (laptops, desktops, smartboards) that every child accesses. To enhance the curriculum and educate mind, body, and spirit, the school offers physical education, music, art, library, and tutoring in higher math and language arts to better prepare our graduates for the rigorous academics of high school. Our students graduate with a bright future. We are receiving a high quality Catholic education at St. George School. We have no desire to change that!

“I’m a proud alumni and parent of St. George School. I am a lifelong parishioner of St. George Church. I created the online petition because I believe with my entire being that St. George should remain open as its own entity and not merge with any other regional school,” Conway said. “The Blue Ribbon Commission erroneously states that we have a deficit and lack of programs. It is my belief that we are included in this recommendation solely to bolster Our Lady of Port Richmond’s enrollment. I will not stand for the demise of a totally viable school to enhance another. The children at St. George deserve the quality Catholic education they are receiving there.”

Conway went on to say that she and her husband had a choice and made the sacrifice to send both their children to SGS. “We do not want that choice made for us by people not vested in our future! St. George may be small, but we are mighty!”

Other parents also took to the internet to vent and post their statements and feelings. Michael Lorino sent a letter to the Archdiocese and shared some of his prose:

“Saint George is a self sufficient school. We are listening to lies about deficits and low enrollment. This so called commission hasn’t even bothered to take a look at our school.  There is no viable reason for this decision,” said Michael Lorino, a parent of two children at the school and a very vocal critic of the Blue Ribbon Commission. “My children will not be a part of this. They will not go to the recommended location. If need be they will attend our local public school or I will find another Christian based school that is not part of the Archdiocese. These people call themselves Christians- look into the eyes of my 7 and 10 year olds and tell them how Christian like we are being treated”!

Even 8th grade student Aliyah Washington spoke her mind about the closing of her school. “Saint George is a great school. I have been there since pre-k. Now I am so angry because Saint George is my life, everyone there is my family,” she said. “How can you do this to us? What did we do to you? All we do is love our school. Is that so wrong?”

This past Sunday at 11 a.m. Mass at St. George, Monsignor Anderlonis made a passionate plea and debate for his school to his flock, vowing to fight but also eager and anxious of what the January 10th meeting had in store via more information, grounds for what, if any appeals process to follow.

Monsignor Anderlonis has been at St. George since 1982 and with his over three decades as head of the parish has deep roots in not only the Port Richmond community but because of the closeness and tight-knit families in his church, is considered not only a friend, but family member to his parishioners. When St. George Parish celebrated their 100th Jubilee Anniversary in 2001, Anderlonis himself dressed up like patron St. George for the Port Richmond Memorial Day Parade and chased the St. George dragon mascot thru the streets of the parade route.

After Sunday’s Mass, parishioners, numbered in the hundreds gathered in the school parking lot and rallied for their school to stay open with homemade signs, chanting and yells of protest.

Many parents, like Marie Wikiera Cahill, are waiting for an explanation for closing St. George. “Please explain to me the decision to uproot our children from the wonderful school they attend with amazing teachers that invest so much time, effort and love with our children,” she asked.  “We will take our children out of the Archdiocese all together and will send them to public school. If you don’t care enough about my children to keep them in a school they love, why should we continue to pay the Archdiocese?”

At the end of the meeting on Friday night, before the St. George hall emptied out onto the 2700 block of Venango Street, St. George parent and alumnus Dave Szcepanski reminded everyone of the obvious. “Hey, remember-St. George slayed the dragon, it wasn’t the other way around.”

In the story of “St. George and the Dragon,” St. George sought to save the king’s daughter from death by the dragon and so in slaying the dragon, he was able to remove the threat that the dragon imposed on the community.  In our community, the parents and parishioners of St. George are going to put out a mighty effort to convince the Archdiocese that their school can remain open and remain accessible, affordable and financially sustainable and in the end, they are hopeful that they will save their community from yet another school closure.