 Sacred Heart Wilkes-Barre Foundation, Inc.
770 Lantern Hill Road
Shavertown, Pennsylvania18708
(570) 696-3169
James Earley
Chancellor of Scranton Diocese
300 Wyoming Avenue
Scranton, Pennsylvania18501
June 26, 2008
Dear Mr. Earley
The Sacred Heart Wilkes-Barre Foundation received a letter from you dated 2/29/08 concerning the Foundation’s request dated 2/20/08 to suspend the sale of SacredHeartSchool, N. Main St, Wilkes-Barre.
In this letter you explained the sale of our parish school was a parochial issue that needed to be resolved with our pastor, Msgr. Sempa. You also stated, after our meeting with the Bishop on 2/8/08, Msgr. Sempa expressed a willingness to discuss this issue. As a follow-up on the discussion and letter, David M. Tarantini, a young man from our parish and one of the church elders, John Dinis, volunteered to ask Monsignor to stop the sale of the school until the Call to Holiness & Mission Pastoral Planning is complete.
Monsignor met both men on 5/27/08. The parishioners opened the meeting with a review of your letter. Monsignor informed the men that Bishop Martino put the school up for sale. Therefore, they were told to contact him. Subsequently a meeting was granted under the condition that David M/ Tarantini would come alone to meet with the parish Finance Committee to halt the school sale. The committee listed to suggestions of how the school could be utilized. There was no conclusion to the meeting.
Therefore, since Monsignor Sempa told us Bishop Martino has decided this course of action, we the parishioners of Sacred Heart parish are requesting the Bishop to rethink his position and allow the school to be removed from the real estate listing until the Call to Holiness and Mission Pastoral Planning is complete. We believe this is a fair and urgent request. We believe premature sale of our assets will place the parish and its church at a disadvantage to move into the future. This parish has been faithful to its role in catholic education and has maintained an elementary school and various other programs in that building for 99 years. More importantly, this parish has been an active, vibrant Catholic community for 112 years. Few parishes can claim this role. Please seriously consider our request to halt the sale of the school until the Call to Holiness and Mission Pastoral Planning is complete.
Sincerely,
Noreen Foti
President of Sacred Heart Wilkes-Barre Foundation
CC: Most Rev. Joseph F. Martino
Auxiliary Bishop John M. Dougherty
Msgr. John Sempa, Pastor
David M. Tarantini
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