St. James School, convent in Ventnor demolished to make way for homes

“It’s kind of like an end of an era,” said the Rev. Joseph Ferrara, pastor of Holy Trinity Parish, which operates St. James as well as Blessed Sacrament in Margate and the Church of the Epiphany in Longport. “It’s breaking (parishioners’) hearts to see all those buildings come down, because it took so much to put them up.”

The demolition of the former St. James School, which opened in 1931, is a result of the reduction in Catholic schools across South Jersey by the Diocese of Camden due to high costs and low enrollment. Since 2007, the Camden Diocese has closed 13 schools, according to spokesman Michael Walsh.

Walsh said that in that time, 20 schools have merged into nine and two of the merged schools were later closed. Currently, there are 28 Catholic elementary schools and nine Catholic high schools in South Jersey, he said.

St. James was one of the merged schools when it combined with Blessed Sacrament School in Margate in 2008. By 2011, the newly formed Holy Family School, which served students in kindergarten through eighth grade, had 92 students and a $172,000 deficit. To the dismay of parents and students, the parish decided to close the school, in which it invested $300,000 in renovations before the merger.

The 1.4-acre lot was approved for subdivision in October 2013.

Land-use attorney Christopher Baylinson, of Linwood, represented Holy Trinity in its application to create six residential lots on Portland Avenue. According to the state Treasury Department, the lot where the church, school and convent are located — which is tax exempt — is worth $3.7 million. The land is valued at $1.16 million.

The church will remain, but Ferrara said the newly created lots will be sold to a contractor after demolition and soil samples are complete.

“It’s a difficult situation, but it’s been empty for such a long time, we had to do something,” Ferrara said.

By the time the convent closed, there was one nun living there, he said.

Ferrara said it is a sad time for parishioners and the community.

“The same thing’s going to happen in Margate, because the school is going to come down, too,” he said. “It was a beautiful era of Catholic school education that dwindled.”

Sue McGinty, 59, of Ventnor, said three generations of her family attended St. James School. She was a 1960 graduate.

“My uncle started in the first sixth-grade class there. There are so many memories entwined in those buildings. So many families put so much of their time, talent and treasure into the school and parish,” McGinty said.

Former City Commissioner Joe Schafer, 62, attended St. James through grade school and has been a member of the parish for 57 years.

Schafer said he can still remember every teacher. He said the stained glass windows at the St. James convent were removed prior to demolition and that he would be driving them out to the Sisters of the Dominican Order in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin, to be repurposed.

“It’s sad. Unfortunately, it’s happening everywhere, but it’s real unfortunate that it had to happen here,” Schafer said of the demolition. “The nuns that taught me back then were great teachers, and basically everything I am today is attributed to the foundation they gave me.”

The state of the local economy, coupled with rising tuition costs and families leaving the area, created the “perfect storm,” he said.

“It’s tough for working parents to try and get the money together for something like that,” Schafer said.

Ferrara said the signal of a changing demographic in the shore towns is “loud and clear.”

“When we were so populated, every parish built a school and 99 percent of the time they were run by communities of sisters,” he said. “A lot of nuns left, they pulled out of schools and then they were difficult to run. It just was too costly.”

Students from the former island Catholic schools can now attend Assumption Regional Catholic School in Galloway Township or St. Joseph’s Regional School in Somers Point.

In addition to the demolition of St. James, another historic local Catholic building will be taken down this year. The former Church of the Assumption on the White Horse Pike in Galloway, which was first built in 1925, remains empty and is anticipated to be demolished, Walsh said.

The building was vacated in 2008 when a new church opened on Pitney Road by the Assumption school. Joe Picardi, administrative assistant for Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, said there are plans to sell the property, but the parish intends to keep the adjacent shrine. He said one option will be a cell tower site.

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CLowe@pressofac.com