A Little Boy, a Wish, and a School Closing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Matt Archbold has an incredible story about faith and community at the National Catholic Register today called "How a Little Boy Saved a Catholic School."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/06\/a-little-boy-a-wish-and-a-school-closing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Little Boy, a Wish, and a School Closing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Matt Archbold has an incredible story about faith and community at the National Catholic Register today called "How a Little Boy Saved a Catholic School."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/06\/a-little-boy-a-wish-and-a-school-closing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christopher Closeup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-16T15:06:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tony Rossi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tony Rossi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/06\/a-little-boy-a-wish-and-a-school-closing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/06\/a-little-boy-a-wish-and-a-school-closing\/\",\"name\":\"A Little Boy, a Wish, and a School Closing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-16T15:06:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-06-16T15:06:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#\/schema\/person\/9215d33862959dfe2334a97a802ebf1d\"},\"description\":\"Matt Archbold has an incredible story about faith and community at the National Catholic Register today called \\\"How a Little Boy Saved a Catholic School.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/06\/a-little-boy-a-wish-and-a-school-closing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/06\/a-little-boy-a-wish-and-a-school-closing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/06\/a-little-boy-a-wish-and-a-school-closing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Little Boy, a Wish, and a School Closing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/\",\"name\":\"Christopher Closeup\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#\/schema\/person\/9215d33862959dfe2334a97a802ebf1d\",\"name\":\"Tony Rossi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef58b23d79989facf5779819377620d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef58b23d79989facf5779819377620d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tony Rossi\"},\"description\":\"After graduating from St. John's University in New York with degrees in Communications and English, Tony Rossi found a job at the Catholic media organization, The Christophers, that allowed him to indulge his interest in religion, media, and pop culture. 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{"id":1128,"date":"2012-06-16T10:06:30","date_gmt":"2012-06-16T15:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/?p=1128"},"modified":"2012-06-16T10:06:30","modified_gmt":"2012-06-16T15:06:30","slug":"a-little-boy-a-wish-and-a-school-closing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christophers\/2012\/06\/a-little-boy-a-wish-and-a-school-closing\/","title":{"rendered":"A Little Boy, a Wish, and a School Closing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Matt Archbold has an incredible story about faith and community at the National Catholic Register today called \u201cHow a Little Boy Saved a Catholic School<\/a>.\u201d You need to go read the whole thing, but first, here\u2019s an excerpt:<\/p>\n

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has closed down a lot of Catholic schools recently including the elementary school my five children attend. But we\u2019re far from alone.<\/em><\/p>\n

I was searching around the internet about all the different school closings when I came upon news that St. Cyril\u2019s school in Lansdowne which had been reccomended for closure by the archdiocesan Blue Ribbon commission was now remaining open as a mission school.<\/p>\n

I saw the news and couldn\u2019t help but smile.<\/p>\n

Why? Because there\u2019s a story behind the news story. And it\u2019s a great one. It happened just a few years ago. If you put this story in a movie nobody would believe it. Too corny, they\u2019d say. Waaaay too Frank Capra. This is a story about community. The kind of community that many didn\u2019t think still existed in America; the kind that still believed in wishes and miracles. But mostly this is a story about a little boy who refused to give up on a miracle. When told it was impossible he believed the way only 12 year olds can.<\/p>\n

This is a story about Tommy Geromichalos. Six years ago, Tommy was a 12 year old boy from Philadelphia with a wish. Tommy has a serious form of cystic fibrosis. So when the Make-A-Wish Foundation asked him what he wished for he gave an answer they didn\u2019t expect. His sister who also had C.F. had wished to meet Celine Dion.<\/p>\n

Tommy didn\u2019t want to meet a celebrity. He didn\u2019t want to play basketball against an NBA hero. His wish was simple: Save my School. You see, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was closing Tommy\u2019s elementary school because much of the Catholic population had moved into the suburbs and the urban neighborhood just couldn\u2019t support the school anymore.<\/p>\n

Read the whole story<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"