A version of this story was originally published in October 2024.
It is a saga that has played out repeatedly in New Jersey: Parents, students and alumni mourning the loss of a beloved Catholic school.
The latest example is in Essex County, where the Archdiocese of Newark announced Wednesday that Immaculate Conception High School in Montclair will permanently close in June.
It joins a growing list of Catholic schools across the country closing their doors as enrollment declines and financial pressures mount. (See the list of New Jersey’s recently-closed Catholic schools below.)
“We deeply regret the necessity of this decision and understand the profound impact it will have on our students, families, faculty and staff,” said Barbara Dolan, the archdiocese’s superintendent of Catholic schools.
Declining enrollment and financial problems contributed to the decision to close the school, Dolan said.
Those are some of the same reasons given for the closures and mergers of more than two dozen other Catholic schools in New Jersey this decade in a broader national trend that has vexed church officials and educators for years.
The all-girls Immaculate Conception High School in Lodi closed after 108 years in June 2023, three years after its most celebrated alum, “West Side Story” actress Rachel Zegler, received her diploma.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 was especially challenging. At least 20 New Jersey Catholic schools did not reopen the first September after the start of the pandemic and three others were merged.
However, some schools that closed have found ways to continue under different setups.
In 2020, after the Diocese of Camden said it would close Wildwood Catholic High School and Cape Trinity Catholic Elementary School, supporters raised more than $1 million and both schools were merged into a single, K-12 school, Wildwood Catholic Academy.
Saint Joseph High School in Hammonton also closed in June 2020. However, it was revived starting in September as St. Joseph Academy, and is operated as an independent school for grades 9-12.
In 2021, the Diocese of Trenton said it would close the Trenton Catholic Academy, but then agreed to lease its 64-acre campus in Hamilton to an independent group that rebranded the 59-year-old school as the K-12 Trenton Catholic Preparatory Academy. It became the Thrive Charter School in 2024.
There were 5,905 U.S. Catholic schools in operation during the 2023-24 school year, down from approximately 11,000 in 1970, according to the National Catholic Education Association.
Nationwide, enrollment increased in 2022 for the first time in two decades, but has since leveled off. There were 1.69 million students in Catholic schools as of 2023, down 14% from a decade ago, the group said. Enrollment at Catholic schools is usually open to students of all religions, with 21% of students not identifying as Catholic.
Officials have typically sought to sell or lease school buildings that have been closed.
Immaculate Conception High School in Montclair opened in 1925. It is inviting representatives from other Catholic schools to a Feb. 26 meeting with students and parents about enrollment possibilities for the next school year.
Here is a list of Catholic schools in New Jersey that have closed since 2020, based on news reports and announcements by the schools.
Did we miss any? Please let us know.
2025
- Immaculate Conception High School in Montclair (closing in June)
2024
- St. Nicholas Catholic School in Jersey City
- Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Wayne
- Trenton Catholic Preparatory Academy (now the Thrive Charter School)
2023
- Immaculate Conception High School in Lodi
2022
- Mater Dei Prep High School in Middletown
- Our Lady of Victories School in Sayreville
2021
- Trenton Catholic Academy in Hamilton (reopened the same year and renamed Trenton Catholic Preparatory Academy)
2020
- Good Shepherd Regional Elementary School in Collingswood
- Saint Joseph Regional Elementary School in Hammonton
- Saint Joseph High School in Hammonton (reopened the same year and renamed St. Joseph Academy)
- Academy of St. Therese of Lisieux in Cresskill
- St. Anne School in Fair Lawn
- Trinity Academy in Caldwell
- Good Shepherd Academy in Irvington
- Our Lady Help of Christians School in East Orange
- St. James the Apostle School in Springfield
- Holy Spirit School in Union
- St. Genevieve School in Elizabeth
- Cristo Rey Newark High School in Newark
- Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Maple Shade
- Pope John Paul II Regional in Willingboro
- Wildwood Catholic High School in Wildwood (merged into the Wildwood Catholic Academy)
- Cape Trinity Catholic Elementary School in Wildwood (merged into the Wildwood Catholic Academy)
- Transfiguration Academy in Bergenfield
- St. Joseph Academy in Bogota
- The Academy of St. Mary in Rutherford
- St. Francis Xavier in Newark
- Ironbound Catholic Academy in Newark
- St. Augustine School in Union City (merged with another school in West New York)
- Mother Seton in Union City (merged with another school in West New York)
- Our Lady of Guadalupe in Elizabeth (merged with another school in Roselle)
Stories by Rob Jennings
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Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com.