ONE FINAL ALMA MATER

The school's last belongings have been auctioned off...
The piano gone too.
Before it did, the Alma Mater's sound reverberated through hallways for one last time.. vacant, sad, lonely hallways..




We sing our praise to alma mater the school we all love.
We raise heart and voice in joyous acclaim.
We cherish you and all you teach us.
Blue and gold your colors our fame.
We will be true to the ideals that are strong heritage.
From on high you reign our true beacon light;
Now let’s sing out in happy chorus.
Praise to our dear school,
Cardinal Brennan High!

The Bell Tower's final ring: Cardinal Brennan was no more. But now even in name, it's gone. The fat ghost nun on the third floor has sung..

The Pagan conquest
NORTH SCHUYLKILL HAS PURCHASED CARDINAL BRENNAN FOR UNDER $1 MILLION DOLLARS.
THERE IS NO FURTHER NEED FOR THE BELL TOWER BLOG TO BE UPDATED AND ALIVE.
BUT IT WILL REMAIN AS A REMINDER OF WHAT WAS, AND HOW IT HAPPENED..


Years in the making.. the death of a school led to the death of Catholic education in the Coal Region of PA, once famed and fortuned and now filled with grief and despair..

More information about something locally making big news.. The former Cardinal Brennan high school is going to be NORTH SCHUYLKILL MIDDLE SCHOOL very soon..

The former Catholic home to education was closed in 2007.. shuddered and tucked away in the annals of memory in the coal region..

Since the announcement was made that NS was going to take over CB, mixed emotions have developed..

• There is one common thread, though. Most people seem to be quite fine that it will be used as a home to edumucation.. but there’s some other things which are getting some heated reactions among CB alumni, including the following:
• All religious relics will be subtracted from the property.. obviously crosses and Jesus can’t exist on a publicly funded taxpayer location. Including the giant cross on the mess of the new field house that was built in the late 1990s..
• All memories of CB will be eliminated..
• The çharger horse that exists throughout various places on the campus will be painted over with NS emblems..
• The blue and gold, once the color of CB pride, will be replaced with red and blue where ever it existed..
• The places of memories and reflections of past students and classes will be trampled on by people who have no clue what happened in certain rooms or buildings. That one is upsetting to me..
• There is a good chance the bell tower, once known for the signatures of past people, may be painted over. As though none of the sneak-signings ever even happened..
• Nate, the janitor, will not be there. And for that, it’s a great misfortune on future students..

I am not in the camp blaming NS for anything.
But instead I blame the Catholic Church. I blame them for having priests who molested children for 50 years, leading to a collapse in faith and lack of church attendance ,and lack of money, and death of Catholic education. If anyone is looking for a villain, they are your best option.

Meanwhile.. This is how CB once looked way in the past, and more recently in the past..







It’s over folks
The blue and gold blood has long dried up..

Good day.

Goodbye IHES

After 100+ years, IHES to vanish

Immaculate Heart Elementary School closed its doors for good in 2006. And now years later, as the building sits dilapidated and decaying, it will soon vanish from the heart of Girardville, PA.. And gone with it the memories of countless children who called it their home for the most formative years of their lives...
Sr Monica where are you now!?
Thais! Save us!
Mrs. O'Connor.... please no!

John Usalis from the POTTSVILLE REPUBLICAN wrote in a page 1 lead today that the building will be razed 'quickly' by Northeast Industrial Corp from Shamokin, PA.. It is going to cost $53,500 to do it..

According to Matt Kerr, our friendly voice from the Allentown Diocese (Cardinal Brennan Chargers should know his name well), the building is in disrepair.. a roof is leaking.. the sidewalk is crumbling.. and if you look close as you zoom by the building, the area where the wall seems to be caving is was Mr. Schappel's former 7th grade classroom.. may God rest his soul.

And may God rest the soul of the former IHES...

It was perhaps the happiest school I ever attended. I switched from Holy Spirit in Mt Carmel during the 6th grade, and arrived in Girardville to meet friends who lasted so far for a lifetime.. (Funny enough, Holy Spirit, IHES, and CB are all closed.. am I the curse??) 

And what does the friendly Father Connelly want to do? He wants a parish hall. But he is realistic, I suppose, telling Usalis that 'more realistically, it will be a parking lot' ...

Great. Another parking lot.. another area of nothing. Another school gone, and the death of Catholic education in the coal region only amplifies by the crumbling infrastructure of a once beautiful school...

Let us never forget what happened in 2007

Memories fade .. events become fuzzy. Cardinal Brennan's past is now long gone. From nuns who'd walk the dark halls at night long ago to the students who'd fight to stay away until Friday, it's all history now.

No matter how much time rolls on, we need to keep a memory alive. A spirit of Cardinal Brennan was always palpable. To a degree it still is.

And six years ago, someone tried to blow that flame out. Did it work? Only you know that.

Here's what many of us were talking and thinking about in April, 2007: Families scrambling to find new schools.

Most of those folks who had to start in new places are graduated and gone from the schools they picked. They're becoming doctors and nurses, truck drivers and bartenders, and Marines and Navy Seals.

Did you keep the memory alive?

A flashback: Cardinal Brennan closes

It was March of 2007 when this site first  broke news that Cardinal Brennan had closed it's doors. Here is how we reported it then..

> Cardinal Brennan shutting down..> A very reliable source informs the Bell Tower Blog that after all the debate, Cardinal Brennan will be no more. Teachers are reportedly crying in hallways.. children shocked at the news that everyone knew was coming. It was just a matter of time from the beginning... > > More as it develops. But now, March 23, 2007: The beginning of the end of Cardinal Brennan.> > > More coming as I learn information..

Sometimes the emotions show themselves ... as strong as they were in 2007.

(SOURCE)