Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, announced today that the Archdiocese has approved leases for five former Catholic school buildings for use as educational facilities in the Baltimore area.
Earlier this year, the Archdiocese announced a new policy for processing requests to sell or lease former Catholic school buildings. The process was created at the recommendation of the Archdiocesan Catholic School Board, following up on a recommendation by the Blue Ribbon Committee on Catholic Schools which issued in June 2010 a series of more than 50 recommendations to strengthen Catholic schools in the Archdiocese. The lease requests were approved because they were deemed not to be a threat to existing Catholic schools.
The five approved leases are:
| NAME | TYPE | LOCATION |
| Midtown Academy | Charter school | Corpus Christi, Bolton Hill |
| St. Vincent de Paul | Head Start-early childhood | St. Francis Xavier, E. Baltimore |
| Project LIFT | Adult literacy | St. Brigid, Canton |
| The Baltimore Montessori | Montessori school (18 mos.-6) | Our Lady of Good Counsel, Locust Point |
| Little Flowers Early Development | Daycare (18 mos.-4); Afterschool care | St. Peter Claver, Baltimore |
More than 20 former Catholic school buildings in the Archdiocese of Baltimore have been sold or leased for use as educational institutions.
“The Archdiocese has a long history of making its facilities available so they can continue to be used for the benefit of their surrounding communities,” Archbishop O’Brien said. “We are especially pleased when we can find partners in the community who share our interest in serving the educational needs of children and who respect our need to ensure the stability of our Catholic schools.”
For the current school year, 22 percent of students enrolled in Archdiocesan schools are not Roman Catholic. The Archdiocese and its schools and parishes provide financial support to students and offer subsidized bus transportation to seven Catholic schools in Baltimore City.