The battle at St. Saviour continues — this time with parents protesting during mass.
A group of frustrated parents picketed outside the church on July 19 to send a message to St. Saviour’s pastor, Rev. Daniel Murphy, and the Diocese of Brooklyn.
“We want to make the diocese aware that we do not approve of the church’s direction of letting the pastor run the school the way he sees fit without any transparency. It seems like he’s just a one-man show and, to me, it’s not the way a school should run,” said Dennis Palmetto, whose daughter attends St. Saviour Elementary School on Eighth Avenue in Park Slope.
The school has been in turmoil since parents learned of Murphy’s decision to dismiss Principal James Flanagan, who ledSt. Saviour for more than two decades.
Murphy has since appointed a new principal — Maura Lorenzen, the co-director of the Congregation Beth Elohim Early Childhood Center. Parents allege that the move reeks of cronyism, as Lorenzen is a member of the Parish Council, which is part of the decision-making process, according to an organizer of the protests.
“I just find it extremely disappointing that this was done in the poorest way possible for everyone involved,” said Cathy Lau Hunt, who has two daughters at St. Saviour. “There was a right way to do this, there was a successful way to do this and it just wasn’t done.”
“In the beginning, our hope was to reinstate Principal Flanagan for at least another year,” Palmetto said. Now, “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Instead, some parents are asking the Diocese of Brooklyn to remove Murphy.
“I feel that this is the right time to make a change,” Palmetto said.
Murphy did not return a call for comment by press time. He has previously told this paper, “We don’t publicly discuss our employees’ employment situation.”
Rev. Kieran Harrington, spokesperson for the diocese, said Murphy is currently in the fifth year of a six-year term at St. Saviour. At the end of that period, Murphy and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio will have a “frank discussion” and decide whether Murphy should continue at St. Saviour or move to another parish.
In the meantime, Hunt offered a suggestion for how to ease tensions at St. Saviour and appease parents.
“What the people are hoping for is to at least bring Jim Flanagan back for six months so he can help Ms. Lorenzen transition,” Hunt said. “There should have been a successful [transition] plan in place. I understand that you want to implement change, but you have to implement change in a way that’s going to be successful.”
Harrington says Murphy makes all staffing decisions at St. Saviour.
