November 6, 2013 – After two years of futile negotiations, the Diocese of Brooklyn was reluctantly left with no other recourse but to sue Christ the King High School for refusing to re-affirm a longstanding covenant to return the school property to the Diocese under certain limited circumstances and for conducting, without the prior consent of the Diocese, various enterprises unrelated to a Catholic high school.

It remains the Diocese’s fervent and prayerful hope that each of the Catholic high schools, including Christ the King, will continue to prosper and serve the children of Brooklyn and Queens.

Since Charter schools directly compete with Catholic elementary schools which charge tuition, the Diocese requires that any high school or parish that rents unused space to a Charter school remit 40% of the rental revenues into the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Trust, which grants scholarships to disadvantaged students attending Catholic elementary schools negatively impacted by the Charter school. None of the money held by the Trust is turned over to the Diocese.

Although the various parishes and the other Catholic High Schools in the Diocese, who have leased unused space to a Charter school, have all agreed to remit 40% of its rental income to the Trust, Christ the King again has refused.

Read the press release.