Father John to leave St. John and St. Mary’s

August 15, 2008
by Ann Marie Fallon

September will bring much change for Father John Vigilante—and for the 410 girls of the Academy of Mount St. Ursula in the Bronx.  After 13 years at St. John and St. Mary, Father John, as he is affectionately known to his parishioners, was named president of the Academy, the oldest Catholic girls’ high school in New York State, founded by the Ursuline Sisters in 1855.

This will be a kind of home coming for Vigilante, who taught religion at the Mount from 1986 to 1994. His experience as an educator includes having run many adult programs on the Scripture and contemporary moral issues, as well as having served as an adjunct professor at Fordham, Iona and the College of Mount St. Vincent. He will keep the job he has held since 1995 as vice judicial vicar of the Metropolitan Tribunal treating applications for marriage annulments in the tri-county area of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam.

Boosting enrollment and funding

Vigilante describes his new post at St. Ursula’s as “the biggest challenge that I have come across in my 36 years as a priest.”  His primary responsibility as president will be to raise funds for the school and, along with St. Ursula’s new principal, Dr. Joe Fusco, increase enrollment for the academic year of 2009-2010.  “Right now we have 410 students. To close the budget gap of $300,000 each year, first, we intend to increase enrollment to about 450 students. Both Dr. Fusco and I are in agreement that this is doable.  Then we need to raise money.”  While tuition is $6,000, the per-pupil cost of education at the Academy is between $10,000 and $11,000.

So in addition to boosting enrollment, Vigilante will run a $1 million “Fund for the Future” campaign to raise money for operations as well as financial assistance and scholarships for students.  “The alumnae here have been very generous over the years,” said Vigilante with great optimism, “outpacing the contributions given by alumnae of other Catholic all-girls’ schools of its size across the United States. This year nearly 1,700 alumae gave over half a million dollars to their alma mater – a phenomenal rate of participation.”

“We also have some very distinguished alumnae,” continued Vigilante, “including Dr. Regina Peruggi, former president of Marymount Manhattan and now president of Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, who has agreed, at my invitation, to become a member of the Board of Trustees. The women I have met over the past month, all former graduates, all give the same narrative: the transition to college was easy because of the rigorous academic foundation provided by Mount St. Ursula. Today the demographics have changed— 90% of our students are Latino and black—but the academic standards have not. I hope, as president, to ensure that the school will continue to provide the young women of the Bronx, Manhattan, and lower Westchester a solid academic foundation, as it has for 153 years.”

A move to Ossining

Although Vigilante’s appointment does not require him to live on the Mount’s campus, he will leave St. John and St. Mary parish in September and take up residence in Ossining at St. Augustine’s parish. Members of the congregation who gathered for an informal birthday celebration for Vigilante last Monday at Le Jardin du Roi (see the photo gallery for photos) were saddened by the news of his departure.  Françoise Bartlett called him “a wonderful priest, who will be deeply missed by the parish.”  Rosemary Eshghi, who looks forward each spring to his Lenten lectures, also expressed her disappointment.  Edward Coleman who with his wife, Angela, have been parishioners for 25 years said that he would “miss Father Vigilante’s personal and candid homilies.  He is a straight-talking, approachable priest.  In his sermons he will often share a personal story and interweave it with a Gospel story, making it easier to apply to our own lives.  His absence in the parish community will be deeply felt by many.”

Click here for a printable view of this article.

Click here to read more Faith & Religion articles.
Click here to read more Gallery articles.

Click here to send a copy of this article via email.

Back to the main page

We're interested in your opinion. Click here to submit a comment on this article, or any other.