Nazareth H.S. saved – but Mater Dei closes this year. Did you go to Catholic H.S.

My alma mater, Nazareth HS in Brooklyn, was supposed to be closing its doors in 2012, citing poor enrollment, despite having a 99% graduation rate.

That had all changed as alumni had gotten together to save the proud institution.

However Mater Dei Prep in Middletown will not be so lucky as officials announced it will be closing its doors this June.

Will the alumni come to its rescue?
One such alum is '77 grad Brian Williams of NBC News.

Such is the plight of Catholic school education today.

We read all the time about how parochial schools around the state are closing, so it should come as no surprise that Mater Dei will be closing its doors, just like my alma mater would have been had it not been for devoted grads.

When I went, it was an all boys school.

Since then, the school's gone co-ed, and boasts a nationally renowned girl's basketball team.

So one could understand how I'd look back with some sense of both sadness and, at the same time, pride.

But this brings up the larger question: If you ever go back, either to any of the places you lived, schools you've attended, clubs you've gone to...what's in place now?

My old house is about to become someone else's palatial estate.

The bakery is now a fancy dress shop.

My old high school will, someday, probably get torn down and make room for one of the junkyards that surround it.

What do you find when you go back? Assuming you go back at all! Maybe "down neck"; the 'burg, South Philly, East Flatbush...where ever?

And when you do, are you grateful you got the hell out?