Philadelphia Archdiocese may close Don Guanella Village in Delaware County

Don Guanella Village, a longtime residence in Marple Township for developmentally disabled men, may close in 2015, and its clients may be moved to new community-based housing, an official with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said.

The proposed changes were prompted by the concerns of state and archdiocesan program staff going back over a year that the facility was not in line with "best practices" of caring for the intellectually disabled in a less-institutional setting, according to James Amato, deputy secretary for the archdiocesan office of Catholic Social Services.

Currently, 128 men ranging in age from their 20s to their 70s live on the 200-acre campus, which includes the Cardinal Krol Center and smaller buildings.

The archdiocese has submitted a proposal to the state for about $4 million to build four group homes that would each house eight men, Amato said, possibly by next year. If the request is granted in the new state budget, the archdiocese will seek funding for four more homes that could open in 2015. He said his staff had been meeting with clients' families and exploring other archdiocesan-supported, community-based living arrangements for the 64 men who would be left on the campus.

In 2011, when the plan was first proposed, the men housed at the Cardinal Krol Center were living four to a room. There were conflicts, and, as the men aged, some became frail and needed another level of care, Amato said.

If the archdiocese gets to go ahead with its plan, it might seek to sell the Marple property, which has housed the developmentally disabled - first boys; it added adult facilities later - since the 1960s, Amato said.

Finances are a significant factor. Youths were moved from the Marple campus to another archdiocesan facility last year, and the archdiocese rented space there to house a day school for special-education students. As of this school year, those students are being taught in their own school districts, which has meant the loss of $500,000 in annual revenue for the archdiocese. The property would not be financially sustainable if it were left with just 64 clients, Amato said.

Archdiocesan officials are consulting with churches to see which have available land. Where the proposed homes would be built also depends on getting necessary municipal approvals, Amato said.

The Servants of Charity, an order of clergy, opened the Don Guanella School in 1960. It opened the Krol Center in 1976. Amato said one resident had been living at the property since 1962.