By Bill Forry

Monsignor Ryan Memorial High School is no more. It closed for good last week after 85 years- and all that's left at the old Mayhew Street building are a few dozen boxes of left-over textbooks and a part-time secretary to answer the phones and fax out transcripts.

That, and a 22-member volunteer committee that is hell-bent on resurrecting the school by September. The group, largely made up of devoted MRM alums, has already raised $100,000 dollars, recruited a staff of seven teachers and signed up 67 girls for the re-incarnated MRM. They even have a brand new web site that carries the name of the freshly-minted school: Elizabeth Seton Academy.

The only thing missing- as of this week- is a place to convene their worthy experiment here in our neighborhood.

The answer to their prayers, thankfully, is right here in Dorchester and conveniently, it's available. A floor of classrooms in the old St. Gregory's High School in Lower Mills, largely shuttered since the Archdiocese closed the doors a decade ago, is ready and waiting. The Seton Academy committee wants it. St. Greg's pastor, Monsignor Paul Ryan, thinks it's a great idea, too. All that's left is for the Archdiocese- itself in a state of flux at the moment- to sign off.

Karen Donnellan, a MRM grad who serves on the Seton Academy executive board, says that a decision could come any day now. But, if the Academy doesn't find a home within the next month or so, the whole thing is likely to collapse.

"If we don't get the school up and running for September, we won't have the gusto to do this," Donnellan says.

St. Greg's is a short-term solution, Donnellan acknowledges. The board fully expects to outgrow what's left of the old St. Greg's campus (a pair of human service agencies have taken root in much of it already) within the next three to five years. By then, Donnellan expects that the school will find a much bigger space elsewhere in Dorchester.

If the church balks and Seton Academy fails, it will be a real shame. After all the tragedies and disappointments of the last two years- topped off locally by the demise of MRM and St. Ambrose- this is a chance for the Boston Church to really boost morale after what is, without doubt, its darkest period.

State Rep. Marty Walsh, who along with his colleague Jack Hart, is championing the move, agrees.

"This is a golden opportunity for the Archdiocese to hit a home run by supporting this program," says Walsh. "We as an advisory board are not looking for money. We just need the Archdiocese to step up to the plate and give us their blessing."

Here's hoping that Bishop Lennon and his advisors make the right call. Seton Academy's emergence could prove to be a pivotal moment for the church, at least in the city, and set a positive tone for the rebuilding that simply has to come next.

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Folks in Cedar Grove are praying hard this week for one of their most devoted citizens who has fallen terribly ill. Barbara Bailey, a stalwart of the Cedar Grove Civic Association, suffered an aneurysm on Dorchester Day while enjoying her son Tom's wedding reception. She's been in a coma ever since, a respirator keeping her alive at Boston Medical Center's intensive care unit.

For years now, Bailey has been one of the key behind-the-scenes people in the Cedar Grove Civic Association. She's the first lady you see at the front table at each meeting, selling raffles and keeping track of membership. But for Cedar Grove president John O'Toole, she's much more than a greeter.

"She's a sweetheart and, personally for me, she's one of the go-to people in Cedar Grove. If you ask her to do something, it's done."

Right now, much of the neighborhood is looking for one last task from their friend Barbara: Get well, soon.

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An effort to convince UMass Boston administrators to name their soon-to-be-completed student center after a late Dorchester politician is gaining momentum this week. George Kenneally, the former State Senator, was one of two legislators who wrote the legislation that authorized UMass to move to Columbia Point back in the early '70s. Kenneally's grandson, Pope's Hill activist Phil Carver, has been pushing the idea since news filtered out about the project three years ago. Paul White, a Kenneally successor in the Senate, endorsed the idea in a Reporter commentary back in 2001 and former Senate president Tom Birmingham also endorsed the idea before leaving office.

In the past month, both Maureen Feeney and Marty Walsh have taken action to lobby UMass Chancellor Gora on the proposal. Feeney pushed through a city council resolution and Walsh has filed a bill in the House of Representatives.

"I think it's important, especially for the students of UMass, to know who George Kenneally was and what he meant to Dorchester. I don't think he ever got the recognition he deserved," Walsh told the Reporter this week.

Existing UMass rules may limit Gora's decision, however, according to UMass vice chancellor Annmarie Lewis Kerwin, who says only major funders to UMass are considered for such an honor. She added, "We definitely are interested in finding a way to honor Senator Kenneally."

If "Gigi" Kenneally's name was to grace the student center, he would join fellow UMass architect Bob Quinn and the late Savin Hill activist Kit Clark in lending his name to a campus edifice. Kenneally would get the best of that deal, as the new student center is a nice departure from the medieval fortress look of past UMass build-outs. Now, if we can just get the powers-that-be on Morrissey to add Dorchester to their address.

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If Eugene Rivers's lukewarm apology on Monday is any indication, the celebrity minister hasn't learned much over the last couple of weeks. Rivers has taken plenty of flak- and rightfully so- for his outrageous comments on Greater Boston last month, in which he trashed and mocked Cape Verdeans, Haitians and Jamaicans. It was typical Rivers-speak, cleaned up a bit for TV, but it still made Bob Ryan's infamous Sports Final remark look like a fender bender.

Rivers's street verbiage may buy him some points with weak-kneed suburban funders and a few right-wing yahoos, but the Rev should have known that pulling a stunt like that on his Dorchester neighbors would blow up in his face.

To his credit, Rivers has done some good through his ministry: I personally know of one young woman whom he single-handedly saved from a jail sentence, steering her into the innovative Drug Court at Dorchester District Court- and getting her on the straight and narrow. But Rivers didn't invent helping kids get out of a jam. There's hundreds of people doing the work he does day-to-day in this town and not one of them will ever see the cover of Newsweek, let alone the Reporter. He should stick to what he does best- working the corners- and keep his bigoted, ignorant rants to himself. Hopefully, Boston's hapless media corps will learn their lesson, too, and bury Rivers's business card where it belongs: deep in the old Rolodex.