1972.11.12 "Help! Somebody help!" by Eddie Germano

1972.11.12 “Help! Somebody help!”
by Eddie Germano (1924-2026)
11 x 15, ink and wash on board
Coppola Collection

A native Bostonian, Germano became a full-time cartoonist in 1948, at age 24, after serving in WWII. Among other positions, he worked as the editorial and sports cartoonist for the Brockton Enterprise from 1963-1990. 

In November 1972, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston was experiencing a severe financial and demographic crisis. Catholic schools in the United States were closing at a rate of more than one per day as enrollments dropped 18 percent over the previous three years, a trend where it was over 40% between 1964 and 1972. Declining numbers of religious sisters and mounting debt forced widespread restructuring, and several religious orders pulled out of local schools.

As Boston underwent intense public school desegregation battles, parochial schools were simultaneously grappling with their own survival, operating on shoe-string budgets and facing potential closures across the city, simultaneously putting pressure on the public schools to relieve the pressure.