There’s little doubt that hundreds, if not thousands, of alumni, parents, current and future students of St. Bernard School breathed a collective sigh of relief after hearing the results of the June 2 auction sale of the school property by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich.

The Mohegan Tribe’s winning bid of $6.5 million - plus a bonus amount of $50,000 made to seal the deal - means the school will continue to operate at the Uncasville campus where it began as an all-boys school in 1967. The tribe will lease the property to the parochial school’s corporate owner for up to 20 years, meaning educational operations can continue there as usual.

In addition to the good news for the St. Bernard community, the sale also held deep significance for the tribe, which recovered a chunk of its ancestral land close to the Thames River in making the purchase.

“The plan we have put forward will safeguard both the future of the school and our ancestral homelands, and we are hopeful and optimistic about moving forward toward those goals,” James Gessner Jr., the Mohegan chairman, said in a statement issued shortly after the auction results were announced.

The auction ended some tense months for school supporters. When diocesan officials in the winter made it known the St. Bernard School property would be sold as part of an effort to raise money to fund settlements to more than 140 victims of sexual abuse by priests and other diocesan employees, alumni and other St. Bernard supporters got to work to try to save the school. Alumni Bill Buscetto of Old Lyme and Diederick van der Velde of Naples, Florida spearheaded one effort and another group of alumni that included New London attorney Jeffrey Londregan also began fund-raising with an eye toward purchasing the property and securing the school’s future.

In April, many school supporters were relieved when documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy indicated any successful buyer of the property would have to keep the school open for 20 years. The June 2 sale to the tribe - a trusted local entity - cemented that relief. Buscetto, whose partnership submitted the only other qualifying bid for the property, called the tribe “a fantastic partner.”

While 20 years isn’t that long a period of time in the typical life of most schools, the two-decade cushion removes the fear of the school’s imminent demise. The time also opens the possibility that another agreement can extend the school’s operations even further into the future and we encourage the school’s owners to begin working with the Mohegans as soon as possible to achieve that goal.

There’s no doubt the Roman Catholic Church’s stalling and denial of sexual abuse allegations against its clergy and employees has been shameful. Because of that the diocese’s decision to sell assets to pay for the settlements with abuse victims extended the outfall of this scandal well beyond the church and the victims themselves.

At least in this instance, however, the sale of this particular property ended well. The tribe will recover land that is rightfully theirs and the school that so many hold so dear will continue to educate more generations of young people.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.