The Diocese of Pittsburgh has already determined North Catholic High School cannot survive unless it relocates to the Cranberry community, but it will take another six months before church officers decide whether or not to approve the move.

Their final decision will be announced sometime in June, and it will depend largely on how much money is raised for the new high school in a capital fund-raising campaign between now and then.

But fund-raisers already are celebrating two major gifts that could help make the move possible.

An unnamed donor has offered to give the diocese about 20 acres for the school building, which will be located off Route 228 across from the new site for St. Killian on one of the major arteries in the Mars-Cranberry area. And Ralph Mashuda, owner of the Mashuda Corp., has volunteered to excavate the land at no cost, saving the school about $1.3 million.

"When I was a student at North Catholic in the '60s, I was the farthest away," said Mr. Mashuda, a 1967 graduate and Cranberry resident. "When I heard they were going to relocate to Cranberry Township, I called the school and told them I would do the site grading for the new school for free."

Mashuda Corp. is a heavy and highway construction company based in Cranberry that helped build the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Interstate 79, the Greater Pittsburgh Airport and countless highways in Western Pennsylvania.

"It's a great high school," Mr. Mashuda said of the landmark on Troy Hill, which has a long history and proud tradition, but a steadily declining student population that has led school officials to face the reality that its core student population is moving toward Cranberry and ultimately that is where the school needs to be.

"All of us are working very hard to make this project a reality," said the Rev. Kris Stubna, diocesan secretary for education. "But the fundamental question comes down to can we afford it? We need the help of some significant donors."

A substantial portion of the cost will have to be raised by private contributions in the next six months. The diocese does not have the cash reserves to finance the project.

"I just want to be able to help the school move out here so it can grow and thrive," Mr. Mashuda said. "The school needs to survive. That's why I made the offer."

The student body at North Catholic has gradually decreased on an annual basis in recent years. This year, there are 315 students, whereas last year there were 325, a far cry from the 1,200 who once crammed its hallways in the 1980s during its heyday.

A consulting firm that researched the move earlier this year estimated that the cost of building the new high school will fall somewhere between $25 million and $30 million.

Father Stubna said the diocese recently approved hiring the firm Architectural Innovations to come up with some preliminary plans for the school building and help provide a more accurate idea of what the project will cost.

Enrollment at Catholic schools throughout the country is on a downward spiral.

According to the National Catholic Education Association, about 2.65 million students attended Catholic schools in 2000. This year, there were around 2.36 million students nationwide, a drop of about 10 percent.

The Diocese of Pittsburgh also has closed more schools this year than usual. The diocese has been shutting down about two schools a year for about the past five years. This year, it was four.

North Catholic is one of several Catholic schools locally to announce that it will either be closing, merging or relocating in response to population shifts and changing demographics, which have led to the overall declining enrollments.

"The demographic information we have shows our student population is moving to the Cranberry area," Father Stubna said. "The big question remains can we finance the move? If we can make a decision by June to move forward, we'd like to do it quickly."