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Our Catholic schools need, deserve our support |
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By Joe Towalski
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Thursday, 26 March 2009 |
St. Bernard’s School in St. Paul announced this week that it is closing its grade school at the end of the school year, although its high school will remain open. Last week, the archdiocese announced that two other elementary schools would close at the end of this academic year: St. Elizabeth Seton School in Minneapolis and Trinity Catholic School in St. Paul.
 Editorial
Joe Towalski
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The three are part of Friends of Catholic Urban Schools, an independent, non-profit organization affiliated with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis that is helping to create new sources of funding for 15 inner-city and inner-ring suburban Catholic schools.
The fact that three of these urban schools will now close illustrates
the difficult, ongoing challenges they face despite the best efforts to
keep them open. These schools are in predominantly low-income
neighborhoods, where parents struggle to meet any number of financial
challenges, not just rising tuition costs, and where parishes struggle
to pay the bills.
As a result, enrollments at many of these schools are declining. Many,
if not most, of these schools have their own development efforts under
way, but those efforts face an uphill battle because of the econo-mic
crisis.
The urban schools of this archdiocese aren’t the only ones in troubled
financial waters. More than 1,200 Catholic schools have closed in the
United States since 2000, according to the National Catholic
Educational Association.
Groups like FOCUS and last year’s anonymous grant of $10 million to
help inner-city Catholic schools are necessary pieces of the puzzle to
keep doors open, but they aren’t the sole answer. Archbishop John
Nienstedt was clear about that when he announced the grant last summer,
saying, “Generous as it is, however, it cannot, without significant
generosity from other organizations and individuals, solve the
financial challenges of our urban schools.”
Making a commitment
The future of urban Catholic schools — as well as some suburban and
rural schools — hinges on the answers to a number of questions, not the
least of which is: How committed are we as Catholics of this
archdiocese to ensuring that every family that wants a quality,
faith-based education for its children can give them one?
Of course, the parents of these children should be required, within reason, to make sacrifices for their eduction.
And, the schools themselves — along with their sponsoring parishes —
need to be strategic about their fundraising and budget-management
decisions.
 But what about the rest of us?
What about families who benefited from a Catholic education but no
longer have children in school? What about people at parishes that
don’t have a Catholic school? How committed are we to supporting
Catholic schools not because our kids are attending one right now, but
because we value what students learn in these schools when it comes to
academics, character and faith? How integral do we believe these
schools are to the church’s evangelizing mission?
If we believe in their mission, we need to support these schools, which
provide opportunities otherwise unavailable to many children.
Successful schools continue to build partnerships with families,
alumni, businesses and others in the community who support their
mission. We can support that mission individually in a variety of ways:
contributing to the archdiocese’s Catholic Services Appeal, donating to
the Catholic Schools Office, volunteering our skills and services, and
supporting legislative efforts, such as tax benefits and vouchers, that
can make a Catholic school education more affordable for many families.
No one wants to see more Catholic schools close. For those who haven’t
already, it’s time to show these schools how much they are valued.
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