It's hardly newsworthy to say that, across the country, Catholic schools?particularly those schools that serve the neediest children in urban areas?are closing at record pace. Dioceses have long kept tuitions low in an effort to make Catholic education available to as many students as possible, but over the years as lay faculty have replaced religious personnel, parishes, particularly those serving our neediest communities, have had a hard time making ends meet.
This is particularly distressing because urban Catholic schools, in particular, serve a very unique and important purpose as often the only remotely affordable option for low-income parents looking for alternatives to the often failing local public schools.
Unfortunately, like all entrenched bureaucracies, the Catholic Church has been slow to make the kinds of fundamental reforms would save their own schools. This month, however, with the release of Pathways to Excellence, the Archdiocese of New York took a bold step towards enacting the kinds of structural reforms that have the potential to do just that.
Pathways to Excellence outlines key reforms in four Archdiocesan priority areas: Catholic Identity, school leadership, academics, governance and finance.
In the area of academics and Catholic identity, the plan recommits diocesan schools to the kinds of faith- and standards-based education that has always made Catholic education great. And in the area of school leadership, the Archdiocese hints at some fairly good ideas for attracting and retaining the kinds of great leaders that have the power to transform individual schools.
But perhaps the most promising element of the Archdiocese's strategic plan is its commitment to change the way Catholic elementary schools are funded. In short, like most (all?) dioceses across the country, individual Catholic schools are financed almost exclusively through tuition and support from their home parishes. That means, of course, that parishes who serve the neediest communities have the hardest time making ends meet. According to Pathways to Excellence, individual parishes in New York will no longer bear sole responsibility for keeping their schools afloat. Instead, all parishes will support Catholic schools, whether those schools are within the parish boundaries or not.
In addition, the diocese is going to seek outside philanthropy to support its Catholic schools, but those resources ?will be prudently distributed to ensure their greatest impact.? In other words, the central office will work to maximize philanthropic dollars to ensure it goes to schools with the greatest need.
The strategic plan admits that, as part of its effort to save schools, the viability of all schools will be assessed and some will inevitably be closed. The strategic plan gives no indication of how, exactly, they will determine which schools will be slated for closure, but we can only hope that the Archdiocese will commit to finding a way to support the urban schools that serve the neediest students.
Of course, many argue that those schools should be the first to go because they serve the smallest number of Catholic students?in some inner-city Catholic schools a majority of students are non-Catholic?and that the top priority of Catholic schools is to educate young Catholics. But, I believe it was James Cardinal Hickey, the former Archbishop of Washington, who, when asked why we should save schools that serve predominantly non-Catholics answered: ?we don't educate these students because they are Catholic, we educate them because we are Catholic.?
?Kathleen Porter-Magee
