In 2011, the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) reported that, between 2000 and 2010, the number of Catholic schools dropped from 8,146 to 6,980 – a loss of 117 schools per year. Additionally, Catholic elementary and secondary school enrollment fell 22 percent during that same period, from 2,647,301 to 2,065,872.
Since that time, more than 1100 more Catholic schools closed across the nation.
Why?
Well, let's face the facts once and for all.
Parishes have never been able to afford the schools they operated. The clear and simple truth is this: Catholic schools were able to operate because they depended upon the “free” labor of the Women Religious who staffed them. When the Sisters left the classroom, the fate of Catholic schools was sealed.
The financial model for Catholic schools which depended upon the free-will offerings of parishioners and the minimal cost of Women Religious administrators and teachers can no longer be sustained.
This is especially true since parishes have turned more and more toward populating their schools with low-income, inner city families who need not be members of the Catholic Church.
Recent studies have revealed that many Catholic schools are comprised of a significant number of non-Catholic students whose parents have shown no inclination of converting to the Catholic Faith.
And so, the idea of the government funding Catholic education through vouchers has become very popular in recent years.
However, a study conducted by researchers from Notre Dame has uncovered a number of remarkable facts.
As one would expect, government vouchers have been found to provide increased revenues for parishes with schools. The resulting windfall, in many cases, has prevented these parishes from being closed or merged.
But very surprisingly, the study shows that there is evidence that government vouchers actually cause a “significant decrease” in free-will offerings and donations necessary for non-school purposes such as parish staff salaries, maintenance and mission support.
“Vouchers thus may help ensure the survival of churches, but may do so while diminishing the churches’ non-school religious activities,” the study concludes.
Of course, the NCEA, in the person of Senior Consultant Heather Gossart, has “grave issues” with the study.
“The study drew conclusions that I don’t think are valid,” she said, disturbed by the finding that taxpayer vouchers for Catholic schools is associated with parish dependence on them. “Vouchers don’t fund parishes and churches,” she said. “That would be a violation of church-state separation.”
It is clear that Ms. Gossart and many of the illuminati of the NCEA have no practical knowledge of parish finances.
At present, in many cases as much as 70-85% of all parish revenues are used to offset parish school expenses, leaving little else for much needed faith-based services. While government vouchers would not provide a direct subsidy of the religious mission of the parish, they would allow revenues previously used to subsidize the school to be available for such religious purposes and programs.
As a supporter of the Common Core standards, the NCEA has welcomed the partnership with government in Catholic education. In 2013, the organization was awarded a grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – the primary source of private funding for the promotion of the nationalized Common Core standards – to help implement the standards in Catholic schools.
In 2015, many Catholic school parents and educators were outraged when NCEA welcomed Common Core architect David Coleman to serve as the “keynote speaker” for its annual convention the following spring.
The NCEA and the USCCB which supports its role in Catholic education should be ashamed.
In my opinion, here is the fundamental problem with present parish-based model of Catholic education: for many Pastors and Catholic school families, the operation of the parish school is understood to be the parish’s most essential religious mission.
I've often heard the remark: "Without the school, there would be no reason for the parish!"
Nothing could be further from the truth. And until Bishops and Pastors rediscover the fundamental mission of parish churches is to make the Sacraments available to the People of God, to form them in the Scriptures and teachings of the Church, parishes will continue close or be merged at an alarming rate.
Here's the truth, clear and non-refutable: Catholic schools have not produced practicing Catholics.
Parochial school graduates today abandon the Church and cease to practice their Catholic Faith at the same rate as non-parochial school graduates.
The divorce rate among parochial school alumni is statistically the same as Catholics who attended public school, and even non-Catholics for that matter. And, the children of parochial school graduates are less likely to attend Catholic schools.
The record of today's Catholic schools is a dismal failure.
The traditional parochial school model needs to be abandoned entirely and a new program of the Catholic formation of youth needs to be created, one which focuses upon the assimilation of the Scriptures and Catholic doctrines rather than the failed model which continues to focus on academics.
Government vouchers are not the panacea for the failures of Catholic education!
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