15 Detroit Area Catholic Schools to Close

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vern,

You just do not get it…it takes money to runs schools, it does not come free. Most Catholics are already stretched to the limit of their financial resoruces, and many of those Catholics are already paying for their kids to attend Catholic schools. Jesus never said this life was going to be heaven, it is tough to deal with these matters. But, our job is to give the Gospel to as many people as we can, it is an enormous waste of resources to allow a school to remain open when the diocese cannot even come close to covering the bills. You are not living in the real world. Catholics have moved away from those schools, that is a fact. In the past, Priests and Nuns used to do almost all the teaching, which meant salaries were NOT a problem–today we would need lay teachers to work for free in order to keep those schools open…that is just not going to happen, most of those teachers have kids of their own.

This is not about charity or love–it is about not having any way to keep those schools open. If Catholics became Catholic again, we would see this reverse in 10 years! However, most Catholics are in the 1-3 kids mode…that will never bring us back to where we need to be.
 
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TPJCatholic:
vern,

You just do not get it…it takes money to runs schools, it does not come free. Most Catholics are already stretched to the limit of their financial resoruces, and many of those Catholics are already paying for their kids to attend Catholic schools. Jesus never said this life was going to be heaven, it is tough to deal with these matters. But, our job is to give the Gospel to as many people as we can, it is an enormous waste of resources to allow a school to remain open when the diocese cannot even come close to covering the bills. .
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How is it a waste of money!?!?

Are children to be thrown away? That’s what happens now, in the poorest areas of this country – poor children are stuck in bad schools, with no alternatives.

We need to get off our Catholic butts and do what we are commanded to do – which includes caring for the poor.
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TPJCatholic:
You are not living in the real world. Catholics have moved away from those schools, that is a fact. In the past, Priests and Nuns used to do almost all the teaching, which meant salaries were NOT a problem–today we would need lay teachers to work for free in order to keep those schools open…that is just not going to happen, most of those teachers have kids of their own…
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Why are we so concerned about CATHOLIC children? Why are we not concerned about ALL children, expecially the poorest children in the worst schools?
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TPJCatholic:
This is not about charity or love–it is about not having any way to keep those schools open. If Catholics became Catholic again, we would see this reverse in 10 years! However, most Catholics are in the 1-3 kids mode…that will never bring us back to where we need to be.
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It is indeed about charity and love. We blather about caring for the poor – and don’t do it. The best care we can give the poor is to provide children with a good education.

There are about 60,000,000 Catholics in this country, and the only thing that prevents us from raising the money and establishing good schools is the fact we don’t care.
 
vern,

We will not agree on this issue, but here are my replies anyway:

*How is it a waste of money??? Are children to be thrown away? That’s what happens now, in the poorest areas of this country – poor children are stuck in bad schools, with no alternatives.
*
==> It is a waste of money because the money would be simply drawn from other areas of the diocese to help pay for the schools, those other areas would suffer and cause great harm…possibly charities for feeding people,etc…the Church does not print its own money. I live in the Chicago area, recently Cardinal George closed a bunch of schools. In one case the school 20 years ago had an enrollement of at least 400 kids, now the school struggles to make it to 50 kids…and the tuition in that school is lower then in most other area schools. There simply are not any Catholics near those schools…that is a fact…you cannot hide from the fact that many of these schools are surrounded by non-catholic populations.

We need to get off our Catholic butts and do what we are co
commanded to do – which includes caring for the poor.
==> I agree totally. Yet we must also use our resources wisely, the money only goes so far and those schools are flat broke and in the read in a very deep way.

Why are we so concerned about CATHOLIC children? Why are we not concerned about ALL children, expecially the poorest children in the worst schools?
==> We are concerned about all children, the Catholic Church remains the largest supported of charitable works in the entire world. We constantly feed and clothe the poor. This is about schools, not basic needs like food and clothes. We give food and clothing to all children that need it…we do not single out Catholics. The parents in the areas surrounding these schools are NOT Catholic, there is no base from which to bring students in. There is NO money to pay for it. Jesus told us to care for the poor and for the children…that does not mean we have to pay for their Catholic schools, especially when other very good work would be eliminated or suffer as a result.

*It is indeed about charity and love. We blather about caring for the poor – and don’t do it. The best care we can give the poor is to provide children with a good education. *

==> That is simply false! Read above–we provide for the poor all the time.

There are about 60,000,000 Catholics in this country, and the only thing that prevents us from raising the money and establishing good schools is the fact we don’t care.

==> That is a hate filled comment to make. I have one of my sons is in a Catholic school, my wife and I barely make ends meet each month, yet we try to give all we can. We are not a in unique situation, we care, we love, we want to help, but the resources go only so far. That is the typical situation of most Catholics. Certainly some Catholics are not stretched and they could help…yet they might very well be helping in other ways that we do not see. Also, the Catholic school system was NOT created for non-Catholics…it was created for Catholic children to learn academics, but mainly it was to teach the Catholics kids the faith. In the area that those schools are closing, there is an extremely low number of Catholics, the school system is simply not intended for non-Catholics…that is a fact.

==> If Catholics became faithful and started having bunches of kids, and if they encouraged vocations again as they are called to do, then this problem would disappear.
 
vern,

BTW, stop saying we don’t care…that is just hate filled and wrong. The truth is there are many newer Catholic schools in the suburbs of many major cities…enrollment is doing well in those schools because the Catholics have moved to those areas. Those are the real dynamics of our population. The Catholic schools are located near to where the Catholic populations are…that only makes sense.
 
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TPJCatholic:
vern,

BTW, stop saying we don’t care…that is just hate filled and wrong. The truth is there are many newer Catholic schools in the suburbs of many major cities…enrollment is doing well in those schools because the Catholics have moved to those areas. Those are the real dynamics of our population. The Catholic schools are located near to where the Catholic populations are…that only makes sense.
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Let me put it this way – as I did earlier. We shanty Irish and poor Italian immigrants have climbed out of the slums, and now we are pulling up the ladder behind us.

The idea that Catholic schools are located near to where the Catholic populations are only makes sense if we care ONLY about Catholic children.

Historically and traditionally, we have cared about ALL poor.
 
vern,

Let me put it this way:

The Roman Catholic Church has always (and continues to) care for the poor and needy and levels that eclipses all other entities. That said, Catholic schools is not part of the “feed the poor” calling we have. The Catholic school system fills a very specific call to teach Catholic children the faith…it never was built for non-Catholics.
 
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TPJCatholic:
vern,

Let me put it this way:

The Roman Catholic Church has always (and continues to) care for the poor and needy and levels that eclipses all other entities. That said, Catholic schools is not part of the “feed the poor” calling we have. The Catholic school system fills a very specific call to teach Catholic children the faith…it never was built for non-Catholics.
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How are we teaching the city kids our/their faith if we are closing their schools?
 
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TPJCatholic:
vern,

Let me put it this way:

The Roman Catholic Church has always (and continues to) care for the poor and needy and levels that eclipses all other entities. That said, Catholic schools is not part of the “feed the poor” calling we have. The Catholic school system fills a very specific call to teach Catholic children the faith…it never was built for non-Catholics.
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Schools are established to teach children. The great shortcoming in this country is the failure of our public schools to provide poor children with a first class education. Bad schools are factories that turn out illiterate adults – and you would agree that an illiterate adult is likely to be a charge on our charity, would you not?

We HAVE a tradition of schools, just as we have a tradition of hospitals. We don’t ask people arriving at the emergency room if they’re Catholic or not, do we?

We are failing the poor in the most fundamental way.
 
vern,

NO! Our government is failing those kids in terms of their education! We pay billions in taxes every year…you should be all over your city and state governments to do something about the education of those kids…now get this: IT IS NOT THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO GIVE CHILDREN AN EDUCATION IN ANYTHING OTHER THEN THE FAITH!

Man, you have a thick skull. 🙂 He said teasingly…
 
vern,

NO! Our government is failing those kids in terms of their education! We pay billions in taxes every year…you should be all over your city and state governments to do something about the education of those kids…now get this: IT IS NOT THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO GIVE CHILDREN AN EDUCATION IN ANYTHING OTHER THEN THE FAITH!

Man, you have a thick skull. 🙂 He said teasingly…
 
vern,

NO! Our government is failing those kids in terms of their education! We pay billions in taxes every year…you should be all over your city and state governments to do something about the education of those kids…now get this: IT IS NOT THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO GIVE CHILDREN AN EDUCATION IN ANYTHING OTHER THEN THE FAITH!

Man, you have a thick skull. 🙂
 
Vern,

They do not want our schools there–if they did they would attend. The tuition is very low, and is often free…they do not want us there. We cannot force ourselves on them.
 
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TPJCatholic:
Vern,

They do not want our schools there–if they did they would attend. The tuition is very low, and is often free…they do not want us there. We cannot force ourselves on them.
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In fact, where there ARE good Catholic schools accessable to the children of the poor, we often have more non-Catholic children enrolled than Catholic.

But we have failed to market our schools – because we have failed to have the vision to see and meet the challenge.
 
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TPJCatholic:
vern,

NO! Our government is failing those kids in terms of their education! We pay billions in taxes every year…you should be all over your city and state governments to do something about the education of those kids…now get this: IT IS NOT THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO GIVE CHILDREN AN EDUCATION IN ANYTHING OTHER THEN THE FAITH!

Man, you have a thick skull. 🙂
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Yes, the government DID fail those children, and IS failing them. Is that any excuse for us to fail them, too?

As for the dury of the Church, caring for the poor IS a duty and a tradition. Can you think of a BETTER, more effective way to care for the poor than to give their children a good education?
 
vern,

Yes! I can think of much better ways to serve the poor than to enroll them in school. They need food, clothes, jobs, schooling is utterly secondary compared their basic needs…and the Church helps provide food, clothes and in some case jobs to millions of poor people.

You obviously believe in forced evangelization…which means you must have been a great fan of the crusades.
 
vern humphrey:
As for the dury of the Church, caring for the poor IS a duty and a tradition. Can you think of a BETTER, more effective way to care for the poor than to give their children a good education?
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In theory I agree with you; it’s called formation, the church used to tout it, and many of the Catholics of a past generation were raised up in it - its effects are not transitory, it lasts forever and imprints on the minds, souls and hearts of the kids.

Having said that, I am all for it, I simply do not see how we can do that in today’s financial climate.
 
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HagiaSophia:
In theory I agree with you; it’s called formation, the church used to tout it, and many of the Catholics of a past generation were raised up in it - its effects are not transitory, it lasts forever and imprints on the minds, souls and hearts of the kids.

Having said that, I am all for it, I simply do not see how we can do that in today’s financial climate.
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I think we can do it – IF we set out to do it. After all, 60 million Catholics can generate a lot of money if we put our minds to it.
 
vern,

I really have nothing more to say on this subject…thanks for the chat, may God bless you.
 
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TPJCatholic:
Yes! I can think of much better ways to serve the poor than to enroll them in school. They need food, clothes, jobs, schooling is utterly secondary compared their basic needs…and the Church helps provide food, clothes and in some case jobs to millions of poor people…
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You don’t believe in the old adage, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and your feed him for life?”

Education is how we end the poverty cycle. It is far better to educate people early in life so they can support themselves and their families than it is to support them later, when they are unable to make their way.
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TPJCatholic:
You obviously believe in forced evangelization…which means you must have been a great fan of the crusades.
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Thank you for the gratuitous insult.
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TPJCatholic:
Submitted with love and respect, TPJ.
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Perhaps I’m missing something. Where is the love and respect in your previous comment?

If a man lacks charity in ordinary discourse, what charity can he have in other things?
 
Vern,

I really have nothing more to say on this subject…thanks for the chat, may God bless you.
 
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