Catholic elite is it moral

[Adamski]

Here in Seattle catholic school costs 9,000 a year that makes it seem like catholic schools are only obtained by the mega rich. That doesn’t seem moral

 

[Sunbreak]

Why wouldn’t it be moral? The school has to pay teachers, principal, support staff, utility bills. Many schools have scholarships available and some parishes without schools will provide assistance to members of their parish to attend the Catholic school of another parish.

 

[polytropos]

That is pretty reasonable. I recently graduated from a Catholic high school that cost about $10,000 a year. The teachers are paid quite a bit less than public school teachers (although I’d say the environment is better for a Catholic teacher, since you can be open about your religion and there is much less bureaucracy). The school got out of debt while I was there - so it’s not like the school has been underpaying teachers while sitting on a wad of cash.

Not to mention, most private schools are well over $9,000 in tuition.

Remember, a Catholic school does not receive funding from the state. It must fund itself through tuition, donations, and (maybe) fundraisers. Less prestigious schools do not get as much in the way of donations. So while the cost might be prohibitive - there really isn’t an alternative.

 

[Elizium23]

There is usually a lot of assistance available for Catholic school tuition if you know where to look and whom to ask. Start with a parishioner discount, which gives a cut rate for those who are registered and active in a Catholic parish. Scholarships and grants and all sorts of things are out there.

You get what you pay for. A Catholic education is still a high-quality service, and parents should be prepared to sacrifice much to gain the best advantages for their children.

 

[Boston_Sem]

I received two years of Catholic education for 14,000 a year. Seemed like a wee rip off, I’ll admit cause it hardly seemed Catholic or educational.

 

[Luna_de_Colores]

After the sisters stopped teaching, it got a lot more expensive.

 

[Adamski]

Sounds like a country club for Kenedy Catholics

Juan and Jacek need not apply for at least 4-5 generations please

 

[polytropos]

East coast residential prep schools that cost $37,000 a year are country clubs for the Kennedys (John F. Kennedy attended Choate in Connecticut). A Catholic school that costs $9,000 a year is not a country club.

 

[Boston_Sem]

Sounds like a country club for Kenedy Catholics

Juan and Jacek need not apply for at least 4-5 generations please

What’s wrong with that? There are certain schools for some people and certain schools for others.

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

Sounds like a country club for Kenedy Catholics

Juan and Jacek need not apply for at least 4-5 generations please

What an appallingly wrong comment. For starters, $9,000 a year does not a “country club” make. Historically, the Kennedys wouldn’t be caught near a Catholic school. And you insult the hard-working parents who undoubtedly sacrifice to send their children to Catholic school by categorizing them as “Kennedy Catholics,” given that that term has come to mean hypocritically barely-practicing Catholics in name only, for the most part. Finally, your “Juan and Jacek” snark implies a racist motivation which is libelous.

The Catholic high school from which I graduated charges $8,500 a year, is over 50 years old, lacks many of the amenities that public schools around here have, and has had to transition froma nearly all-religious faculty, to an all-lay faculty – the single biggest component of why they have to charge that much.

 

[StrawberryJam]

After the sisters stopped teaching, it got a lot more expensive.

Did those sisters all want to teach or were they forced to work as teachers to pay for their expenses?

 

[Elizium23]

Many religious institutes were founded with the charism of teaching, particularly those who served the poor and underprivileged. Unfortunately, many of those same institutes became infected with the “Spirit of Vatican II” and the urge to “Move beyond Jesus” courtesy of the Magisterium of Nuns, the LCWR, the National Schismatic Reporter, and the like. They jettisoned their habits and doctrine and in the process, forfeited their future, because they get no vocations. The average age of these institutes is rapidly advancing and soon the Biological Solution will take care of them. But it is a crying shame that Catholic schools have been taken over by lay boards and faculties, because many of them have continued on a trajectory of unorthodoxy and betrayal of their thoroughly Catholic roots. Catholic education in the USA is in a sad, sad state, and bishops today have a monumental job if they expect to clean it up.

 

[Boston_Sem]

Did those sisters all want to teach or were they forced to work as teachers to pay for their expenses?

Why are you asking us? How would any of us know?

 

[ltwin]

After the sisters stopped teaching, it got a lot more expensive.

Does anyone know why nuns (and monks?) stopped teaching in Catholic schools? It seems if they were educated enough and cost effective labor, they would have been a work force you’d want to utilize.

 

[Boston_Sem]

Does anyone know why nuns (and monks?) stopped teaching in Catholic schools? It seems if they were educated enough and cost effective labor, they would have been a work force you’d want to utilize.

My father had a sister, Sr. Josephine. She “kicked the habit” so to speak and entered a life of sin.

I know a couple others were simply older and not many sought to replace them as they died. The younger ones got involved in the social justice and left teaching. Now at the school he attended there are three nuns. None of them teach and all of them are well over 60.

 

[StrawberryJam]

Why are you asking us? How would any of us know?

It is not entirely a mystery why there is a lack of nuns qualifyed to teach children today. I am asking you because you either should ask yourself about this, or try to imagine how you could lower tuition if you were the principal of any catholic school.
You cut costs.
Nuns cost what?
What were they paid to teach? How many of them even wanted to teach…

 

[Elizium23]

Are you saying that thousands of sisters (usually not nuns, who are monastics) were forced against their will to teach in schools? That’s kind of far-fetched. A girl discerning a vocation would evaluate various religious institutes based on their charism and tradition of work. She would see clearly whether this institute or that was one dedicated to manual labor, contemplation and prayer, teaching, serving the underprivileged, health care, or the like. I doubt that many sisters professed vows without at least a passing familiarity with the kind of life they would be leading.

Now, it is possible that girls felt pressure from their Catholic families to pursue a religious vocation for the sake of the Church. It is also possible that some sisters took teaching jobs out of obedience rather than free will. But why are you trying to paint a picture of thousands of women unwilling to teach?

 

[Boston_Sem]

It is not entirely a mystery why there is a lack of nuns qualifyed to teach children today. I am asking you because you either should ask yourself about this, or try to imagine how you could lower tuition if you were the principal of any catholic school.
You cut costs.
Nuns cost what?
What were they paid to teach? How many of them even wanted to teach…

Why does it matter if they wanted to teach? At the school I attended the nuns use to be everywhere, administration, classrooms, maintenance, nurse’s office, secretarial, finance. There were many options for a sister who felt that teaching wasn’t her mission. Of course, I don’t see why a sister would discern a vocation to a religious Order that’s charism was to teach if she thought she didn’t want to teach.

I don’t know if I’d “cut costs” as a principle, but I’d certainly try to be as fiscally responsible as possible. The school I attended use to be $260 dollars in 1967. It is now $14,000 and rising. My first year they put in this expensive new pavilion. That year two students were sent away because of lack of financial security. The next year 1.2 million was spent on renovations of the foot ball field, which was perfectly fine and usable. Again, students in my class were sent away. This type of frivolous behavior ought to end. I am not being an idealist. It is no coincidence that the year before I attended this school it was 12,000 and raised 2,000 more the next year.

And to make matters worse, a notoriously homosexual student who was not Catholic, was not chaste, and was not contrite, got a full scholarship his senior year, and even more from the school for college. This student is now on a deplorable TV show that glorifies gay culture. Meanwhile, upstanding Catholics were turned away.

My dear great aunt, Sr. Redempta (God rest her soul), was an accountant for a Catholic college up in Halifax for quite some time. She also taught at an elementary school in the city as well. She wasn’t paid much but she lived in community and received meals. I can’t imagine many expenses being necessary for old Sr. Redempta.

 

[StrawberryJam]

How many nuns today are unwilling to be teachers or unable to be teachers? There is a great need for nuns to teach in schools as they always had done in the past.
Have catholic parents stopped encouraging this role (nuns that will teach in schools) in the church for their children or have their children decided they do not want to be nuns, and will not teach in catholic schools? Doesn’t matter either way, because tuition will be skyrockiting high when you have to pay a teacher even a pittance to teach.
Many of the people commenting on this topic had a nun teach them in catholic school. Those days are gone now except for rare instances.

 

[Peggy_in_Burien]

Here in Seattle catholic school costs 9,000 a year that makes it seem like catholic schools are only obtained by the mega rich. That doesn’t seem moral

Have you checked out John F. Kennedy Memorial Catholic High School in lovely Burien at Seattle’s southern city limits? All three of my kids went there, and it was no way near $9,000 a year. We are not mega-rich, we had an income of about $30,000 a year at the time. Some kids were there on scholarships. Not a fancy school at all. Lots of parents and family members volunteering long hours to help keep costs down. Wonderful teachers, too, many of them there for 20+ years. Really solid Catholic principal.