One-time flagship Philly Catholic school closing

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Zatzat said:
google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gGQxwguKqUssvCOSOJjD3CugPjYAD9G9SUT00

Nationwide, 174 Catholic schools have closed in the past year, compared with 24 opening, according to the National Catholic Education Association. Catholic school enrollment in the U.S. has declined 20 percent in the past decade.
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Well…I would imagine if you were ofthe RC faith, and esp. if this were your parish, former parish, etc., it would be rather sad…but, hey, if you don’t have the community tosupport the institution…well, what else is there TO do?
You would think the church would step back and try and find out WHY they are losing people of the faith, but, hey, what do I know?

When I was a kid in SouPhilly, everyone around me was RC and the catholic schools were filled, seemed to me…you’d think they’d want to see…well…what went wrong in the last-what? 20 years or so?
 
I think a lot of “Catholic” schools should close. I’m talking about those who put the name “Catholic” in their title and are anything but. There’s one here in the area I live, a big one. It’s supposedly a “Catholic” school, but in reality it’s a private school for rich kids, regardless of their faith. Catholicism is the last think on the minds of most of the teachers, the parents, or the students. (I’m not guessing. My wife used to teach there.) This seems to be a trend in our country, from what I’ve read. Students going all the way from kindergarten through twelfth grade and not even knowing the 10 Commandments or the 7 Sacraments. I say shut 'em down!
 
Scoobyshme said:
I think a lot of “Catholic” schools should close. I’m talking about those who put the name “Catholic” in their title and are anything but. There’s one here in the area I live, a big one. It’s supposedly a “Catholic” school, but in reality it’s a private school for rich kids, regardless of their faith. Catholicism is the last think on the minds of most of the teachers, the parents, or the students. (I’m not guessing. My wife used to teach there.) This seems to be a trend in our country, from what I’ve read. Students going all the way from kindergarten through twelfth grade and not even knowing the 10 Commandments or the 7 Sacraments. I say shut 'em down!
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-hum. I wasn’t aware of that, but…being around a lot of RC peeps, and being married to one (once-not anymore)…I really got the impression that religion was stressed in a big way once upon a time. Perhaps it’s not anymore?

My first husband told me that once upon a time a catholic education was something to be proud of, he want to West Catholic HS, and he was no idiot, far from it (belonged to MENSA, in fact), but the quality of education had since declined SHARPLY, what he called the “dumbing down” of education…and while they DID stress religious education, he pretty much wanted no parts of the RC church by the time he was about 13 or so, but just went through the motions…kinda sad.

I always would say, well, if you don’t believe the teachings, why go through all the nonsense? He said I didn’t understand, you can’t just walk away from something you grew up with…but, eventually, yeah, he became disillusioned and DID walk away…perhaps that’s where the fault lies…if my first husband felt that way in the 60’s, what of all the others after him?

Perhaps if you have a bunch of people wondering about the WHY of all the religious stuff, they don’t feel a bond, an obligation, etc, to pass this love the church on to their offspring, you know? Yeah?

And if you have people who don’t really care about the WHY and the heart of the religion, then…well, why bother to shell out umpteen dollars for a Roman Catholic education when you can pay for a just as good or even BETTER private secular school…or a FREE public or charter HS?
 
I think there are many, many reasons why enrollment has dropped so drastically for Catholci schools and have resulted in their closures. Several around my area announced this was their last year. I just don’t know if you’re going to find just one or two reasons why this is happening and I don’t think you can definitively say its because of a faith crisis or people moving to the suburbs. There are just soooo many more options for schooling that parents can make these days. There’s homeschooling, charter schools, magnet schools, performing art schools, private schools, public schools…there are so many ways to taylor an education for every child that best meets their needs and talents. I do think though money has a lot to do with it, spending all that money on a Catholic high school education when college is immediate to follow isn’t always the right decision for every family, the local Catholic high school in our area is $6k/year.
 
As a 53-year-old Philly native, I can remember my Catholic grammar school (and my mother paying $150 yearly for tuition in 1969). . .it was not the largest (nor the smallest) school. Grades 1 through 8. . .there were if I recall about 200 of us in the 8th grade graduating class in 1970 and approximately that many students in each grade. And I remember the nuns (Sisters of Mercy). There were many, many nuns the years I was there.

And within 10 years, there were many FEWER nuns. So teachers --lay people–had to be hired. And paid for (unlike the nuns who did not earn a salary). The cost of a Catholic education thus spiraled up because after all, we had the ‘facilities’ and we had the demand. . .and it’s not like it changed ‘all at once.’ And there were other changes that came in as well. . .many more mothers entering the work force, the 80s with people making a great deal of money so it was ‘available’. . .and then losing it. . then the 90s with the whole sex scandals (and of course many supposedly took place back in the ‘good old days’ so you had to pay the diocesan lawyers, and they had to spend money researching and all)–meanwhile the baby boomers weren’t ‘reproducing’ so much, and buildings still needed to have continual services, and books needed to be bought, and computer equipment upgraded, and playgrounds brought to code, etc. etc. etc… . .

Thank goodness my Catholic faith is not tied to the winds of public opinion nor invested in tangibles like bricks, or even schools or individual Churches. . .or even individual ‘human beings.’ It’s based on Jesus. Who never ‘promised us a rose garden’ on earth!

I’m sad to see CD close (even though they used to whup my high school in basketball those many years ago, I hold no grudge!). . .but sic transit gloria munda and all that. . .we need to hold to the good, keep our faith firmly fixed on Jesus, and GO FORWARD.
 
Scoobyshme said:
I think a lot of “Catholic” schools should close. I’m talking about those who put the name “Catholic” in their title and are anything but. There’s one here in the area I live, a big one. It’s supposedly a “Catholic” school, but in reality it’s a private school for rich kids, regardless of their faith. Catholicism is the last think on the minds of most of the teachers, the parents, or the students. (I’m not guessing. My wife used to teach there.) This seems to be a trend in our country, from what I’ve read. Students going all the way from kindergarten through twelfth grade and not even knowing the 10 Commandments or the 7 Sacraments. I say shut 'em down!
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Lots of truth here based on my observation. The new Catholic schools I have seen are indeed private schools for rich kids or at least those economically very well off. Few have trained religious teaching, instead they have lay teachers. The nuns and teaching brothers of the old days seem few and far between now.
 
Scoobyshme said:
I think a lot of “Catholic” schools should close. I’m talking about those who put the name “Catholic” in their title and are anything but. There’s one here in the area I live, a big one. It’s supposedly a “Catholic” school, but in reality it’s a private school for rich kids, regardless of their faith.
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I disagree. In my city, the majority of the children attending Catholic school (and in my parish!) are not Catholic. They happen to be poor kids who want a better education than the public schools can offer.

Catholic schools have an education ministry – just like Catholic hospitals heal the sick. I think that educating kids is a(n unlisted) corporal work of mercy and my donations to the archdiocese go toward educating those kids. The city, the nation and Catholicism is better off for it.
 
Beau_Ouiville said:
I disagree. In my city, the majority of the children attending Catholic school (and in my parish!) are not Catholic. They happen to be poor kids who want a better education than the public schools can offer.

Catholic schools have an education ministry – just like Catholic hospitals heal the sick. I think that educating kids is a(n unlisted) corporal work of mercy and my donations to the archdiocese go toward educating those kids. The city, the nation and Catholicism is better off for it.
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One exception does not a rule make, as the old saying goes.

I have no problem with a Catholic school that is a real Catholic school, teaching the doctrines of the faith to the children and making it available to all. My problem is with the other ones who are “Catholic” schools in name only, where the kids do NOT learn the faith at all, and it is open to only those who can afford it.

The big problem is that after Vatican II, many orders who were teaching orders became very liberal. They shucked their habits and took on the ways of the world. When that happened, vocations to these orders went down the tubes. No vacations, no religious teachers. No religious teachers (who took the vow of poverty), then they had to hire lay teachers (in many cases, not even Catholics!), and pay them a living wage. That’s what drove tuition up in most cases, to where most folks couldn’t afford it.

I suspect that the school to which you refer is either run by religious, or is helped out financially by the surrounding parishes. Otherwise, they need to let all the other ones know how they manage financially with that setup.
 
Scoobyshme said:
One exception does not a rule make, as the old saying goes.
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I don’t know where you count “1”. The archdiocesan school populace is about 30% non-Catholic.
Scoobyshme said:
I suspect that the school to which you refer is either run by religious, or is helped out financially by the surrounding parishes. Otherwise, they need to let all the other ones know how they manage financially with that setup.
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We have very few religious left. The schools are supported by the parishes, the diocese and the parents’ tuition payments.
 
Beau_Ouiville said:
In my city, the majority of the children attending Catholic school (and in my parish!) are not Catholic. They happen to be poor kids who want a better education than the public schools can offer.
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Beau Ouiville:
I don’t know where you count “1”. The archdiocesan school populace is about 30% non-Catholic.
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Define “majority.” 😛

Anyway, I agree with your comments about it being an “education ministry,” and the schools do great good for the community at large. All that said, they (and the hospitals) should still stay true to Catholic teaching. Not all do. I wonder if that is some of the reason for the fall-off? I wonder if the lack of religious to run the schools is part of the reason?
 
rlg94086 said:
I wonder if that is some of the reason for the fall-off? I wonder if the lack of religious to run the schools is part of the reason?
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I could not verify the percentage of non-Catholics in the parochial schools.

The situation changed because, the Catholics moved to the suburbs leaving a lot less of them in the city. Then, there came the dearth of religious. So it became a lot more expensive to run the religious institutions for a lot fewer Catholics.
 
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