The end of Catholic schools? Help!

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Was Catholicism always poorly catechised? Or is this a rather recent phenomenon of a few decades?

If so, are there any measures being taken to improve this catechesis?
 
Cheer up!!! We just opened a brand new Catholic HS in our county about 5 yrs ago! My son went there the second year it was open. I am very pleased with the curriculum and the “Catholocity” so to speak. It has gone over so well (5 Catholic feeder grade schools) that they already need an addition! Yes it is expensive ($6000 a year) but they also help find colleges for your child and financial aid to go with it. My dd is in the 10th grade and she has been recruited by some pretty big name schools… alot more than my senior son at public school!!!
 
Lady_Bug said:
Was Catholicism always poorly catechised? Or is this a rather recent phenomenon of a few decades?

If so, are there any measures being taken to improve this catechesis?
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From what I see in our Catholic Schools, academics is more important than teaching Religion. All the Catholic Schools in our Orlando dioceses are Blue Ribbon Schools and they get this because of their great academic program, unfortunately Religion is left for last. I know that when my dd was in the Catholic School that my niece is still in, very little Religion was taught. Just yesterday, my niece who is in 5th grade and has been in this same Catholic School since Pre-K called me for she had a take home religion test and missed every single question. She thought the Assumption was the Annunciation and that the Immaculate Conception was the Assumption. She missed other basic questions that she should know by now in 5th grade, but has told me that they get Religion maybe once a week and it is quick. She has a D average in Religion. I know she is telling the truth for one time she came to my house after going back to school from missing 5 days. She had all her makeup work for that last week. She had no religion homework to make up.

It is sad but true. I can only say what I have seen from this particular Catholic School, but I hear the whole diocese uses the same curriculum. My dd had her preparation for First Communion in this school and they did not teach her both ways to receive, by mouth or hand, just the hand and did not teach that they need to abstain from food or drink other than water and medicines for one hour prior to Communion. I taught her that. As far as my niece, I know my sister has a some fault too for she should be the first teacher to her children on matters of our Catholic Faith. She needs to educate herself on our Faith too. Many Catholic parents think it is up to the teachers to teach Religion. My parents thought that and never mentioned anything about our Faith while we grew up. We are five girls and two of us left the Catholic Faith. It matters when the parents teach first.
 
Blest One:

You really are “blessed” in that your son attends a great Catholic school. In my son’s school, the history teacher asked how many kids still believe in purgatory (:eek: ) and my son said he was the only one who said that he did…:eek: :eek: ! Something is definitely rotten in Denmark!
 
An excellent report from the Fordham Institute just came out. Entitled “Who Will Save America’s Urban Catholic Schools,” it can be found at edexcellence.net/doc/catholic_schools_08.pdf.

Of particular interest is the section dealing with the Wichita Catholic School System, where no Catholic child pays tuition to attend elementary or high school.

The report states, “Unlike some bishops that have closed Catholic schools … Wichita Bishop Michael O. Jackels enthusiastically supports Catholic education.”

The Wichita section begins on page 22 of the report.
 
mom4truth said:
Blest One:

You really are “blessed” in that your son attends a great Catholic school. In my son’s school, the history teacher asked how many kids still believe in purgatory (:eek: ) and my son said he was the only one who said that he did…:eek: :eek: ! Something is definitely rotten in Denmark!
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Yep… except my daughter attends Catholic School… my son goes to public school. My daughter’s theology teachers are tough! I looked through this years curriculum… moral theology and the sacraments… wow! Last year was Old Testament and Church History…next year… New Testament and Evangelization… I think senior year they use TOTB for teens but not sure… and it is taught by the priest for the last year.
 
kristie_m said:
There has been some discussion of this recently on another thread. I think, at least for the people I know, that cost is a HUGE factor for many families. In the other thread, someone posted about the diocese of Witchita, I believe, in which all of their Catholic schools are fully funded through donations of parisioners, so that each registered family is given the opportunity to attend for free. I would love to see such a program implemented in EVERY diocese. Probably a pipe dream, though.
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I think they have this in the Lincoln, NE diocese too. I also think the bishop of the Witchita diocese is from Lincoln though.
 
Harmony1988 said:
You don’t allow your kids to watch Cartoon network ? :confused:
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She may be referring to something she saw late at Night on the “adultswim” Of course, that’s after hours when children should be in bed. During the day CN plays that kindergarden stuff until primetime when they play regular cartoons. At about 11 to midnight, the anime and adult animation comes on. I wasn’t allowed to watch AS either until I was a little older. But back then it was only on Sunday/Monday at 12AM so I couldn’t watch it anyway.
 
Naztakuan said:
She may be referring to something she saw late at Night on the “adultswim” Of course, that’s after hours when children should be in bed. During the day CN plays that kindergarden stuff until primetime when they play regular cartoons. At about 11 to midnight, the anime and adult animation comes on. I wasn’t allowed to watch AS either until I was a little older. But back then it was only on Sunday/Monday at 12AM so I couldn’t watch it anyway.
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Cartoons, even during the day, don’t equal “great for kids”. I’m not judging allowing or not allowing, but sometimes it’s just easier to forbid the channel altogether verses watching episodes of every cartoon they may come into contact with first to make sure it’s okay.
 
Gosh, I never appreciated the availability of Catholic school’s in Northern Ireland.

I do understand what various people mean by watered down faith.
Due to legislation in one class- citizenship, a teacher is legally required to teach an individual’s choice, autonomy, homosexual relationships, the same teacher will then take religion class and then talk about the sanctity of marriage- so he ends up being hypocritical and having to scarifice his beliefs

Sorry if I have gone off topic:)
 
The newspaper article provided only a brief summary. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute study of Catholic schools can be found here. It is 122 pages, but I was particularly pleased with pages 22 thru 33. After reading that, it would seem that the secret to retaining a vibrant Catholic school system is to eliminate tuition, as counterproductive as that may seem.
 
JimG said:
The newspaper article provided only a brief summary. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute study of Catholic schools can be found here. It is 122 pages, but I was particularly pleased with pages 22 thru 33. After reading that, it would seem that the secret to retaining a vibrant Catholic school system is to eliminate tuition, as counterproductive as that may seem.
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I read that article. It seems that the schools they are talking about are urban area schools that serve primarily underprivileged children in areas where public schools are, from what they describe, horrible. The funding comes from philanthropists that are interested in providing a good education for these kids. While I think that is great, I wonder how the average town is supposed to keep their Catholic schools alive.
 
HouseArrest said:
I read that article. It seems that the schools they are talking about are urban area schools that serve primarily underprivileged children in areas where public schools are, from what they describe, horrible. The funding comes from philanthropists that are interested in providing a good education for these kids. While I think that is great, I wonder how the average town is supposed to keep their Catholic schools alive.
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No, they are talking about every Catholic school in the diocese of Wichita. Some parts of the diocese are affluent, and there are some parishes that would fall into the urban and underprivelged category. No Catholic student is charged tuition. The entire parish supports the parish school, and more affluent parishes subsidize lower income parishes. Catholics in the diocese hardly qualify as philanthropists; the program could not work with the support only of philanthropists. And the town is about as average as you can get.
 
In the final analysis the strength of catholic schools comes down to financial support, parental involvement and parish support/involvement …

While I know that some here say that they support their parishes financially and the entire issue is ‘catholic education’ only and that their schools were not teaching proper caholic values …

The reality is that as catholics we barely support our parishes [they are not something we truely value based upon the statistics of the ‘collections’]. The strength of those dioceses like Witchita, is that they [the catholics in the pew] actually practice sacrificial giving [time talent and treasure], they view the school as an integral part of the parish and a function of its [the parishes’] mission.

The schools that teach good catholic ‘information’ along with the formation of the christian person do so because the parents and other parish volunteers are present in the class room. The christian person can be formed with christian values even as they learn arithmatic, amercian history, and english… They are learning about their faith by attending the school mass at which they will see their parents and//or the parents of their school mates … in addition to the Sunday Mass.

They will hear their parents speak favorably about the Parish Priest, the parish staff, the principal and the teachers …they will see their parents helping the teacher in the class room, in religion and math …

In reality, it is complaints about “Father asking for money again” and the school is “taking over our lives with the fundraising hours”
Another complaint, “I don’t have any children in the parish school, I won’t contribute to the collection plate because they give the school too much” and this “I pay tuition so I don’t need to contribute to the parish” or “Why do they require the school families to give $10 per week … that is just not fair, we already pay tuition and have to do fundraising … the non school families are not told how much to contribute”

I have actually heard all of the above expressed …

Well, here is the numbers:

$10 per week as mentiond in an earlier post [this is higher than the average weekly contribution in my diocese which is approx. $9/per family] equates to 3.8% of the federal minimum wage … so a single mother with one child earning the federal minimum wage who dropped $10 per week into the collection plate $520 per year] would be contributing 3.8% of their annual wage … this would not take into account other benefits that this person would receive like the earned income credit, child tax credit, food stamps and other aid.

My husband and I target 8 % in parish support and 2 - 5% for other charities [archdiocese, seminaries, right to life and homeless - social justice areas, our alma maters] each year … this is based upon our gross income. We do not make six figures most years … this year my company had a profit and we hit six figures 👍 are rare event] … We typically end the year between 15% and 20% of our gross income … this year it was 13.8% because the company had a good year …

We suppor the school, the fundraisers, the parish, the seminary, the archbishop’s appeal … we make that support a priority in our budget, just like the mortgage and utilities …

But I challenge you to search the forums … topics about parish support garner little interest and the most passionate responses are from those who are complaining about the priests asking for money, the parishes charging for 'sacraments" and tuition being too high … and why they are “giving all that they can” or why they are withholding their support …

Tithing … we’ll Ive ben told we "don’t have to do that because we are the New Testament Chruch that is Old Testament" I personally have always wondered why the hebrew people having been given Moses, the Law and the Prophets were required to give 10%

However, the new testament church thinks that having Moses, the Law, the Prophets, Jesus [the Incarnation and fullfillment of the Prophets], Baptism, the Church, the Eucharist, Salvation and Eternal Life … gives us license to give … from a heart that starts at zero % …:confused:

Personally, I think that 10% is just the beginning point …

Thanks for reading my ramblings …🤷
 
I would never give 10% to a parish and school that don’t teach the truth. There is no point. EWTN gets the money needed to continue because they speak the truth.
 
I guess if I lived in a place where my only choices were bad public schools or home schooling, I would feel more passionate about this.

Catholic schools are wonderful when they are authentic. But I don’t think they are necessary.

I have chosen publicly funded charter schools for my children. I see it as using school for what it is for. I choose schools based on their academics. I want rigorous curriculum, a classical agenda filled with good literature, languages, and history, and strong discipline with real bullying protection. I have found what I want in the charter grade school my kids currently attend, and expect it to continue in the charter jr. high and high school I have chosen and that my oldest will start next year.

Some people say they like Catholic schools because their children’s day is filled with Catholicism from beginning to end. That is true if the school is truly Catholic. What we see on many of these threads is that too many are not. And parents can make the faith integral to children attending any type of school. I don’t take my kids to daily Mass, but we talk about the issues of the day from the Catholic perspective. We discuss news stories and events at school, and many times I will say, “Here is what the Church says about that,” or, “As Catholics, this is what is expected of us…” My kids go to RE classes, and so do we parents. (We have Whole Family Catechesis, where the parents have class too.)

I think that people who want Catholic schools should use and support them. I think parishes and dioceses should help support them. But I’ll be honest… I know my children will get a better education, of the kind I want for them, at the charter school than the Catholic one. They could make the tuition free tomorrow, and I would not change our educational plans. It doesn’t help, either, that the only Catholic high schools are in Phoenix proper and at least a 30 mile drive away.
 
duskyjewel said:
I guess if I lived in a place where my only choices were bad public schools or home schooling, I would feel more passionate about this.

Catholic schools are wonderful when they are authentic. But I don’t think they are necessary.

I have chosen publicly funded charter schools for my children. I see it as using school for what it is for. I choose schools based on their academics. I want rigorous curriculum, a classical agenda filled with good literature, languages, and history, and strong discipline with real bullying protection. I have found what I want in the charter grade school my kids currently attend, and expect it to continue in the charter jr. high and high school I have chosen and that my oldest will start next year.

Some people say they like Catholic schools because their children’s day is filled with Catholicism from beginning to end. That is true if the school is truly Catholic. What we see on many of these threads is that too many are not. And parents can make the faith integral to children attending any type of school. I don’t take my kids to daily Mass, but we talk about the issues of the day from the Catholic perspective. We discuss news stories and events at school, and many times I will say, “Here is what the Church says about that,” or, “As Catholics, this is what is expected of us…” My kids go to RE classes, and so do we parents. (We have Whole Family Catechesis, where the parents have class too.)

I think that people who want Catholic schools should use and support them. I think parishes and dioceses should help support them. But I’ll be honest… I know my children will get a better education, of the kind I want for them, at the charter school than the Catholic one. They could make the tuition free tomorrow, and I would not change our educational plans. It doesn’t help, either, that the only Catholic high schools are in Phoenix proper and at least a 30 mile drive away.
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The only problem I have here is allowing Catholic Schools to become academically inferior. This isn’t a problem with what you guys are doing, I believe you are well within your rights, even as a Catholic, to send your kids to a school of your choice.
 
Our parish also uses stewardship to support the parish school. When I catch myself cringing as I write the check every week, I remember that “God will provide.” He will make sure we have enough resources to cover our needs if we help take care of his needs by supporting the church.

P.S. I also will NOT let my kids watch cartoon network. Even the “kid friendly” cartoons are ****.
 
If you rely solely on tuition to support Catholic schools, they will become expensive and elitist.

As noted in the Thomas Fordham Institute study linked above, the Wichita diocese over a period of time eliminated tuition for Catholic students. The schools are successful both spiritually and academically.

That can only be accomplished if the entire parish, and ultimately, the entire diocese takes stewardship of their parishes and schools seriously.

If you look at the weekly collection receipts at my parish, you would think we are a rich parish. But most of that money goes directly back out to support the school. Catholic children are everyone’s responsibility, not just parents’.

Even at that, I’m sure that far from 100% of parishioners support the stewardship idea; but enough do to make a difference.
 
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