In today’s New York Times, authors Patrick McCloskey and Joseph Harris took to the editorial page to announce that “Catholic parochial education is in a crisis.” In many regards, this is quite true. Any observer of the state of the Catholic education over the past few years will likely recall the difficulty in which Archbishop Chaput weighed the closing of the Philadelphia schools and in which Cardinal Dolan has considered the New York closings. A school closing is never made easily or lightly.
As the article mentions, at the heart of the Catholic school crisis is the increased reliance on lay people. With a decline in vocations, the Church has had to hire more lay people to staff these schools. This is a huge financial undertaking. In addition to salaries, there are other costs, such as health insurance, retirement packages, and other benefits that require the investment of significant resources—resources that were not expended during an era in which priests and nuns filled the bulk of these positions.
The authors of the Times op-ed call for the Church to shift its spending and increase their per-student contribution to Catholic schools. In addition they go on to accuse “Bishops [who] preach social justice but fail to practice it within the church.” While a conversation about spending may be appropriate (there should also be one about state legislation on school choice, which Archbiship Chaput rightly noted almost a year ago), I’d like to offer another solution: a renewed call for religious vocations which can serve these schools and dramatically reduce costs.
Last year marked a twenty year high in vocations to the priesthood, a resurgence of women—young women—accepting the call to religious religious life, and a major report in October found that there are an abundance of (over six-hundred thousand) Catholic men and women who are potential priests and sisters. Catholics should pray for and encourage these vocations, which would be a major part of the solution. Moreover, leadership matters—in any organization. As my research indicates, where the leadership of the diocese is theologically orthodox, there are more vocations that could fill the role of educators in these schools, the altars of the Churches, and a wide array of needs, both practical and spiritual, of the Church, at large.
The Church is being refined on many levels—including parochial education. A conversation about a return to orthodoxy—in our seminaries, in our churches, and in our schools—is a conversation that needs to be had prior to any about spending. Though I fear it will be a much harder one to have.
January 7th, 2013 | 10:05 am
In the past, sisters who taught in Catholic schools did not get health insurance nor much of a salary. That doesn’t mean that they didn’t get sick, nor that they did not need to pay for the maintenance of their convent or motherhouse.
In my community, 50% of the sisters are 80 or older while about 15% of us are employed full-time (some with benefits). Religious communities do not receive direct contributions from their dioceses (which usually have little money) nor parishes.
In most religious communities, many of the elderly sisters qualify for Medicaid because of decades of teaching (or nursing) without receiving a living wage or health care coverage.
It would be great to have more sisters teaching in schools — but we have as many dependents to feed and care for as any family. We need to receive a living wage and standard benefits like any other person employed by the school.
I teach full-time in Catholic higher education. My income supports the five sisters who are in formation and the dozens who are over 80. Please do not suggest that I should be paid less than my colleagues (usually dual-income families) who only have 2 or 3 dependents. We do the same work in God’s service, and so should bring home the same pay.
January 7th, 2013 | 10:05 am
The biggest problem for Catholic schools is that the curriculum they use is virtually indistinguishable from that used in the government schools which results in a school culture that is indistinguishable. The first step is to make the schools “catholic.”
January 7th, 2013 | 10:50 am
I agree with Sister E. Young nuns don’t stay young forever. When they get older, their health care costs as much as a laywoman’s does. Many religious orders’ pension funds are drastically underfunded, a mistake that may have been understandable fifty years ago but one it would be unethical to repeat. Wages are only part of the cost of a schoolteacher. Pension contributions and health insurance are a large component.
January 7th, 2013 | 11:05 am
Are there any successful Catholic schools we can learn from?
January 7th, 2013 | 12:55 pm
So, in the end, it comes down to us, the laypeople, whose donations would pay for any Catholic schools and, if they return, any sisters who teach in them.
Are Patrick McCloskey and Joseph Harris Catholic? Don’t they know that church donations are voluntary? Whether or not they share the faith, they too can donate.
My parish’s schools closed over the last twenty years with the elementary one closing just a few years ago. Parents were, in general, unwilling to pay the increased tuition, one even slashing the Pastor’s tires on a tuition hike about 19 years ago. One of the original schools remains as an independent Catholic High School. It’s run by the Xaverian Brothers and has been for many decades. It charges a full up private school tuition.
I saw the op-ed but ignored it. NYT’s track record on understanding Catholic issues is very shallow. Does Christopher White find the op-ed recommended reading?
January 7th, 2013 | 1:16 pm
Hello TJH,
“The biggest problem for Catholic schools is that the curriculum they use is virtually indistinguishable from that used in the government schools which results in a school culture that is indistinguishable. The first step is to make the schools “catholic.””
Right. And it does not help when ordinaries like Archbishop O’Brien (formerly of Baltimore until last year) bring in Protestant, Jewish and secular figures to advise on curriculum changes. Nothing against public or other sectarian schools, but the Church has a rich array of educational expertise to bring to the table.
January 7th, 2013 | 9:34 pm
I’ve written an entire book on the history of Catholic education in the United States: “Designed to Fail: Catholic Education in America”.
The decline of Catholic education is not just due to shrinking vocations or even bad curricula. Although both of these things contribute to the problem, the real problem began the moment the parochial school systems were put together.
There is an inherent design flaw – vocations shrank and bad curricula crept in because of the original design problem. Unless and until that flaw is fixed, the schools will continue to disappear.
Given the history of America’s Catholic schools, it is safe to say America’s bishops are psychologically incapable of solving the problem.
January 8th, 2013 | 12:11 am
Hi Steve,
Just bought your book. Now I’m here telling the publisher that I’d like to see this book on Kindle. :)
January 8th, 2013 | 9:07 am
SK, give us a hint. In 25 words or less, can you summarize the singular design flaw you cite?
Catholic education certainly has its challenges today, but the relationship between it and public education is about like when I went to school. My grade-school education at a fraction of the cost gave me a better foundation for success in public high school (later, college and grad school) than my peers who went to the public schools–this in one of the better public systems in our State.
The Catholic schools may be in trouble, but public education is essentially broken. More spending is not the solution–government schools pay 5 times the cost in REAL purchasing power (inflaction-adjusted) vs when I went to school, and delicver a sub-standard education for it.
Yes, Catholics need to mind their curricula, and their faith principles, and their pennies, but students still have a better shot for success in academics, and in life, in Catholic schools.
January 8th, 2013 | 8:19 pm
I’m afraid I agree with Sister Bogue, going back to a system that doesn’t compensate teachers does not seem like a practical answer to me. I also read the NYT’s editorial and as a fundraising consultant that works primarily with catholic secondary schools, my response is contained in my blog post, How to Save Catholic Education in 4 Not-So-Easy Steps http://www.thefundraisingresource.com/wp/fundraising-2/how-to-save-catholic-education-in-4-not-so-easy-steps/
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