I also went to Catholic grammar and high school - there was no lunch in the grammar school - you either went home for lunch or brown bagged it. In HS pizza came from the local Pizzeria, knishes came from the local Jewish deli and everything else was made on the premises. We loved the lunch ladies, and their meat loaf was FABULOUS! Of course we had a student body of less than 300, at least a third of which brought lunch most days - except when we knew pizza or knishes were on the menu!
As I recall from my Jersey City days, my parents paid for the school lunches.
Nothing was free.
In HS we had approx. 300 in the entire school
But we had an award winning basketball team, all on scholarship
My parents directly paid for those scholarships.......and my tuition....and my lunch!