Posted on 04/12/2008 6:53:15 AM PDT by kellynla
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- For 46 years, crime, recessions and hurricanes proved no threat to the daily ritual of St. Monica School, where the entire blue-and-white uniformed student body gathered outside each morning to join in prayer.
Come June, though, the tradition will fade away, and "amen" will close St. Monica's morning recitations for the last time. The school, a home-away-from-home for mostly minority students, will close.
As Pope Benedict XVI next week makes his first trip to the U.S. as pontiff, Catholic schools across the country, long a force in educating the underprivileged regardless of their faith, face the same fate as St. Monica.
About 1,267 Catholic schools have closed since 2000 and enrollment nationwide has dropped by 382,125 students, or 14 percent, according to the National Catholic Education Association. The problem is most apparent in inner cities, in schools like St. Monica with large concentrations of minorities whose parents often struggle to pay tuition rather than send them to failing public schools.
"We lose the kids. They can't afford it. And then as the school gets smaller, you have to raise the tuition to pay the costs and it's a vicious cycle," said Sister Dale McDonald, the association's director of public policy and education research.
The pope will gather with Catholic educators during his visit, but not those who run elementary schools _ the meeting is with college presidents.
St. Monica has been operating on a deficit for about a decade. Enrollment went from 368 students in 2004 to 196 today. Requests for financial aid increased. The Archdiocese of Miami devoted more than $2.7 million in subsidies over the past seven years to keep it open.
"There's not the numbers there to keep going," said Kristen Hughes, superintendent of schools for the archdiocese. "The economy really has had a huge impact."
McDonald notes Catholic schools have been closing since their peak in the 1960s, when there were 12,893 schools with about 5.25 million students. Today, there are 7,378 schools with 2.27 million students. The decline in enrollment is accelerating, fueling further school closures.
The recent economic downturn is being blamed for some of them, but McDonald said dioceses' huge payouts to settle sex abuse lawsuits could have played a role too.
"We have no direct correlation," she said, "but as the dioceses have gone into financial debt the funds to subsidize these schools would be diminished."
High school enrollment has remained roughly the same and schools are opening in suburbs, particularly in the West and Southwest. The Northeast and Midwest have been hit hardest.
Some dioceses have turned to public-private partnerships to keep schools open, and others have created consortiums of schools to share resources. In the Archdiocese of Washington, officials plan to convert seven schools into publicly funded charter schools this fall.
Taking taxpayer money means sacrificing the core element of Catholic schools: their faith. The schools won't be able to have prayers, and will have to strip religion from the curriculum. That has prompted petitions from parents who want the schools to stay as they are.
"What is lost is the teachings of the Catholic faith," said Joe McKenzie, a 41-year-old technology consultant who has two children at St. Gabriel School in Washington. "That voice will be silent."
McDonald said she is concerned, too. Catholic schools were once considered vital to passing on the faith to the next generation and to exposing multitudes of non-Catholics to the church. With declining enrollment, the church will need to find new means.
Perhaps most distressing to McDonald and others is the loss of schools in the inner city.
"The church has always had a strong sense of mission, particularly to the poor," she said. "As it becomes more and more difficult, not only on the poor but on middle-income people, we're not really fulfilling the mission of the church to serve all if we only can afford to serve the people who can afford the big bucks."
The issue has caught the attention of President Bush, who called faith-based schools "lifelines of learning" in his State of the Union address and said they were disappearing at an alarming rate. The White House will host a summit on the topic later this month.
Advocates for Catholic schools say it's in the public's interest to preserve them. McDonald said Catholic school students save the government $19.8 billion annually.
"They've left these urban inner-city schools when they close and they have to go somewhere," said Virginia Gentles, who oversees the nonpublic education office of the U.S. Department of Education. "It could be tough for the districts financially and from other standpoints to absorb those children."
For now, parents still line up in cars outside St. Monica each afternoon to pick their children up. Many say how sad they are to see it close.
The policy has been promulgated, I could care less whether you "believe" it or not.
Indeed! LOL
In Maryland, at least, Catholic schools aren't required to have “certified teachers” teaching class. At my high school alma mater, perhaps 20% - 25% of the faculty have teaching certifications and/or education degrees.
The rest have degrees in, oh, say, chemistry if they're teaching chemistry. Or math, if they're teaching math. My son's Latin teacher has degrees in history and ancient history. He's working on his Ph.D. in Early Christian Studies, and thus is fluent in Latin in Greek. So, he teaches Latin, Greek, and Ancient Classical History. Go figure! ;-)
sitetest
No, I agree that Catholic bishops et al. should certainly be held to a higher standard. My point was about the reporting and writing: if the scandalized reporters and writers were really concerned about the children and teenagers involved, they’d examine the public schools on this score. But clearly, that’s not their objective.
I attend Bishop England High School, Charleston, SC, for all my 4 years of high school. I remember that about 10% of the student population was non-Catholic. The only difference between the Catholic and non-Catholic students is that they were excused from Mass. My niece graduated from the same school a few years ago. I asked my sister if there were still non-Catholics in the school. She said it is pretty much the same number today.
Yeah, I'm sure state laws have a lot to do with it, and vary significantly across the board.
Yeah, that's why these people are now sending their children to the public schools where they are assured of not being sexually abused. < /sarcasm>
What a moron.
School Sisters of Notre Dame.
Oh so now I am a moron?... :)... I hope you feel smart and superior saying it :) But when you think about it.... hmm.....I might home school my kid - if I had one - rather than doing either one. I grant you the Public School IS DANGEROUS... and the CC would not be a choice for me considering what we have been talking about. Yeah Home Schooling, or a private NON CATHOLIC school, would be a choice.
I see your point. But as I understand it, high schools and colleges are full of these "homosexual" clubs nowadays!... In fact, I maybe mistaken, but having these clubs on campus and actually promoting the homosexual/lesbian "life style" it is somehow seen as a BADGE OF HONOR!...You know... supporting "diversity." So, from the media's point of view there is 'no news' with this.
Furthermore, I would dare to say that if an administrator in a public school were to disagree loudly against this type of corruption, they would be out of job in no time... Don't you think so?
That is what makes this whole horrible incident so UGLY... That the Catholic Church NO LESS, were the ones involved in it and again, even more odious, is the way they acted after the whole thing came out in the press. If you read "Betrayal" you will see how the CC used its power (position and connections, lawyers, etc) to actually intimidate and muscle those who considered going public against the church. That same fat ass in Boston, whom the pope himself was kissing on the cheek and forgiving him in Rome just a few days after he was forced to resign his position in Boston Archdiocese. In fact, I believe, he is STILL working for the Church in Rome, or not?... to talk about giving the wrong perception.
I can never and will never understand how GOOO Catholics put up with this once they knew the full story. They should have put pressure on ROME to come clean and come up with a CLEAR position on all this or ELSE...
Take care.
That comment about the good sisters is not at all funny.
I’ve known quite a few nuns and they’re very decent people.
You are claiming that there were predatory gatherings of sexually dysfunctional individuals who were nuns?
I have never heard of nuns who were sexual predators. If you have any evidence of nuns who are predators you should inform the authorities immediately.
I will assume this evidence is in your mind, not in reality.
May 13, 1971
NIXON: You know what happened to the Romans? The last six Roman emperors were fags. Neither in a public way. You know what happened to the popes? They were layin' the nuns; that's been goin' on for years, centuries. But the Catholic Church went to hell three or four centuries ago. It was homosexual, and it had to be cleaned out. That's what's happened to Britain. It happened earlier to France.
Let's look at the strong societies. The Russians. Goddamn, they root 'em out. They don't let 'em around at all. I don't know what they do with them. Look at this country. You think the Russians allow dope? Homosexuality, dope, immorality, are the enemies of strong societies. That's why the Communists and left-wingers are clinging to one another. They're trying to destroy us. I know Moynihan will disagree with this, [Attorney General John] Mitchell will, and Garment will. But, goddamn, we have to stand up to this.
EHRLICHMAN: It's fatal liberality.
Insofar as you have compared yourself with Nixon on this point, n00b, I believe you've just identified yourself as a bigot, blind with hate.
>>I believe you’ve just identified yourself
>>as a bigot, blind with hate.
On the contrary, Nixon was an observant and generally peaceful Quaker. He loved his wife, his children, and his country - and he was faithful to all of them despite efforts to corrupt him.
Certainly his enemies would like to paint him otherwise; but Nixon was the last true conservative president this country will ever have.
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