SCHOOL MINISTRY

History

Catholic Education iV

This is the fourth in a series of six articles about the history of Catholic elementary education in the United States. These articles celebrate Catholic Schools Week - this week - January 23 through 30.

The 1960s: Changing Times for Parochial Schools

During the very time at which parochial education was at its peak, the seeds of enormous change were planted.   The wake of Vatican Council II marked two significant shifts for the parochial school system.  

The Change in Teaching Staff

Vatican II called for the renewal of religious life across the world.   In response, sisters' orders returned to their founding purpose. This meant that some returned to their contemplative roots and way of life. Many other orders, however, vastly expanded their ministries. Moreover, lay dress and the ability to live in small groups outside the convent opened women religious to more creative possibilities for serving the poor, working for justice, developing the ministry of spiritual direction and engaging in ministries from prison chaplaincy to administering the state health department.  

This movement "into the world' of the sisters' orders was complemented by the feminist movement in the United States. The confluence of religious life renewal and the feminist movement helped sisters deepen their sensitivities as women and expand their horizons as they reflected on their role in the Church. Both led to a great flowering of ministry in the Church of the United States on both the parish and diocesan level, and across society as a whole.  

This enormous shift, with all of its significant ecclesial and cultural implications, meant that progressively fewer and fewer sisters were available for teaching in parochial schools. They were replaced by lay staff. The hiring of lay teaching staff in schools changed school finances dramatically.  

The Change in Catholic Culture

The 1960s also marked a significant change in Catholic self-understanding. Though ours had been an immigrant Church from the founding of the republic through the early part of the 20th century, we were by the '60s, essentially, fully assimilated into American culture. Throughout the first part of the century, bishops across the nation, like John Ireland, had strongly led us as Catholics and as Americans, defending the congruence of American and Catholic principles both in our pulpits and in Rome. We suffered the Depression and fought World Was II side by side with our fellow citizens. Catholic World War II refugees were small in number and were efficiently and well care for by already existing parish and diocesan organizations.  

This assertive assimilation of Catholics into American culture reached its zenith with the election of John Kennedy in 1960. Now we not only believed ourselves that there was no contradiction between being American and being Catholic, Kennedy's election also demonstrated that we were fully accepted - symbolically, at least - by our fellow citizens. This acceptance by the rest of the nation led us out of our enclave mentality into the nation at large.  

During this shift, because they no longer socialized immigrants, our schools lost a fundamental element of their original purpose - indeed, the reasons the parochial system was established in 1854. Moreover, as we tended to become more American than Catholic, the need to send our children to Catholic parochial schools - mandated by the bishops and Rome the century before - diminished.  

What Change Has Wrought

Though the increasing expense of facilities is certainly a factor, tuition has risen these past three decades essentially because of the dramatic change from women religious to lay teaching staff.    

In 1959, typically, a full staff of sisters, one administrator and a janitor staffed a school of hundreds of students.   Today 13 lay teachers, four lay specialists, a lay teacher's aide, lay clerical staff and lay one administrator staff the typical school. None of them is a woman religious.  In our time, if a woman religious were on staff, she would be paid full salary in any case. What the sisters were able to do for $10 of yearly tuition in 1959 we do for $2900 of yearly tuition today.

Our parochial schools today are better than they were forty years ago. Our teachers are more qualified.   Technology has made the learning environment more expansive. We also educate our students relatively cheaply. That is, while education in Catholic schools averages between $3000 and $3500 per pupil nationally, public school education averages nationally between $7000 and $8000 per pupil. Nonetheless, many Catholic schools have closed and merged as demographics have changed and neighborhood parishes have been unable to make Sunday gifts and tuition payments enough to finance a parish's school ministry.