Catholic School Advantage

Photos provided by St. Mary's Lynn

“Our family can’t afford to send our kids to a Catholic school.”

Working in education since 1982, Dr. John Dolan hears this type of comment often. Now the head of school at St. Mary’s Lynn in Lynn, Massachusetts, he sees firsthand how this sentiment can negatively impact a school’s enrollment, revenues, and financial aid.

Fr. Joe Corpora, C.S.C., on sabbatical for the Fall 2019 semester, renamed his regular “Being Mercy” column in Notre Dame Magazine to “Doing Mercy” as he chronicles his experiences around the world during his active leave from campus.

 See what he's been up to in the stories below.

Name: Maria José Olmos

Title: 2nd Grade Teacher

School: St. Luke Catholic School, A Notre Dame ACE Academy in Palm Springs, Florida

Diocese: Diocese of Palm Beach

The Latino Enrollment Institute (LEI) welcomed 92 schools from 44 (arch)dioceses this month – its largest group ever – as part of its annual conference to equip schools with strategies to serve Latino families.

“It’s all about relationships.”

There probably isn’t a single word or phrase uttered more frequently than this one is at the Catholic School Advantage’s Latino Enrollment Institute (LEI) and Adelante conference each summer. One may even say we sound like a broken record given the extent to which we beat the drum for this seemingly simple idea. And that’s because for many Catholic schools, learning how to cultivate relationships with Latino families in their community has been the difference between viability and closure.

But what about those schools that aren’t necessarily experiencing enrollment challenges or facing impending closure? Is there intrinsic value in Latino outreach solely for the sake of building relationships, and how might that impact our school communities? St. Mary School in Vineland, New Jersey, serves as a perfect example of this. Their new initiative, United in Faith Latino Outreach (UFLO), is a great reminder that the work of building relationships with the Latino community should never be done simply for the sake of filling empty seats.