On Guadalupe Feast Day, Celebrating Oakland's Latino Enrollment Success

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12 calls to mind an important example of transformative approaches that have borne fruit for Latino students and Catholic schools in the Diocese of Oakland, Calif., says Sister Barbara Bray, SNJM, diocesan superintendent of schools.

Those approaches, informed through a partnership with the University of Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), have paved the way to a 20 percent increase in Latino enrollments in one year throughout the diocese—a jump of 571 children in pre-K through eighth grade, she says.

In some schools, the changes have included basics like the arrival of a statue honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe. Catholic schools have traditionally honored the saints held dear by immigrant groups that were heavily represented in their parishes, says Sister Barbara, but sometimes they were slow in their outreach to new waves of immigrants whom they were also called to serve.

"You walked into some of our schools that were already in largely Latino areas, and could you find Our Lady of Guadalupe?" the superintendent asks rhetorically. "Well, she's there now. She's everywhere."

Placement of this beloved image of the Blessed Mother in schools was not a panacea, but neither was it merely symbolic. As with schools that embraced the values of European immigrant groups of the past, the presence of the new statues intensified relationships and community, Sister Barbara says.

"There's that sense of coming home: 'I see myself here. I see my saints here—I see Our Lady of Guadalupe.'"

That's just one of the many insights that emerged from collaborations between the Diocese of Oakland and the Alliance for Catholic Education—particularly with ACE's Catholic School Advantage campaign—over the past few years.

The collaborations started shortly after the Notre Dame Task Force on the Participation of Latino Children and Families in Catholic Schools issued its report describing the need for better outreach to Latinos. That report, "To Nurture the Soul of a Nation," was released, not coincidentally, on Dec. 12, 2009.

Findings and recommendations in the report, which gave birth to the Catholic School Advantage campaign and its goal of doubling the percentage of Latino families enrolling their children in Catholic schools, were embraced enthusiastically in Oakland, says Sr. Barbara.

The diocese had already recognized the urgent need for better outreach to the growing local Latino population, she says, but the report helped to promote attention and action among school administrators, benefactors, and others. "The integrity and research of Notre Dame added strength and credibility to the message."

Part of the report's message is that Latino families deserve access to alternatives other than their local public schools, especially since Catholic schools have been shown to offer an advantage in student outcomes—higher graduation rates, greater civic involvement, and stronger engagement in their faith.

With the 2009 report, diocesan leaders saw a path forward, Sr. Barbara says. They invited Rev. Joseph Corpora, C.S.C., director of university-school partnerships and director of ACE's Latino initiative, to come and speak to assemblies of principals, pastors, and others with an influence over local Catholic education.

Father Corpora presented approaches that he has since taken to hundreds of meetings in scores of dioceses around the country. His message contains crucial demographic facts about the future of the Catholic Church in the United States, plus clear goals and methods for serving disadvantaged populations and making inner-city schools more sustainable.

His new proposals for schools, ranging from cultural changes to financial strategies, include the aforementioned embrace of Latino spirituality as personified by Our Lady of Guadalupe. Fr. Corpora also suggests more appropriate ways of welcoming parents of prospective students, Sr. Barbara notes, and he urges school leaders to "meet the Latino community where they are."

Among other things, that means connecting with natural influencers like the madrinas, or godmothers, whose values and recommendations command respect among networks of neighbors and friends.

These and many more ideas have started bearing fruit, as seen in the 20 percent enrollment jump between 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, but neither the Alliance for Catholic Education nor the Oakland Diocese is stopping there. Administrators of two diocesan schools are part of a new initiative in the Catholic School Advantage campaign—a Latino Enrollment Institute where particular schools commit to an extended, measured, and collaborative effort.

The Institute's first cohort of principals was convened on the Notre Dame campus last summer. Oakland's representatives loved the Institute's sharing of best practices, and "it sparked them on" to bolder initiatives locally, says Sr. Barbara.

So a 20 percent jump may be only the beginning. It's clear that the diocesan schools' drive to serve more members of the growing Latino population must continue, Sr. Barbara points out. "This is the future of our Church and our country."

Photo: A statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Jarlath Catholic School in the Diocese of Oakland, courtesy of principal Rodney Pierre-Antoine.St. Jarlath is one of two schools in the diocese where the Alliance for Catholic Education has an additonal connection: Teachers from the ACE Teaching Fellows initiative join in the daily classroom life at St. Jarlath and St. Elizabeth Elementary School.