Three Things to Know About the U.S. Bishops’ Recent Discussions on Catholic Schools

When the nation’s bishops gathered in Baltimore last month for their fall meeting, they received an update on Catholic K-12 schools that scanned a broad horizon—a mix of facts to celebrate and challenges to address.

Leaders of two United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) committees spotlighted at least three take-away lessons for their fellow bishops, and for all Catholics, in a joint presentation on Nov. 10:

Catholic schools are succeeding in vital missions.

They are centers for the New Evangelization, providers of quality education and character formation to students from all backgrounds, sources of religious vocations, and catalysts for quality engagement in parish and civic life.

Especially among those in the so-called Millennial generation, graduates of Catholic high schools attend Sunday Mass more frequently and are more likely to consider religious vocations, the bishops reported.

The Most Rev. George Lucas, Archbishop of Omaha and chair of the USCCB Committee on Catholic Education, said groups like Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) “are finding new ways to assist Catholic schools to accomplish their mission to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Clergy and laypeople share a responsibility to champion America’s Catholic school tradition and boost today’s successes.

 Pastors, other priests and religious, Catholic universities, and many organizations must help develop strong educational leaders for K-12 schools. They also must encourage good governance and financial sustainability, along with supporting parental choice laws and reaching out to all communities on behalf of Catholic education.

Archbishop Lucas made a pitch for stepped-up partnerships between K-12 schools and Catholic universities, a variety of benefactors, and diverse associations supporting a quality education for children from all backgrounds.

The Most Rev. Daniel Flores, Bishop of Brownsville and chair of the USCCB Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, joined Archbishop Lucas in the presentation, and he recalled the legacy of America’s Catholic schools. For generations, they have offered a high quality education and character formation to poor immigrant families.

The Church’s outreach to Latino families and children deserves special attention because they are crucial to the future of the Church and the nation.

Catholic schools provide a path out of poverty for Latinos and help close the achievement gap for many poor and minority students. “[The schools] can change the trajectory of many young Latino lives and others, and help keep parents engaged in the Catholic Church, while increasing enrollments,” Bishop Flores told the assembled church leaders.

Efforts to increase Latino participation in Catholic schools require the bishops and others in parish and school leadership to make schools more welcoming to Latinos, Bishop Flores said. He pointed out that ACE “offers assistance to any bishop or superintendent who needs help with successfully increasing Latino enrollment.”

In a reference to the influence of trusted people like madrinas (godmothers) in Latino communities who can help convince families to consider Catholic school for their children, Bishop Flores said, “The one word that you will constantly hear is that increasing Latino enrollment in Catholic schools boils down to relationships.”

African American and Native American students experience the benefits of Catholic schools, such as 87% high school graduation rates. Latinos share in these advantages, Bishop Flores added. “We must continue this commitment for a new group of immigrants from Latin America, Asia, and Africa, and to the younger generations born and raised in the United States.”

Over the past four years, the percentage of Latino children in Catholic schools has risen from 12.8% to 15% of total enrollment, and almost 20% of the Catholic children in Catholic schools are Latino, he said, urging dioceses to boost the inclusion of underserved populations still more.

The joint speech by Lucas and Flores, along with a major Nov. 9 workshop for bishops on Catholic school outreach to underserved communities, raised the USCCB conference’s focus on K-12 Catholic education to unusually high levels. Rev. Joseph Corpora, C.S.C., who leads ACE’s nationwide Catholic School Advantage campaign to increase Latino enrollments, and Rev. Ronald Nuzzi, Ph.D., senior director of the ACE RISE (Renewing Identity, Strengthening Evangelization) initiative, served as consultants for the USCCB presentations.

“I was encouraged by both the time and the energy the USCCB gave to understanding the current state of K-12 Catholic schools,” Fr. Nuzzi said. “While challenges vary in different parts of the country and in different dioceses, the research is clear that schools are one of the most effective means of evangelization the church has ever established.“

Photo: Bishops at Nov. 2014 conference. USCCB courtesy photo/Matt Palmer.