The Future of Catholic Education Part 2

Last month I made reference to a talk on the future of American Catholic education given by Fordham University President, Joseph McShane, SJ. Father McShane articulated five theses which, he believed, will characterize Catholic schools of the future:




1. The challenges that Catholic education has faced and overcome in the past 50 years will pale in comparison to the challenges that it will face in the next 50 years


2. The American Catholic School System will thrive only if the Church recognizes that it is a community of communities – and that the needs of the various communities that it is called to serve are different


3. The American Catholic School System will survive and thrive only if it is able to believe in, nurture and build community-based schools in which ownership is shared by the parish community, the school faculty and the parents


4. Students will come in the door expecting one thing (namely, an entrée to a successful professional life) and they will discover something entirely far richer: they will discover the faith


5. The American Catholic School System will thrive only if it is seen as … a great, transcendent and transforming instrument of both grace and personal enrichment

I commented on his first thesis in this space last month. This time, I want to take up his second thesis that the success of Catholic schools is (and will be) a function of their ability to become a “community of communities.”

At first glance, the notion that a school can function as a “community of communities” may appear to be a bit of an oxymoron. After all, one could argue that the primary function of a school is to nurture a community of learners. But this perspective, while accurate, overlooks the challenge every school faces in responding to the needs of a heterogeneous population of students while, at the same time, treating them as equals. Successful schools recognize that their students come from different neighborhoods, cultural, economic and ethnic backgrounds and academic foundations. Even the most prestigious school must face – and meet – this challenge.

At La Salle, for example, we take great pride in the policy established by our Board of Trustees, which requires that the student population we serve should reflect the demographics of the San Gabriel Valley. This explains why there is no majority from any one racial/ethnic population among our students; why 5% of them qualify for full tuition assistance and the next 10% are eligible for 50% financial aid grants and that up to 30% of our students will come from religious traditions other than the Catholic Church. At La Salle, we strive to create one community of learners out of the various communities from which our students’ identity is forged. Our success in this endeavor is predicated upon the strong ties between home and school that are nurtured over the course of four years. It is not at all unusual, for example, to have parents tell me that they appreciate the diversity of teenagers who socialize in their home after school and on weekends. This unity in diversity can be observed on our campus at lunch, during break, in the classrooms and on the playing field. And, while no adolescent society is ever completely free of the tyranny found in social relationships among peers, at La Salle, I find that our young people are extremely conscious of the inclusive values inherent in schools sponsored by the Christian Brothers. This, too, echoes the American Catholic school experience over the course of the last 150 years.

In describing the emergence of the Catholic school system in the middle of the 19th century, Father McShane artfully notes that “…the American Catholic Church was (and is) the only institution in the nation (aside from the nation itself) that mirrors the national motto/aspiration: “Out of many, one.” Then, the challenge for the Church was to protect an immigrant population from the quasi-public effort to instill Protestant religious values in Catholic children, thus weakening their adherence to Catholic beliefs. So the Church nurtured “ethnic villages” organized around urban neighborhoods where Central and Western European immigrants could feel comfortable speaking their native language and practicing cherished customs from their homeland.

In some ways American Catholic schools continue to protect our students from a hostile culture – only now the hostility is to be found in the secularization of values, the homogenization of customs and the incessant stream of messages which effectively degrade moral and ethical principles that are the essential building blocks of healthy social interactions. At La Salle, these challenges are met with a robust response that is prevalent throughout the day-to-day school experience especially in the Religion classroom, monthly liturgical celebrations and our retreat and community service programs. These programs enable the students entrusted to our care to develop a respect and compassion for others, especially the poor and, equally importantly, to celebrate the diversity of the human condition. It is in this sense that La Salle, like the American Catholic school system can be said to be a “community of communities.”

Next month: shared “ownership” of the educational enterprise.