The Future of Catholic Education Part 3

I’ve devoted this space lately to a reflection on a talk on the future of American Catholic education given by Fordham University President, Joseph McShane, SJ. Father McShane articulated five theses which, he believes, 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

This month I want to consider his third thesis:
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

Since we are a Lasallian school, sponsored by a religious congregation, I think it is fair to paraphrase McShane’s thesis this way:

La Salle High School will survive and thrive only if it is able to believe in, nurture and build a community-based school in which ownership is shared by the Christian Brothers, the school faculty and the parents

As I write this, the School community is experiencing the third and final day of the WCEA/WASC accreditation visit. The Visiting Committee has been busy observing classes, interviewing administrators, faculty, students and parents. They were particularly impressed by their encounters with our students and parents. One member of the Visiting Committee commented to me that she wished her school had the depth and breadth of commitment that our parents demonstrate here at La Salle. She went on to note how impressive it is that a substantial number of freshman parents demonstrate similar qualities of commitment here. I was proud to hear this message because I agree with her observation. In my 30 years as a Catholic educator I have never encountered a more engaged, supportive and involved parent community as I have here at La Salle. We are surrounded by evidence: the work of the four parent Booster groups, the large attendance at monthly Parent Association meetings, the enormous volunteer effort that supports a wide variety of school-sponsored events, especially the Crystal Ball, PALS, new parent orientation and the Back to Swing dance. I mention this because, as McShane notes below, this represents “parent ownership” of the school:
The product was an extraordinary achievement: a school system that was owned by the people and owned in two important ways: It was owned in the sense that the people paid for it voluntarily. It was also owned because the people who paid for its maintenance believed that its central proposition (namely, the passing on of the faith) was important.


At La Salle, where we cheerfully welcome up to a third of our families from other – or no – religious traditions, we know that the transmission of the faith, one of our chief responsibilities as a Catholic school, generates valuable by-products that are appreciated by everyone: a shared sense of purpose, moral and ethical values that stand against an increasingly secular – and hostile – culture and a commitment to serve the community. The term “ownership” in the context McShane uses, refers to the relationship between the Catholic school and the community it serves. Seen in this light, “moral ownership” of the school belongs to the enrolled families who are, according to McShane, “endowed with a shared sense of purpose…and who believe that the school will reinforce the values that they teach their children at home.”

I have long believed – and the WCEA/WASC Visitation has confirmed – that the successful involvement of parents in the life of the School emerges from their “shared sense of purpose” which we like to paraphrase by asserting that La Salle’s Mission is to produce good students and good people.


Next month, more about developing “good students and good people.”