American Girl Catholic School Uniform

Catholic schools are in vogue. Proof: You can buy a Catholic school uniform for an American Girl doll. In your favorite plaid. You can find them for Barbie too. All the best dressed dolls are sporting them. They’re $25-$30 online.

            However, though the dolls are going traditional, the Catholic schools are not. Catholic Schools are in transition mode.

            National Catholic Educational Association’s latest statistics for the 2011-2012 academic year note that nationwide there are 6,841 Catholic Schools: 5,636 elementary/middle and 1,205 secondary. More than 26 percent of them, 1,822 Catholic schools, have waiting lists for admission. Total school student enrollment is 2,031,455, with 1,440,572 in elementary/middle schools and 590,883 in secondary schools. Most students are Catholic, but more than 15 percent are not.

The schools have a long history – St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, founder of the Catholic schools, opened her first school in Baltimore in 1808. Today’s schools are a far cry from then.

The need to work to attract students is one reason. Years ago Catholic schools didn’t recruit. Students came from the parish in which they were located. Now with Mass attendance down, many families don’t see the parish school and do not automatically think local Catholic school. Schools no longer expect the nearby parish to underwrite them, though some parishes do to an extent. Now Catholic schools must market – sell themselves as never before. Catholic elementary schools are adopting practices once reserved for high school and higher education. Enrollment management and advancement practices such as annual giving programs are being introduced to let schools plan and manage resources responsibly.

            Finances are but one concern, however. The more important questions address the why of Catholic education. In our pluralistic society, intentional efforts must go to creating an environment that stresses not just the three Rs plus religion, but also respect for the human person and the goal of eternity.

Religious values are real. One mother told me that a boy in her daughter’s class had cancer. He was dying and the children prayed for him every day. She liked that her child was learning to deal with one of life’s realities and to bring concerns to Jesus.

            Another mother told of her four-year-old’s experience. On the first day of pre-school he was reflective throughout lunch. Finally he confided, “You know, Mom, you can trust God.” Then he sang about trust in God, a ditty he’d just learned. The message will do him well for life.

            Today, school backers know that the common elements of a successful Catholic school include a strong Catholic identity, clear doctrinal teaching and sacramental focus, mission driven decision-making, a strong, vision-oriented administrator and faculty, active parent involvement, focused academic curriculum and an emphasis on community involvement. Soon another measure of success will be how schools provide Catholic education for the Hispanic community and otherwise support the nation’s new families and immigrants.

             Decades ago Catholic schools moved children of immigrants up the social ladder through education. The schools started as an alternative to public schools that promoted Protestantism. Today they provide a different form of alternative education, giving parents at all economic levels a choice to send their children to a school that is right for that child, academically excellent and supportive of the faith for which the school exists. 

State of Saints

New Yorkers may seem hardened and cynical, but they can still take notice of miracles within their borders. Hence, their pride in having two new saints to their claim. The first, Kateri Tekakwitha, known as “the Lily of the Mohawks,” lived her faith in the area of Amsterdam, a relatively short distance from the state capital, Albany. She did so despite fierce opposition from her tribe and died in 1680. The other, Mother Marianne Cope, a member of the Syracuse Franciscan nuns, gave her life to helping the poor, especially those outcasts with Hansen’s disease, on a leper colony on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. She died in 1918. Both will be canonized October 21 by Pope Benedict XVI. From the Empire State’s perspective, this gives New York State “pride of ownership’ of seven of the 12 formally acknowledged saints in the United States.

Saints in the state were heralded in The New York Times last Saturday in an informative article by Times editorial writer Lawrence Downes.

Mr. Downes’ highlighting of 12 American saints made journalist factfinders pause. The Catholic Church says the country claims ten official saints. The New York Daily News called the bishops’ conference to ask about the discrepancy. A little research discovered that while the Vatican speaks of Jesuit St. Isaac Jogues and his companions in martyrdom as one addition to the roll of saints, The New York Times counted by name two of Jogues’ martyred companions, René Goupil and Jean de la Lande. Thus, for The Times, the Empire State now can claim a total of seven official saints, and the nation may claim 12.

The Jesuit martyrs are held high by the Albany Diocese, home of the Shrine of the North American Martyrs near Amsterdam. Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany has been calling his see “the diocese of saints.” He notes that the diocese claims not only the three Jesuits martyred there and now Blessed Kateri, but also Mother Marianne. When the Syracuse Franciscan went to Hawaii, it was actually from the Albany Diocese since the Diocese of Syracuse didn’t exist then. It was formed later to include land from the Albany Diocese.

Mr. Downes also lets New York claim the first American saint, Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, a naturalized citizen who worked with Italian immigrants in New York City; and the first native U.S. saint, Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton, the founder of the Catholic school system, who was born in the Big Apple. From his office in Manhattan, Mr. Downes thinks of the seven saints as New Yorkers. Not bad for just one of the 50 states. Bishop Hubbard from his office in Albany notes that five of the seven were from his diocese alone. Even better for just one of the 195 dioceses in the nation.

Others also can take pride. With the canonization of Mother Marianne, U.S. nuns now have their sixth official American nun saint. In addition to Mother Marianne, they include St. Frances Xavier Cabrini; St. Elizabeth Ann Seton; St. Katharine Drexel, a Philadelphia socialite who became a missionary to Indians and Native Americans; St. Mother Théodore Guérin, founder of the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods and who opened schools in Illinois and Indiana; and St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, a missionary to Native Americans, who traveled to the Louisiana Territory from France and opened the first free school for girls west of the Mississippi.

You have to smile when you look at the accomplishments of these 10 (or is it 12?) official saints. And with seven of the 12 connected to New York, and five connected to the Albany Diocese, it’s clear why even God may chant the state mantra/slogan, “I love New York.”