Abstract
Three hundred sixty-one seminarians from the 48 diocesan seminaries in the United States and the North American College in Rome, Italy responded to a survey regarding their sentiments about the value of Catholic schools, their effectiveness, and the importance of financially supporting them. The results suggest that while diocesan seminarians are generally supportive of Catholic schools, they are more positive about the value of Catholic schools and the importance of providing financial support than they are about the effectiveness of Catholic schools, especially their religious effectiveness. The seminarians’ sentiments toward value and financial support are comparable to those of previous studies of priests. The seminarians’ own backgrounds in Catholic schools, selection of the most important purpose of Catholic schools, age, Hispanic ethnicity, and whether the seminary provided academic instruction about Catholic schools are factors that influenced their sentiments, particularly of effectiveness. The study did not include seminarians from religious congregations.
Highlights
Three hundred sixty-one seminarians from the 48 diocesan seminaries in the United States and the North American College in Rome, Italy responded to a survey regarding their sentiments about the value of Catholic schools, their effectiveness, and the importance of financially supporting them
The results suggest that while diocesan seminarians are generally supportive of Catholic schools, they are more positive about the value of Catholic schools and the importance of providing financial support than they are about the effectiveness of Catholic schools, especially their religious effectiveness
Population The target population for the study consisted of seminarians from the 48 diocesan seminaries located in the 14 Episcopal Regions identified by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the North American College (NAC) in Rome, Italy
Summary
Three hundred sixty-one seminarians from the 48 diocesan seminaries in the United States and the North American College in Rome, Italy responded to a survey regarding their sentiments about the value of Catholic schools, their effectiveness, and the importance of financially supporting them. Review of Literature Donovan and Madaus (1969) conducted one of the earliest studies of the perceptions of priests about Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Boston They found positive and supportive sentiments about Catholic schools among the clergy. O’Brien wanted to determine whether Andrew Greely’s contention (Greeley, McCready, & McCourt, 1976) that some pastors and future pastors were not supportive of Catholic schools, mainly due to the financial burden on parishes, was still the case a decade later To accomplish his objectives, O’Brien adapted a questionnaire used by Sullivan (1982) and sent it to a sample of 660 priests selected systematically from a mailing list generated randomly by the publishers of The Official Catholic Directory. Priests ordained from 11 to 20 years and those who did not attend Catholic schools were less in agreement with many of the statements in O’Brien’s study than were the other priests who participated
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