Abstract
For a century Catholic schools have formed the basis for a strong system of acculturation into Catholic identity and values. Catholic schools provided a low-cost basic education and served as a common school for all social classes of Catholics. This system has weakened considerably in the last decades. Between 1970 and 2000 there was a net loss of 3,595 Catholic schools in the United States, a 29.9% decline. In addition, the nature of these schools seems to be changing as the percentage of total Catholic school enrollment made up by non-Catholics has increased ten-fold in 30 years. Many Catholic Schools seem to have pursued increased academic excellence at the expense of religious acculturation. This paper examines diocesan data to determine the extent to which Catholics still consider Catholic elementary schools to be important. Findings include survey data on school importance from 55,000 diocesan Catholics. I addition, parishioner survey results are presented from two suburban parishes, each of which is considering establishing a parochial elementary school. If new elementary schools are going to be established, a way must be found for Catholics to arrive at a consensus on this issue.
Highlights
The longer that one has been a member of the parish, the more one is disinclined to support the creation of a school; this holds for all age groups
The main difference between the two parishes is that a higher percentage of parishioners from Holy Cross (44.9%) were more likely to support the creation of a school than were parishioners from Blessed Sacrament (28.5%)
This difference is somewhat surprising when one considers that Blessed Sacrament already has a new education building constructed and paid for, while Holy Cross would need to construct a new education building at considerable expense
Summary
While similar dynamics are found in both Catholic elementary schools and secondary schools, this paper explores only elementary schools, due to the availability of diocesan survey data about them. It examines existing diocesan data to determine the extent to which Catholics in the Rockford Diocese value Catholic elementary schools in the abstract and consider them to be strategically important enough to establish new schools. There are two sources of pertinent data: (1) a 1997 diocesan-wide survey that was a part of a diocesan planning project; and (2) parish surveys in 2002 and 2003 from two suburban parishes, each of which was considering establishing a new parochial elementary school. Moving from the theoretical to the very practical, the parish surveys measure support of parishioners for establishing new elementary schools in their own parishes in the near future. The results of each survey will be compared and contrasted to determine the extent of support by Catholics for establishing new elementary schools
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