Viewpoint: Ponying up to save Catholic schools

AllWaysNY: St. Bridig Roman Catholic Church in New YorkParishioners called it a “miracle,” and who could deny the improbable serendipity? Last month, an utterly unexpected $20 million gift saved St. Brigid Church in Lower Manhattan, N.Y., from the wrecking ball and the parish’s elementary school from closing. The greater miracle, however -- and the key to solving the urgent financial crisis at urban Catholic schools across the country -- lies in how St. Brigid came to be in the first place.

The story began in Ireland in the 1840s when potato famines decimated a population already severely oppressed for centuries. Frederick Douglass remarked during a visit then that even American slaves had better living conditions.

Those who escaped starvation poured into America’s port cities to live in unimaginable squalor and face intense prejudice. “No Irish Need Apply” signs hung ubiquitously in business doorways. St. Brigid was founded in 1848 to tend to the Famine Irish, and eight years later the school was erected. It was a phenomenal achievement funded by some of the poorest people in the world.

Thus began a huge social transformation in American history. First the Irish and then waves of impoverished Catholics from Italy, Germany, Poland and Slavic countries built an entire national network of schools, universities, hospitals and so on. Education enabled Catholics to rise into the middle and upper classes. Today’s Catholics constitute an affluent and powerful religious group in the country.

The obvious question is: Why are Catholic institutions in trouble now? Well, a funny thing happened on the way to prosperity. Into the 1960s, Catholics contributed 2 percent of their income on average, about the same as Protestants. Since then, Catholic donations have declined by half relative to income, and now Protestants give five times as much.

In addition, Catholic schools went into steady decline. Schools like St. Brigid that served generations of ethnic white Catholics increasingly became educational havens for disadvantaged minorities as whites flocked to the suburbs. At the same time, the religious teaching orders that staffed the schools for a pittance shrank rapidly. To replace them, lay teachers, now comprising 96 percent of staff, had to be hired -- and paid. As a result, tuitions increased by the power of 10 to 20, putting Catholic schools out of reach for many families needing them most. Despite heroic efforts by many bishops and generous supporters, today there are 44 percent fewer Catholic schools nationwide, educating 60 percent fewer students, than 40 years ago.

What’s been missing in this struggle is the national leadership that would engage ordinary Catholics sufficiently. If Catholic families donated the price of a Starbucks cappuccino to schools weekly, $4 billion a year could be funnelled to the most troubled schools. Let’s not forget that inner-city Catholic schools represent the crown jewel of the church’s social justice mission. Sustaining and indeed expanding that ministry should be a top priority. According to Joseph Claude Harris, author of studies on parish financing for the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, 20 percent of Catholics make up 80 percent of contributions, meaning most families donate much less than the average $5.75 given per week and could afford more.

Are Catholics willing to give more? Many indications point to yes. Other than in Boston, parish contributions actually rose during the worst years of the priest sex scandals. What’s needed is a group of individuals or an existing organization to cultivate and direct that goodwill. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is certainly capable of developing a sensible strategy and should be involved. But Catholic leaders shouldn’t wait for the hierarchy, consumed with many overwhelming issues, to act.

Some dioceses might be able to fund schools properly on their own. In Wichita, Kan., parishioners allow their salaries to be tithed in order to underwrite tuition for all students in Catholic schools. It would make sense for other dioceses to work more closely together. The Brooklyn diocese and the New York archdiocese compete for the same philanthropic sources; surely more coordination is called for. Many dioceses, struggling for example to deal with massive Hispanic immigration, would benefit from help from wealthy dioceses perhaps in different states.

At Rice High School, an all-boys Catholic academy in central Harlem that I observed for a year in order to write a book about inner-city Catholic schools, I saw clearly why it’s important to support Catholic education. The discipline, Christian values and religious education Rice provides had a positive effect on students’ character and behavior and resulted in much higher graduation and college acceptance rates than those at nearby public schools. Such values and discipline can really be a matter of life and death for the boys who attend Rice. Parents, mostly single mothers, often work extra jobs to pay tuition so their sons will go to a university instead of dropping out, joining gangs and ending up in jail or in a coffin.

A case is sometimes made for government funding in the form of vouchers and tax credits to save inner-city Catholic schools because of their enormous public contribution educating large numbers of needy non-Catholic students. But voucher amounts cover tuition only, not real educational costs.

More important, government support could prove disastrous. In Canada, full funding of Catholic schools has diluted their religious identity. A parish priest in Ottawa, for example, says religion classes at the high school level can no longer be considered Catholic. Too often religious education is reduced to a blend of ethics and information about world faiths for fear of offending non-Catholic students.

The only solution for the crisis facing American Catholic schools is to adopt a national strategy that will call on Catholics to give more generously to sustain them. This is a problem for all Catholics to solve, and they will respond to a comprehensive national plan with tangible results. Of course $20 million gifts are welcome, but spectacular generosity cannot and should not consistently provide the needed resources.

Patrick J. McCloskey is the author of The Street Stops Here, a book about inner-city Catholic education, to be published by the University of California (Berkeley) Press in January 2009.

* * *

Saved by an angel

Sometimes called the “Famine Church” because it was built by Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine in their homeland, St. Brigid Church in the East Village of Manhattan was saved by an anonymous angel who contributed $20 million to the New York archdiocese, $10 million to be spent for restoration of the church itself, $8 million for the school and $2 million for an endowment for the parish.

The unexpected gift announced May 21 puts an end to seven years of wrangling between the archdiocese, which wanted to raze the church, and St. Brigid parishioners and others wanting to save the historic church. Among the features of the Gothic-style church built in 1848 is a ceiling in the shape of an upside-down boat meant to reflect the origins of the parishioners who built it.

The church closed in 2001 after the New York archdiocese concluded the church was structurally unsafe and too expensive to repair. Angry parishioners responded by taking the archdiocese to court and trying to raise the $275,000 they thought would salvage the church. The archdiocese said $7 million was needed.

Demolition of the church began in July 2006 but was halted one day later by a court order. Legal efforts have continued since.

Led by the Committee to Save St. Brigid, the effort to rescue the church drew the support of writers, musicians, actors, artists and others in the local community, including novelist Mary Gordon, writer and essayist Peter Quinn and actor Matt Dillon. The latter became enamored of the church after a scene from his movie “City of Ghosts” was filmed there.

-- NCR staff

National Catholic Reporter June 13, 2008