Why Do Catholic Schools Exist?

By COLIN CAMPBELL, President at All Saints Catholic School (Article originally published in the Catholic Neighbors Magazine)

I am the product of 16-plus years of Catholic education and have found a vocation in continuing to work in and around Catholic schools for my entire career thus far. In the 12 months leading up to May 2021, more than 200 Catholic schools around America closed their doors, my own high school alma mater in a small town in Ohio was one of them. So, over the last year I’ve found myself regularly reflecting on the “why” behind Catholic Education and I’ve continued to come back to two core reasons, though by no means are they the only ones. So why do Catholic schools exist? And why is it so important that we work to support them?

To support parents in their primary role

There is no work more important than raising children and the Catholic Church recognizes that parents are the primary educators. Catholic schools pride themselves on working hand in hand with parents in the education of their children and it doesn’t take too many headlines to see that the same cannot always be said for every school or school district.

The community that surrounds a Catholic school also helps parents realize that they are not alone. There are so many other families asking the same questions, making the same decisions, and navigating the same realities. Having a strong, faithfilled community to rely on is central, especially as the moral fibers of our society seem to be fraying.

To evangelize by both teaching and by witness

Catholic education is and should be the work of the entire Catholic Church. The young people who walk in the door of a Catholic school every day are somewhere on their faith journey, just like you or I. Where else in the modern world can a sixthgrader turn to answer some of life’s biggest questions? It’s unlikely that they are going to ask their parents, and in many other schools they aren’t even allowed to ask!

No, Catholic schools are not evaluated based on how many students they convert or confirm, but we would be naive if we don’t recognize that, as they say, “more is caught than taught.” Whether it’s programming a Sphero robot or playing on the volleyball team, doing it in a Catholic environment encourages students to see the beauty of a Catholic faith well lived and it may encourage them to dig a little deeper into that faith for themselves.

If you agree, please support your local Catholic school. If you have children or grandchildren, come visit All Saints or another one of our great local Catholic schools. We want to share the amazing things that are happening here every day and we don’t take lightly the charge that we have been given to help our parents raise these children in the faith.