Catholic san Francisco
(PHOTO BY DAN MORRIS-YOUNG)
Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
The fourth Walk for Life West Coast calling for an end to abortion drew an estimated 25,000 participants to San Francisco’s Embarcadero on Jan. 19. See stories and photos on pages 9 and 11. The text of Archbishop George Niederauer’s homily before the event at a Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral is on page 14.
School enrollment stabilizing, but challenges remain By Rick DelVecchio Most of the 62 Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese of San Francisco are stable and thriving while a handful of urban schools – mostly parish schools serving low-income, ethnically diverse families —continue to cope with declining enrollment, according to an analysis of 2007-08 enrollment data. The trend shows that the focus on marketing and fund-raising begun five years ago to attract families to Catholic schools is having an impact system-wide. But it also indicates several schools serving the neediest families are struggling to keep up. The latest enrollment figures underscore the urgency of efforts under way in San Francisco and other (arch)dioceses throughout the country to turn to philanthropists and alumni for more of the funding needed to sustain inner-city parish schools. Along with their public school counterparts, these schools are fighting population shifts, including African-American and Latino migration from the cities to the suburbs. Other factors include the aging of the immigrant Catholic base that sustained parochial schools through-
out most of the 20th century and the emergence of a new wave of immigrants with fewer Catholics and less able to afford a Catholic education, experts say. “The challenge we face Church-wide is right-sizing the system,” said Christian Brother Robert Bimonte, executive director of the National Catholic Education Association’s Department of Elementary Schools. “You can’t continue to have buildings for 8 million (pupils) when we have less than 2 million.” The Archdiocese of San Francisco, which faces an increasing demand for the limited funds it has to support parish schools, has begun its latest financial assessment of parochial schools in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties. Requested by the archdiocesan Council of Priests, the study will include reports on each elementary school and will focus on parish schools. About one in five schools is hovering at or below enrollment of 200, a level where schools have difficulty balancing their budgets, administrators say. “We’re just trying to look at the needs of each elementary school,” said archdiocesan Schools Superintendent Maureen Huntington. “Closing schools is not even in the conversation.”
Financial challenges aside, Catholic schools have a good story to tell, Brother Bimonte said. He noted the graduation rate for Catholic schools is 99 percent. “Catholic schools have always been recognized for their academic excellence,” he said. “You don’t give up on that, which is why we hope to continue our commitment to the inner city. Because the only way out of poverty is education.” Overall enrollment trends for local Catholic K-12 schools echo those of the public schools. Catholic enrollment in the three archdiocesan counties, including high schools, fell by 7.7 percent from 2002-03 to 200708, versus 5 percent for public schools in the three counties. In San Francisco alone, however, the 2 percent drop for Catholic schools over the five-year period was less than the 2.3 percent decrease for public schools. The rate of falloff in Catholic elementary school enrollment increased very slightly over the past two years but is significantly less steep than it was five years ago. Huntington said the improvement is partly due to stepped-up marketing and tuition assistance. She said the department’s goal is to stop the decline. SCHOOL ENROLLMENT, page 15CS
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION Lourdes events . . . . . . . . . . 3 ‘Rice Bowl’ season . . . . . . . 8
Jesuits elect new superior general Catholic Schools Week celebrated in the Archdiocese ~ SPECIAL SECTION ~ January 25, 2008
~ Page 6 ~
Archbishop homily. . . . . . 14 Vegetable ‘pirates’. . . . . . . 15
How candidates are courting Catholics ~ Page 10 ~
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
Datebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Classified ads . . . . . . . 18-19
www.catholic-sf.org VOLUME 10
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