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The summary of the report was that the number of Catholic elementary and secondary age children
and youth not receiving formal religious education rose from 3.1 million in 1965 to 6.6 million
in 1974. So the totally number of kids receiving no formal religious education literally doubled
in that ten year period. And again, these are now your parents. Another kind of historical
review ñ in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis were trying to be very proactive about this
and so in 1975 as we saw the decline in enrollment, we hired some people from Notre Dame to come
down and do a study of what was going on in Catholic schools. And so if you pull out the
1970 report, hereís a quote from it, ìEnrollment declines cannot be attributed to the costs
of Catholic education, for the users of the schools pay for less than 20 percent of the
operating costs of the schools through tuition and related payments. As a parent, I would
love to only be paying twenty percent of the total cost of Catholic education. Another
kind of financial pieces of the puzzle was going on at this point in time. Greeleyís
sociological research wasÖwas checking out Catholic giving during the time period. And
Catholic giving in the 1960s was the same as our Protestant brothersÖbrothers and sisters.
We each gave about 2.2 percent of our median household income. But by the 1980s, Catholics
had dropped to 1.1 percent. Now I had a pastor who used to tell me ñ I was on the parish
board back in Houston ñ he said, ìJohn, when weíve got a money problem, we donít
have a money problem. Weíve got a faith problem.î So I would argue somewhere in that period
in the 1960s and the 1980s we developed somewhat of a significant faith problem. Because where
oneís heart is, thereís your money. And we see a significant, you know, trail off
happening there. So this obviously has a significant consequence for parishes because the normalÖand
for schools right? Because the normal funding way is for the parishes to subsidize or, the
term I prefer, invest in Catholic schools. So if the parishes are investing in the Catholic
schools, if we take a look at the Saint Louis numbers for 1970 theyíre probably investing
eighty percent of the total cost. But hereís the scary thing ñ the cost of educating a
kid in Catholic schools averaged over the last twenty years from the national numbers
is 7.2 percent per year, every year, for the last twenty years. 7.2 percent per year, every
year, for the last twenty years. Now I could get into whatís driving that, trying to get
lay salaries up to a point thatís even above poverty and somewhere in the neighborhood
of their counterparts in the public schools. We donít have classes of 59 people anymore,
right? In fact, in my neck of the woods, if youíve got a class of 28 the parents are
screaming and hollering because nobody can get a good education with 28 kids in the classroom,
youíd get an extra eight or whatever. So obviously thatís personnel costs. My kids
also need art, they need Spanish, we need a learning consultant, we need all these things.
So that obviously drives up the cost, weíre playing catch up ball, weíre also adding
staff, weíre decreasing class size ñ that all comes with a cost. During this time period,
our major provider, the parish, is getting less money. Because Catholics are going from
2.2 percent of their median household income giving down to 1.1 percent. So pastors are
throwing up their hands, saying, ìThis operation over here is growing at 7.2 percent per year.
Our income is actually not growing that much; weíre getting less and less money. We canít
sustain this.î So weíve got a system that is unsustainable. The diagram here, we show
that the school operation is growing much faster than the parish operation. And sometimes
itís so large that it canít be funded anymore. And thatís the issue that weíre facing.
So obviously things have changed. Again these are from the national numbers. Instead of
the parish covering you know 80 percent of it, it mightíve been the situation in Saint
Louis back in the 1970s, the national numbers now show that tuition covers about 62 percent
of the total income. At the high school level, 74 percent. So clearly weíve shifted from
an operation that was highly funded by the gratuitous gift of religious and funded primarily
through parishes, to one thatís primarily funded by parents through tuition, which kind
of has exacerbated this divide, because Catholic schools are quickly becoming elite and theyíreÖtheyíre
not being able to be affordable for all people. And isnít it ironic that we began as the
system that was going to provide education for the poor immigrants that were coming to
this country and now weíre quickly become the school system for the elite. This is probably
the saddest graphic that I put together in doing this. Weíve got an archdiocesan demographer
that I work very closely withÖIím just a sponge for data for the archdiocese of St.
Louis. And this is the archdiocese of St. Louis numbers but Iím guessing it might be
true for many other dioceses as well. This shows the graphic of the total population
Öis the one above and counties that make up the archdiocese of St. Louis and the lower
number is the total number of Catholics. So what this graphic shows is St. Louis historically
was a major Catholic city. We were founded by the French. If you go to St. Louis thereís
right in the middle of the square, thereís the old cathedral. The St Louis arch ñ right
below it is the cathedral, basilica. We were built byÖby French Catholics, the whole city
was laid out by that. And still to this day itís a very, very Catholic city. But clearly
we are not an evangelizing church. We have flat lined since 1950 in terms of the number
of Catholics. This to me is a very, very stark wakeup call for us. Weíre called to be an
evangelizing church. And hereís the good news bad news. The most powerful evangelical
tool of the Church is the Catholic school. Look around. This is the end of the good news
bad news. You are the best evangelical tool of the Church. Good news bad news youíre
thinking, ìWhat? That canít be!î It is, okay? We are carrying the wait if you take
a look at the success of Catholic schools in doing it. The problem is weíve lost our
market share, right? We used to be educating a lot more kids and weíre notÖweíre not
gettingÖand also the financing, thatís a huge challenge. So we need to make our most
powerful evangelical tool more powerful and kick it into high gear. And to do that, weíre
going to need the supercharged engine which is our parents. And this is a question Iím
going to ask, both for administrators who, I think, struggle the most with this, but
then also for school board members. As a former administrator, that top picture was me. I
said, ìIím a smart guy, Iím going to carry the school on myÖIím a smart guy Iím a
hardworking guy, Iím going to put the school on my back and Iím going to make sure that
weíre successful.î That is the wrong image for us as Catholics. So the question that
I pose to you: are you called to be a messiah or a prophet? If youíre called to be a messiah
thenÖthen great, your model is Atlas. You better put the whole universe on your shoulders.
But fortunately, weíre all Catholics or Christians. We have one messiah and he died on the cross,
right? So weíre not called to be a messiah; weíre called to be prophets. The image of
the prophet is down here below. And Iíve got the quotes ñ a messiah is an expected
savior or deliverer ñ none of you are called to be a savior and deliverer for your schools,
for your communities and anything like that. But we are called to be prophets. And a prophet
is one gifted with more than ordinary spiritual and moral insight, an effective or leading
spokesman for a cause, doctrine, or group. And so the image of the prophet uses the lever.
So this little blue figure over there, thatís the administration. There job is to ìalright,
letís go.î The job of the parents is to put a littleÖlittle force on one side of
that lever, and with that weíre going toÖweíre going to move the world, rather than have
one person try to carry it on their shoulders. Is this making sense? Okay. Weíre called
to be prophets not messiahs. Iím speaking most directly to administrators because believe
me, I was there. I was there running the numbers and we can get through one more year, we can
save some more money, we can do this, we can do that, right? All I have to do is work harder.
Maybe if I do this, maybe I do that. Wrong image. Let go. So my question now is who are
parents called to be? Letís go ahead and see what the catechism tells us. The catechism
tells us that parents are the principal and first educators of their children. The catechism
tells us that the right and the duty of parents to educate their children are primordial and
inalienable. They may not be taken away by anyone ñ church, state, anyone. Also the
catechism says, ìThrough the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the
responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. So really at the core of Catholic
education is the parent and the family. Hereís another little quick question. According to
cannon law, what is the smallest unit of the Church? Itís not the parish. Itís the home,
the domestic Church, the smallest unit of the Church, the home, the family. We need
to empower those leaders of the Church at the most subsidiary level ñ moms and dads.
Okay letís move on to the assumptions. The first assumption: we must invert the pyramid
of engagement. Iím guessing if your parishes are a lot like mine, weíve got this one on
the left. Weíve got a few people who are really invested, really involved. Theyíre
the people that if you need something done theyíre the go-to people and they always
get it done. But unfortunately theyíre a very, very small group of people. Now they
can reach out to some of their other friends to get them involved, and so itís that small
group or small cadre of people that really carry everything. And unfortunately we have
a lot of people who might be interested or maybe wanted to be informed. What we have
to do is reverse or invert that pyramid. We need to have a whole bunch of people up at
the top who are invested, and then down at the bottom have a very small minority who
are merely informed, that want to remain informed. So I think thatís the first assumption. We
have to call it like it is, and realize that our job is to invert that pyramid. Ok...this
is, this is for everybody but especially for administrators. This is an important one.
Administrators are busy and donít have one more thing to do. Iím sure this was what
you were worried about when Burt put out the call and said, ìOkay, I want everyone to
come down here to Saint Pious for an evening meeting at seven oíclock.î Hereís the administrator
response, ìYou got to be kidding me! Iíve got a school board meeting, Iíve got the
evening this, Iíve got evening this, now I got to drive to Saint Pious and Iím sure
heís gotÖhe saw somebody at Case he wants me to hear.î So theyíre probably thinking
this is one more thing I got to do. Great. We got to get this guy to stop going to conferences.
Alright, thatís not what itís about. Parent advocacy should not be one more thing you
have to do. It may require a bit of start-up effort, but should provide immediate positive
returns. And if it isnít, if itís not, then youíre doing it incorrectly, youíre probably
back to this image. You got to get rid of that image. Okay? Weíre not called to be
messiahs; weíre called to be prophets. Another assumption: most parents and administrators
have not critically examined the long-term financial trends eroding Catholic schools.
So again, hereís the national numbers from the NCEA. If we go back to 1990, tuition was
covering a little over 50 percent of the cost of operating the school. Now itís up above
60 percent at about 62 percent. Notice also the red lines of the decrease in the parish.
So again, these are just the longitudinal trends playing themselves out and if we forecast
this on forward, itís easy to see that weíre going to be totally tuition driven schools.
Remember again that the cost to educate nationally has been rising at 7.2 percent per year. How
many people have been seeing a 7.2 percent increase in their income every year for the
last twenty years? Raise your hand. I want to come work for you. Tell me what youíre
doing. Oh okay thank you father, thereís always one in every group here. Spiritual
graces donít count, okay? But seriously, whatís going on there is thatís the cost
of operation and in most cases weíre passing that on in tuition, maybe not 7.2 percent,
but maybe weíre passing on five percent, six percent tuition increases. And our parents
arenít getting those kinds of raises so weíre having this growing divide. We donít recognize
these longitudinal trends because I mean I sat where you were as a board member and a
principal. And every time it comes around February budget time, you put on the blinders
and you say, ìI hope we can make it through one more year. How much do we have to raise
tuition to keep the parents from running awayÖwe made it through one more year. Thank God.î