Catholic Schools: A Eulogy

When Flannery O'Connor was asked why her short stories contained so much violence, she answered "For the almost blind, you draw large and startling figures, and for the hard of hearing, you shout." The reflection which follows is a deliberatively provocative "shout" to those of us who have been blessed with prosperity, many of us as a result of being catapulted ahead by the formation we received in Catholic schools: 

"If I am being honest, my social class defines me more than my faith. Though I was raised in Catholic schools and have a certain nostalgic affection for them, my wife and I now have the means to send our son to a more elite private school, and just as we successively “trade up” our homes and neighborhoods, so too does our family’s affiliation with these elite schools mark our improved social standing.

Passing on the faith to our son remains a goal, but it's often a logistical headache to get him to CCD classes, with athletic schedules, academic commitments, travel and the like. We tried to go to Church together when he was young, but now he’s a teenager, and Mass and CCD classes are boring to him, so we haven’t pressed the issue.

But I can't complain. I am proud of the man he’s becoming. His grades are good, he has a firm handshake, looks you right in the eye when he speaks to you, and seems to be developing the social skills to get ahead. He has a great summer job as an intern with his classmate’s father, a relationship that will help him in his future. It’s all about the connections! His private school requires service work, so I think he's getting some of the "Catholic thing" there—he tutored some kids in Math from the public school on the other side of town, which was an eye opening experience for him. “Besides,” I told him when he expressed some anxiety about it, “it will look good on your resume.”

It is hard to imagine someone being this honest, but for many of us who are upper middle class Catholics, this narrative too accurately reflects our underlying values and priorities about raising children. For many of us, Catholic schools are "dead."

They did not die from antipathy: most of us who were raised in Catholic schools have generally positive memories and feelings for them. Catholic schools didn’t die because the sisters left or because tuition has become too expensive; many of us send our children to schools which are pricier. They've died because we’ve changed, because Catholic schools prioritize things we no longer value: the transmission of faith, a common sacramental life, or a consistent intellectual tradition. These have become “niceties” that we say we want for our children, but only if they’re able have the more important things: academic opportunity, first tier athletic facilities, or social status. Catholic schools have facilities which are too dated, their campuses too shabby, their P.R. efforts too limping by comparison. Absent the rare, expensive Catholic high school that can deliver on all these prerequisites AND transmit the faith, we opt for what we most value.

We tell ourselves as parents that we can “handle” the “religious part.” But most of us as parents have no idea about what the Church says about the purpose of government or its appropriate role in regulating the economy. We may have strong opinions about capital punishment or the war in Afghanistan, but very few of us can articulate why the Church is opposed to both, or the intimate connection between both issues in the social teaching tradition. We like the idea that our kids should develop a Catholic world view, but know deep down that’s virtually impossible by going to Mass once/week or by attending Sunday morning religious ed classes taught by well-meaning but untrained volunteers. We hope our kids will meet a dynamic priest or youth minister in our parish who will ignite our kids’ enthusiasm for the faith, but secretly believe such a person is more likely found in a different Christian faith than our own. We try and convince ourselves we can have the same scope of influence on our kids’ attitudes and moral values when they are older as when they were children, even though we know it’s natural for teens to spurn their parents for a time and seek other adults to emulate.

"But wait!" we protest. "Who’s to say the local Catholic school can deliver on all these things? I heard they have theology teachers who teach heresy! I heard it has a drug problem! I went to a game once and their player took a cheap shot at one of our players!  I hear their school masses are dull! I know a person whose child doesn’t practice the faith after she paid for all those years of Catholic schooling! If they’re teaching values, the values aren’t sticking!"

Most of us wouldn’t buy a car without doing research, but we’re willing to decide on the place our kids' attitudes and values will be profoundly shaped for the entirety of their young lives on the basis of these “he said, she said” rumors. How many of us have really done the research? How many of us have gone to the source and met with the principal of the school to express these concerns before deciding? Are the rumors true? What has the school done? How many of us have visited the Catholic school while in session to truly understand the culture of the place? How many have discussed the school with other parents who have committed their children there?

We haven’t done these things because the answers we would find don’t really matter in the end. If we’re honest, the rumors only serve to justify a decision we’ve already made. Better to leave them as unverified rumors than confront the fact we’re making decisions based on a set of values we’d rather not acknowledge.

R.I.P. Catholic schools!