The way of the Holy Cross.
From the University of Notre Dame newswire:
The Notre Dame Task Force on Catholic Education—a national group of Catholic educators, administrators, diocesan representatives, philanthropists, and investment specialists—has released a report on the challenges and opportunities confronting primary and secondary Catholic schools in the United States.
The report, entitled “Making God Known, Loved, and Served: The Future of Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in the United States,” is the result of a yearlong study commissioned by Notre Dame’s president, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., and chaired by Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C., director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives.
According to the news release, “the Notre Dame task force report promises a deepened Notre Dame
commitment to serve Catholic elementary and secondary schools.” This is interesting because last summer the Indiana Province of the Congregation for Holy Cross voted to withdraw support from a thriving secondary school, Notre Dame High School for Boys in Niles, Illinois, my alma mater–and the only U.S. high school sponsored by the Indiana Province Priests of Holy Cross.
Given that the congregation provided no financial support to the high school, and was not burdened by its hardly overwhelming personnel commitment to the school, and that the school’s enrollment had increased 20 percent since 2000, and that the school’s fundraising was at record levels, the decision elicited great puzzlement, even rancor, from faculty, students, and alumni.
Even more puzzling was the press release issued by the Priests of Holy Cross after the decision was made. It lead with the headline-grabbing suggestion that the school could close at the end of the 2006-07 school year. This item was, of course, immediately picked up by both major Chicago newspapers, and had the unfortunate effect of frightening current students and those who were planning on matriculating this year–and of course their parents. Would the school to which they had just sent deposit checks remain open after their sons’ freshman year? Would this statement stymie the school’s enrollment efforts? So ham-handed was the implication in the press release, and so counterfactual (the school’s financial situation is comfortable, and the archdiocese had informed the congregation that it would fully support the transition of governance to a lay board and the financial security of the school), that one must wonder whether this was the intended effect.
Having learned that the Holy Cross press release would lead with such bad–and false–news, the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Notre Dame High School Advisory Board issued same-day statements emphasizing that the school did indeed have a bright future. Three press releases from three groups issued on the same subject on the same day. What was happening behind the scenes?
The board, faculty, and staff of the school and officials from the archdiocese have worked hard to make the transition from Holy Cross sponsorship go smoothly, and the school will remain open for the foreseeable future.
As a university community, we stand ready to engage the critical challenges that face this national treasure. We offer these reflections and recommendations with hope and renewed conviction that, just as our forbears in the faith responded with such generosity and courage to the challenges of their time, so too shall we. The best days for Catholic schools are yet to come.
–Rev. John I. Jenkins, CSC, from his introduction to “Making God Known, Loved, and Served: The Future of Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in the United States”
The choice to withdraw sponsorship wasn’t made by Jenkins alone, of course. But he was present at the chapter meeting of the Indiana Province, where the vote was taken. My understanding is that the decision to pull out of their only domestic secondary school won by just one vote. I wonder how he voted.
Sounds like educational bureaucracy at its best. (I use the adjective ‘educational’ simply as an “extra” here; bureaucracy is still bureaucracy with its penchant for crap.)
As a retired federal bureaucrat, I’ve seen more than my fair share of high fallutin’ crap coming from the mouths/bowels of folks “on high.” Some call this stuff “the flavor of the month.”
In time, I’d guess this report will begin to gather dust on a shelf. In light of the congregation’s behavior toward their high school, it (the report) probably should!
I think it’s fairly presumptuous to allude to the possibility that Jenkins is going against what he says in the Task Force and is secretly voting against the Congregation of the Holy Cross’s involvement with their traditional high schools. The Congregation of Holy Cross is going through some big changes in many of its provinces (working in a Holy Cross High School, I’ve heard quite a bit about it). Whatever the final word on that, however, I still find it irrelevant in the discussion of the University of Notre Dame’s Task Force on Catholic Education. This task force is meant to be a plan for Catholic Universities (not simply the Congregation of Holy Cross) and for American Bishops that will hopefully affect the way we will meet the challenges faced by Catholic schools in the present and coming years.
In fact, I’ve just seen a presentation of the report given by Fr. Scully, and though I share your distaste for bureaucracy, Joe, I think you should take a closer look at what is going on in the report. I have hope that this task force might bring some good ideas to fruition. It seems to me to be a result of preliminary, in-the-dirt action to improve the state of Catholic schools around the country, rather than a top-down spouting of ideals.
Thirteen years ago, Notre Dame began a program called the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), a program I am participating in now. Participants teach for two years in a disadvantaged Catholic school while earning their Masters in Education. Since that program began, 12 similar programs have cropped up in Catholic Universities around the country, forming the University Consortium for Catholic Education. Interestingly, over seventy percent of students who have graduated from ACE in the past 12 years continue their work in Catholic Education. The ACE Leadership program (training Catholic school principals and administration) has just been accepted as a full Masters Program at Notre Dame as well.
Fr. Scully is addressing the bishops in February regarding the report, and the program has already made some important partnerships, including one with Google. This, and the programs already in place at ND and other universities around the country, suggest to me that this task force will get some of its ideas off the ground.
Implementation of ideas like these is always difficult, and it requires focus, energy, sacrifice, and a lot of faith. But I have seen for myself the enthusiasm and faith with which all ACE participants and staff (many of them members of the task force) approach the issue of Catholic education. Based upon what I’ve seen and read, I don’t think that this report deserves to be condemned to “gathering dust.”
Whatever the truth of Jenkins’ vote, the irony and comparison do come to mind immediately. The Catholic schools have been apt middle class breeding places.
How much they contribute to the fruitful living of the gospel is questionable. This is true for those evangelical academies also.
The same is true of seminaries. Do they produce people who revel in elite status? Or are they imbued with a passion for service?
Finally, as far as Notre Dame is concerned, someone, maybe Cathy, should start a thread concerning the impact of the University of Notre Dame on Christian life. Despite my deep respect and regard for Ted Hesburgh, I wonder whether ND caters to the upper middle class too much?