Sister Josella leads a fourth-grade math class at St. Michael Catholic School in Livonia. Declining enrollment is forcing area Catholic schools to close, which hurts surrounding communities as well as the children who must relocate to public or private schools.Parochial Education Under Pressure
Catholic schools fight to keep doors open
Closures disrupt stable neighborhoods, threaten traditions that pass on values.
Stephanie Hemmitt moved her son to Ben Ross Academy in Warren after Our Lady Queen of Peace in Harper Woods closed last year.Tips to fit your child's needs:
• Know their needs. If your child learns best with a lot of structure, consider schools that offer more individualized attention and smaller class sizes.
• Gather information. Ask for statistics on test scores, discipline and attendance.
• Consider family values. A family's choice of schools will depend on its values, in addition to such aspects as transportation and tuition costs. Choosing a neighborhood public school regardless of other factors may be the best option for those with close ties to their community, while choosing a religious school may be best for others.
Archdiocese of Detroit
Parochial peril
How will the closing of Catholic schools affect your family or neighborhood?
Metro Detroit Catholic schools, which educate thousands of children and bind many local neighborhoods, are struggling to survive.
In the past two years, the Archdiocese of Detroit has closed 21 schools, the most in a similar period in three decades.
The decline reduces parents' educational options, creates voids in neighborhoods schools once held together and makes it harder for the region's largest faith to pass on its traditions. And at a time when many desire a return to Christian values, the closures mean a loss of one of the country's strongest faith-based learning environments.
Robert Zink, whose local Catholic school in Southfield closed last year, wonders how future generations will learn the values his family lives by as schools pull out of communities.
"The Catholic Church has always taught us there is more to life than what we have here," said Zink, whose kids attended Catholic schools.
"The last election showed people are more interested in morality, but we're further away from that morality than we've ever been."
Come December, the Archdiocese of Detroit is expected to announce more closures or consolidations as it addresses years of declining enrollment brought on by shifting demographics, rising tuition and competition from private and public schools.
When Catholic schools peaked during the 1960s, the archdiocese boasted a school system of nearly 200,000 students. Enrollment has since shrunk 79 percent to about 44,000 students. Once a concern primarily in urban areas, Catholic schools now are closing in such suburbs as Southfield, Dearborn Heights, Southgate, Madison Heights, Romulus and Harper Woods.
"When you close a child's school, especially in the inner city, you close their world," said Monsignor Kenneth Velo, senior executive of a Catholic outreach program at DePaul University in Chicago. "These are islands of hope. They're crime-free. They're communities. They're faith-filled. And they provide an excellent education."
Catholic schools are not just closing locally. Nationwide, 123 schools closed or consolidated in the U.S. Church last year. Some say they come at a crucial time when many seek a more values-oriented education.
"Catholic schools really transmit values that are so needed in society," Velo said. "Values that center around morality, what's right, what's wrong, respect for others, personal responsibility and giving back to the community."
Migrations drive closures
Zink and his wife, Elna, are among many families who have watched as Catholic schools quietly closed after being a community focal point for decades.
The neighborhood is less vibrant, Elna Zink said. "There used to be more activity," she said, adding that she misses the Catholic students she says were respectful and lovable. Since 1999, 30 Catholic schools in Metro Detroit have closed, while only two schools have opened, a trend mirrored nationally and driven in part by population trends.
"Parishes and schools were built to accommodate the Catholic population, and that population is not necessarily staying put," said Michael Guerra, president of the National Catholic Education Association.
When the Archdiocese of Detroit's population peaked in the 1960s, baby boomers packed Catholic schools to capacity. That same generation is having fewer children, and many parents today view faith as less relevant in education, said Bill Sander, author of "Catholic Schools: Private and Social Effects."
"Younger Catholic parents are less concerned about sending their kids to a Catholic school," said Sander, an economics professor at DePaul University. "Some of the Catholic population moved to the suburbs, and the (public) schools in many of the suburbs are reasonably good."
At the same time, the costs of a Catholic education have skyrocketed, driven in part by the church's inability to attract nuns who worked for low wages. Today, Catholic schools are taught primarily by lay teachers who must be paid competitive wages.
In 1977, sending an elementary student cost 1.5 percent of the typical family's income. Today, it costs about 5 percent. The average tuition at a local Catholic elementary is $2,839 per year. For high school, it is $5,593.
Kathy Tines and her husband had to budget an additional $1,000 to keep their daughter, Jill, in a Catholic school. When St. Veronica in Eastpointe closed last year, Tines transferred Jill to St. Isaac Jogues in St. Clair Shores.
"I feel like Catholic schools are almost becoming an elitist type of institution because the cost is becoming exorbitant for middle-class families," said Tines, a dental hygienist.
Schools are keystones
As church schools close their doors, tight-knit communities often unravel.
"St. Veronica was a cornerstone of Eastpointe," Tines said, "even for people who weren't Catholic."
Communities that once built up around Catholic schools are now struggling for stability and focus, some experts say.
"In certain neighborhoods, especially in urban areas, these (Catholic) schools provide an anchor for the neighborhood," said Sandra Yocum Mize, chairwoman of religious studies at the University of Dayton. "The school can provide services and support well beyond what occurs in the classroom. They are also part of a much larger network of resources and provide a place in which the value of students includes valuing their moral formation. Parents will have one less option for education."
Gloria Kennedy and her husband built a home in Southfield in the 1960s because they wanted to worship at St. Michael Catholic Church. There were 43 homes on her block, with 100 kids, most of whom attended the parish school with her five children.
"We had to add an addition onto the school," Kennedy said. "We had two grades for every classroom. It was fun."
The Kennedys were active in the church and school. They went to sporting events, church fairs and fund-raisers. It was like a community center, said Kennedy, whose children are now grown and her husband deceased.
When St. Michael closed its school because there weren't enough students to support it, Kennedy witnessed some of the parish community disappear. Many parishioners enrolled their children in Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic school in Farmington Hills, and to get in-parish tuition rates, they also joined its church.
"That's the saddest part," she said. "I feel really bad about that."
Nowadays, the community has changed. It's less active and there are very few Catholic school students, she said.
Schools reinforce faith
The decline of Catholic education could impact the future of the faith itself, some observers say.
"People who went to Catholic schools tend to be more devout Catholics when they are adults. If children don't go to Catholic schools, they may not be as likely to maintain their commitment to the Catholic Church when they are older," said Sander, of DePaul.
Parish schools formed not only to educate students, but to reinforce Catholic beliefs in young people, said Roman Godzak, the Detroit archdiocese's archivist.
"This was how the faith replenished itself, with each new generation of students who attended their parish schools," Godzak said.
Schools are examining issues such as enrollment patterns, recruitment, tuition and where students live in relation to the school. The process so far has not included any proposed number of institutions that will close or consolidate. But Sister Mary Gehringer, superintendent of the archdiocese's school system, said it's likely some city schools will be affected.
Ned McGrath, spokesman for the archdiocese, said suburban schools would not escape closure. The bottom line, he said, is whether a school can deliver "the best academic program available in a faith-filled environment."
The church should not abandon its faithful, in Detroit or anywhere else, but rather it should stand behind communities, said Kathy Chateau, a recruiter at St. Clare Montefalco schools in Grosse Pointe Park.
"If we continue to pull out of the city -- schools, churches, services -- how will there be a Catholic presence?" she said. "Once we start measuring ourselves by the number of Catho-
lics, the number of First Communion kids, we are lost as a church."
You can reach Kim Kozlowski at (313) 222-2024 or kkozlowski@detnews.com.
Copyright © 2005
The Detroit News.
Use of this site indicates your agreement to the Terms of Service (updated 12/19/2002).