When it comes to Catholic Education, the Diocese of Springfield is one of the worst in the nation, if not THE worst. It does not delight me to report these facts, just the opposite, it saddens me greatly. Yet it is time to demand a halt to the closing of all Catholic schools in the Diocese of Springfield. Instead of looking at Catholic schools as being an INVESTMENT in our children, in our Catholic faith, and the Catholic Church itself, they look at the schools as being a financial liability. Their formula seems to be: shut down the schools and save the money. (They think.) One leading Monsignor in the Diocese commented: “Perhaps we should close down ALL Catholic schools in the Diocese”. This seems to be the prevailing attitude. It was only through community and political pressure that the Diocese is building the new Pope Francis High School…a beautiful school with a dedicated administration and faculty.
We should be doing just the opposite of closing Catholic schools, instead we should be expanding Catholic Education, expanding and building new Catholic schools in the Diocese. Research has shown that it IS possible to meet enrollment goals, as well as evolve to becoming financially self sufficient with little to no money required from the Diocese. Yet they stubbornly refuse to look at reasons why many Catholic high schools are successful and what makes them successful.
A little over 2 years ago the Diocese had 4 Catholic high schools. After closing St. Joseph’s in Pittsfield, they recently made an attempt to bring this to 1 by closing St. Mary’s High in Westfield. The good people, and good Catholics, of the St. Mary’s High community strongly rallied to keep the school open and a one year trial extension was granted. A stand must be taken to keep this school open for years to come.
Why is it that the Diocese of Springfield is one of the worst in the nation when it comes to Catholic Education? The facts show this by looking at Catholic high schools on a comparative basis. I challenge you to look at Dioceses and Archdioceses throughout the United States. This can easily be done on Wikipedia. Look at the number of Catholic high schools based upon the Catholic population. The Diocese of Springfield has 235,000 Catholics. You will find some that have about the same number of Catholics, some more, some less….so “pro rate” these to the size of the Springfield Diocese. Here are some examples:
Diocese, No. of Catholic High Schools (*PR for those pro rated for equivalent Catholic population size)
Diocese of Springfield: 2 (Had planned on going to 1)
Archdiocese of Omaha: 17
Archdiocese of Baltimore: 9 *PR
Archdiocese of St. Louis: 12 *PR
Archdiocese of Louisville: 10
Diocese of Fall River, MA: 5 *PR (plus one college)
Diocese of Springfield, MO: 10 *PR
Archdiocese of Hartford: 3 *PR
Diocese of Norwich, CT: 5
Diocese of Charleston, SC: 6 *PR
Diocese of Austin, TX: 3 *PR
Diocese of Phoenix, AZ: 2 *PR (They actually have 6 heavily populated schools, total of 4,892 students)
Archdiocese of Milwaukee: 5 (plus 6 colleges)
Diocese of Boise,Idaho: 2 *PR
Diocese of Springfield, IL: 11 *PR
You can go on and on but you can quickly see that the Diocese of Springfield, MA is right down there at rock bottom as far as Catholic high schools, and their recent attempt to close St. Mary’s High would have brought us down to 1. The Diocese has decreased the number of Catholic school students by over 50% over the last 12 years, from over 6,000 to now under 3,000. Shameful! Just the opposite of what we should be doing.
All Catholics in the Diocese should call for a screeching halt to the closure of Catholic schools. We need to invest in our children, they are the very future of the Catholic Church, the future of Catholicism. It has been shown that there ARE ways to meet both enrollment and financial goals of Catholic schools. Evangelization that is often talked about starts with our children, starts with Catholic Education and there is no better way than through our Catholic schools. Our children are the future. What could possibly be more important?
Al DiLascia
