A Measure of the Strength of Catholic Education
Dioceses and Archdioceses Across the United States
It is meaningful to look at the percent of Catholic school students per Catholic population in Dioceses and Archdioceses across the United States. I believe that this is a measure of the strength of Catholic Education and most importantly to the commitment of leadership to the fact that our children are an investment and are the future of the Catholic Church. All too often Catholic Education is looked at as only a financial liability. It has been shown that Catholic schools can become financially self sufficient by using a different management model and approach, and still be very Catholic.
In the listing below you will see one of the leaders in the survey, the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, has 23,400 Catholic school students in an Archdiocese that has a Catholic population of only 218,000. Comparatively the Diocese of Springfield, MA has a slightly greater Catholic population of 235,000, yet has less than 3,000 Catholic school students with recent Catholic school closings, and threats of even more.
Per Cent of Catholic School Students Per Catholic Population
(Note: This is also used as a measure of strength used by “The Catholic World Report”)
Diocese of Memphis, TN – 12.2%
Archdiocese of Louisville, KY – 10.7 %
Archdiocese of Indianapolis, IN – 10.2%
Archdiocese of Cincinnati,OH – 9.3%
Archdiocese of Omaha, NE – 8.0%
Diocese of Springfield, IL – 7.5%
Archdiocese of St. Louis, MO – 7.2%
Diocese of Springfield, MO – 6.6%
Diocese of Birmingham, AL – 6.1%
Archdiocese of Milwaukee, WI – 5.1%
Archdiocese of Baltimore, MD – 4.9%
Diocese of Harrisburg, PA – 4.3%
Diocese of Charleston, SC – 3.8%
Archdiocese of St. Paul / Minneapolis, MN – 3.5%
Diocese of Boise, ID – 2.4%
Diocese of Fall River, MA – 2.1%
Diocese of Norwich, CT – 2.0%
Diocese of Syracuse, NY – 1.9%
Diocese of Phoenix, AZ – 1.7%
Archdiocese of Hartford, CT -1.7%
Diocese of Dallas, TX – 1.6%
Diocese of San Diego, CA – 1.5%
DIOCESE OF SPRINGFIELD, MA – 1.3%
Diocese of Austin, TX – 0.9%
There needs to be a reassessment by the Diocese of Springfield, MA with the direction that they are headed with Catholic Education. The results above show we are near rock bottom in the nation when it comes to Catholic Education. Catholics in the Diocese should speak up and call for a halt to the closing of any more Catholic schools.
Alfredo DiLascia
