ICSL and Catholic Schools for the Future

This week we are hosting the Institute for Catholic School Leaders (ICSL) led by NCEA in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. It has been a great partnership and we have worked hard to build a program that will result in attendees coming away with something tangible they can implement at their individual school sites.

On Sunday night at the start of the conference, I shared with the attendees the recent survey data from Gallup that found that 39% of Catholics in the U.S. attend Mass on a weekly basis. This percentage has been dropping consistently over the past decades (in 1955 it was 75%). While this data can be depressing for us as a Church, it is also informative for those of us who work in schools because at times it feels like much of the talk centers around the ‘Catholic school crisis’. While Catholic schools are struggling, they are an indication of the larger struggle the Church itself is facing. We can also choose to see this as an opportunity for us in Catholic education because we have the future faithful in our schools today and our work can ensure a vibrant, healthy Church for tomorrow.

When we consider the numbers today in comparison with over 60 years ago we can become nostalgic for that past. There is a good definition of nostalgia, however, that says nostalgia is simply history without the pain. What that means is that we look back and idealize the past as a time where there were not struggles and difficulties. Of course, that is not the case – the Catholic school educators is of then faced significant challenges as well – they struggled then as we do now and they had joy then that we have now. I imagine having 60 first grade students in one classroom was not ideal for that teacher! In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, a Catholic school was opened, on average, once every 20 days for about a 15-year period. It is clear that growth had its share of struggles.

In The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis wrote:

“Some people nowadays console themselves by saying that things are not as easy as they used to be, yet we know that the Roman empire was not conducive to the Gospel message, the struggle for justice, or the defense of human dignity. Every period of history is marked by the presence of human weakness, self-absorption, complacency and selfishness, to say nothing of the concupiscence which preys upon us all. These things are ever present under one guise or another; they are due to our human limits rather than particular situations. Let us not say, then, that things are harder today; they are simply different. But let us learn also from the saints who have gone before us, who confronted the difficulties of their own day.” (#263)

Thus we understand that our challenges may be unique to our time, but we are also unique to our time. Our faith tells us that we are the ones God believes are capable of overcoming the challenges that lay before us. He has faith in us; it is we, too often, who doubt.

It is human nature to focus on the challenges that face us but we also must recognize the opportunities. We have a burgeoning Catholic population, especially in the West, which is driven by immigration. This is very much akin to what the Church in the Northeast experienced in the early part of the 20^th Century. Then it was the Irish, Italians, Germans and Poles and today it is the Mexicans, Salvadorans, Koreans and Vietnamese. As we think back on those dedicated Catholic school educators who built and grew Catholic schools during that time our question must be: what would the saints of yesterday have done with the opportunities of today?

There is great hope and potential but for it to be realized we must engage in active progress. We must focus on leadership, first and foremost, that ensures our schools are strong in faith formation and Catholic identity and are rigorous academic institutions that use data to make decisions and share that data with both internal and external constituents. We also must be good stewards of our schools, managing resources efficiently and effectively. Finally, we must be willing to innovate to think about how best to educate the students of today, and not revert to the ways we were taught as young people. Building a culture that is in a constant cycle of improvement ensures that our Catholic schools remain great and will continue to serve for generations to come.