最新杏吧原创

The current Catholic school system is financially unsustainable, church leaders have said. Enrollment in the 82 grade schools across the Archdiocese of 最新杏吧原创 has fallen below 65% capacity. The average operating deficit at the schools is $600,000, which requires parishioners to subsidize tuition payments.

Upcoming school decisions are the second phase of the 鈥淎ll Things New鈥� downsizing plan from the Archdiocese of 最新杏吧原创 that led to the closures of 35 parishes and the merging of 15 others in August.

In the last month, leaders from 25 to 30 of the most vulnerable schools have met with education officials from the archdiocese to discuss enrollment and demographic trends, finances and proximity to other parish schools.

Pastors were given three choices: close the school, merge with another Catholic school, or keep the school open and produce a three-year plan to increase student enrollment. All recommendations for school closures are due to the archdiocese by Dec. 8.

Early hints from pastors and parishioners indicate a reluctance to shutter any schools, particularly after the lingering upheaval from closing parishes and reassigning dozens of priests. The decrees for closing parishes came from Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski, while the school decisions will be shouldered by the individual pastors.

鈥淲hen you give them three options like that, you can stave off the inevitable a couple more years,鈥� said Mike Oslance, a former principal in the Diocese of Belleville. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just coming down to the dollars and cents. You can try all the options but the patient is terminal.鈥�

One of the schools involved in the discussions is Sts. Joachim and Ann in St. Charles County, where enrollment dropped by 40% over the last decade to 156 students this year. In 2022-2023, the parish subsidized the school budget by $343,422.

The parish council, school board and faculty have all agreed to keep the school open, according to the pastor, the Rev. Chuck Barthel. A three-year feasibility plan for the school will be presented to the archdiocese in early 2024.

鈥淥bviously, our greatest challenge will be how to increase our enrollment. Once the data has been gathered, then the dreaming can begin,鈥� Barthel wrote in the church鈥檚 bulletin Sunday.

Enrollment is falling

There are now about 19,000 students 鈥� down from 40,000 in 2000 鈥� in kindergarten through eighth grade across the archdiocese, which covers 最新杏吧原创 and 10 counties in eastern Missouri. The largest, St. Joseph in Cottleville, is approaching 900 students. The smallest 10 schools, mostly in rural areas, have fewer than 100 students.

Over five years beginning with the 2017-18 school year, 33 of the schools lost 10% or more of their students. Enrollment in four schools has fallen by more than one-third in that period: All Saints in St. Peters, St. Anthony in Sullivan, St. Clare of Assisi in Ellisville, and St. Simon the Apostle in south 最新杏吧原创 County.

Catholic schools face the same struggles as public schools and colleges nationwide: Declining birth rates and a rise in home-schooling have left the school systems with too many buildings for not enough students.

One goal for rightsizing the local Catholic school footprint is reducing the burden on older parishioners without significantly raising tuition, which now ranges from $5,500 to $7,000 a year. Archdiocese funds and parishioner donations amount to more than $50 million a year to prop up the grade schools beyond tuition payments.

Parish subsidies range from a high of $8,900 per student at St. Frances Cabrini, split by seven parishes in south 最新杏吧原创, to $350 per student at Ascension in Chesterfield. 最新杏吧原创 Catholic Academy and St. Cecilia in south 最新杏吧原创 each receive nearly $2 million or $10,000 per student from the archdiocese.

Schools vow to stay open

Two grade schools on the bubble belong to parishes that were closed by Rozanski 鈥� Blessed Teresa of Calcutta in Ferguson and St. Roch in 最新杏吧原创. Both parishes appealed the decision to the Vatican; Blessed Teresa鈥檚 appeal was denied and St. Roch鈥檚 is pending.

Blessed Teresa is the smallest Catholic school in north 最新杏吧原创 County at 153 students last year, a decline of 24% since 2017.

But the school will stay open 鈥渇or as long as there are students who need to be educated and want a strong, faith based, Catholic education,鈥� the Rev. Bill Kempf wrote in an Oct. 31 email to parishioners.

Sacred Heart in Florissant, which absorbed Blessed Teresa parish, has one of the larger schools in the archdiocese with about 350 students. Having two schools in one parish would mean they are 鈥渘ot in competition with each other, but working together to provide the best Catholic education we can wrap our faith and imaginations around,鈥� Kempf said.

St. Roch school leaders are in discussions with Christ the King in University City, which will subsume the 最新杏吧原创 parish if their appeal falls through.

Over the five years beginning in 2017-18, enrollment declined by 18% at Christ the King to 181 students and by 25% at St. Roch to 139 students. Both schools have a capacity of 225 students. Options for the schools include staying separate or splitting grade levels between the two campuses, said Mike Stephens, St. Roch parish council president.

鈥淲e鈥檙e all working together to make that happen,鈥� Stephens said. 鈥淥ur school is strong and the product is valuable and we鈥檙e an asset to the community. We feel good about it, that we鈥檙e in a good place and we will survive and succeed.鈥�

Several other parish schools now share a pastor after the 鈥淎ll Things New鈥� reorganization, including Little Flower in Richmond Heights and St. Mary Magdalen in Brentwood, and St. Gabriel and St. Raphael in south 最新杏吧原创.

The school boards at Little Flower (89 students) and St. Mary Magdalen (157 students) are in discussions about potential partnerships that might look like Holy Cross Academy, formed in 2012 by the merger of four south 最新杏吧原创 County parish schools with separate grades at each campus.

St. Gabriel with nearly 500 students and St. Raphael with 180 were not part of the school closure conversations, according to the Rev. Thomas Molini鈥檚 message in a recent bulletin.

鈥淚 was assigned to pastor two parishes with two schools and two autonomous programs. For our parishes, I believe the conversation is more about the ongoing effectiveness of our programs to impart the Catholic Faith to our children and families,鈥� Molini said.