Catholic Education
A call for Solidarity
By the National Black Catholic Congress Commission on Catholic Education
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Historically, the state of Catholic Education in the
African American Community has been extremely positive, and the same is true
today. Catholic Schools through out the African American Community are greatly
valued for their instructional integrity, academic strength, student discipline,
as well as it evangelization outreach to the communities they serve. However,
the increasing tendency to view or limit "Catholic education" as being centered
in the Catholic elementary school may not only be inaccurate, but ultimately
detrimental to the success of catholic education as a whole in the African
American Community. We as a people must begin to see and consider Catholic
education in a broader scope to include not only the elementary school in our
neighborhood, but also the diocesan High School as well as Catholic colleges and
universities operating in and for service to the African American community.
This new vision of Catholic schools serving African
American Catholics must have a global and inclusive dimension. Catholic schools
and Catholic education today must concern itself with educating and providing
instruction for our students on all levels of academic need, from kindergarten
to university level, so that from preschool to graduate school, our students are
prepared to compete and participate in a rapidly changing and globally diverse
world. The NBCC Commission on Catholic Education has been tasked with providing
information, awareness, and consultative resources in support of this principle
of global inclusively.
Today, just in times past, limited financial
resources has been a major obstacle in the process of providing sustained and
competent education to Catholic schools in African American communities. Today
the obstacle has been greatly exacerbated by a fundamental paradigm shift in
which operational cost for Catholic schools at all levels have increased beyond
the ability of individual communities to fund and maintain their schools.
Specifically, the decline of priest, religious men and women as primary teachers
and administrators in all Catholic schools have had a negative impact
financially on Catholic schools universally. Yet, in spite of these
difficulties, Catholic education in our communities must continue. We can not
afford to loose our schools at any level because of the fundamental value of
hope, human development, and personal dignity they bring and give to each of our
students.
In their first pastoral letter in 1984, "What We
Have Seen and Heard", the Black Bishops of the United States recognizing the
importance of Catholic education and the reality of how difficult it was to
maintain tools of evangelization, bringing literally thousands into contact with
the faith and into the Church. In this document, the Bishops spoke of the
sacrifices and extra toil families assumed in order that their child would
receive an education; for Black people believe that the key to a better life is
the school. The Bishops further explained that the Catholic school represents an
opportunity for a quality education and a sign of stability in an environment of
chaos and flux. The Catholic school has been and remains one of the chef
vehicles of evangelization within the Black community. The Bishops furthered
recognized the economic reality of the time and the Gospel injunction to teach
all people (cf. Matthew 28:19). They wrote that cost effectiveness can never be
the sole criterion for decisions regarding the continuation of a Catholic school
in the Black community. Catholic schools in our neighborhoods should be the
concern of the entire Black community and not just the ones who are Catholic.
Their excellence in scholarship and their continued growth should be a constant
concern for Black Catholics. Support for all Catholic institutions should be
given and Xavier University in New Orleans, the only Black Catholic University
in the United States should hold a place of pride for us.
Just as the Bishops called the universal church to
respond to the need to continue and maintain Catholic education in the African
American community in 1984, the NBCC Commission on Catholic Education issues the
same call today. The Commission on Catholic Education is calling you to stand in
solidarity with us as we seek new ways and means to save, improve and maintain
Catholic education and Catholic schools in our communities across the country.
Even though there are serious challenges, and we know the task will not be easy,
we must stand together in solidarity.
Today many of our Catholic schools located in the
African American Community are closing or facing serious cutbacks due to lack of
financial resources. The Commission on Catholic Education has identified several
examples of innovative financial strategies, that if considered with appropriate
modifications might be useful in helping local Catholic schools in their efforts
to maintain themselves. Additionally, in support of the principle of sustaining
Catholic education in the African American community, the Commission can assist
schools in efforts to provide competent staffing essential for producing
academically competent students, prepared for a globally diverse world.
Thus working together, this call for solidarity in
Catholic education can provide many opportunities for active participation and
involvement by the people of God in the financial, economic, and academic
reconstruction of Catholic schools in the African American community. African
American Catholics can help in the process by voicing their opinion to local
Bishops to keep our schools open; by taking ownership of our schools and telling
the story of the success of our school to others, and by standing together on a
national level to develop a foundation to endow our schools with financial
support for today and generations to come.
The grace of the sacrament of Confirmation calls us
and empowers us to live our faith boldly. We believe that empowered by the grace
of this sacrament, "we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us". We
are more than confident that filled with the gifts of the Spirit received at
confirmation, we are a people, standing together in solidarity, will be able to
find a new ways to build, sustain and maintain quality Catholic education for
all of our people at all levels of learning and academic need.
Members of the Catholic Education Commission are:
Ms. Kathleen Merritt, Veronica Morgan-Lee, Ph.D., Mrs. Lois Carson, Sr. Roberta
Fulton, SSMN, Ms. Dorothy Gupton,Ph.D., Ms. Frieda McCray, Ms. Mary
McDonald,Ph.D., Dcn. Marvin Threat, Ph.D., Br. Gary Sawyer, ECSA, Sr. Jamie
Phelps, OP, Ph.D..
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