This columnist in Michigan, Julie Mack, takes another look at what’s happening in Catholic schools (during National Catholic School Week), and suggests its part of a larger trend:

I recently read that enrollment in American Catholic schools peaked in 1965, when the system had 12,000 schools serving 5 million students.

I was among that 5 million.

In fact, 1965 was the year I started at Our Lady of Fatima School in Jackson County. My first-grade class — back then, the school didn’t have a kindergarten — had 41 students and was led by Sister Anna, who doubled as the school principal. Overstaffing was not a problem at Fatima.

For all the stereotypes of ruler-packing, knuckle-smacking nuns, my memories of Catholic school are mainly warm and fuzzy. I remember the blue and white uniforms. I remember the glittery holy cards handed out for good behavior. I remember how whenever we heard an ambulance, Sister Anna would have us bow our heads and say a quick prayer for the patient. I remember aspiring to be a martyr, a career goal somewhat specific to Catholic schoolchildren.

I also remember that, in those days, Catholic schools were not so much an option for families as an obligation of faith. That was an era when every Catholic parish was expected to have a school, and every good Catholic parent was expected to enroll their children there. Not all complied, of course, but in the early 1960s, one out of every seven American schoolchildren attended a Catholic school.

An unfortunate by-product of this culture is that it fostered a strong feeling of us versus them — them being all those who didn’t subscribe to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. In a cringe-inducing memory now, I distinctly recall talking with friends on the Fatima playground about how the Protestant kids were headed for Hell, and how lucky we were to avoid the very taint of their acquaintance.

I spent three years at Our Lady of Fatima before transportation issues forced a transfer to public school — Fatima was five miles away, there was no school bus and my mother had her hands full caring for a newborn and toddler-age twins.

My transition to public education was surprisingly easy, but I’ve always retained a soft spot for Catholic schools. There’s a real richness in integrating one’s church and school community, for incorporating one’s prayer life into the school day. Moreover, I’ve long admired how Catholic schools create a real sense of mission on both a spiritual and academic level, and their commitment to social justice can be truly inspiring. Although my children didn’t attend Catholic schools, I absolutely understand the appeal. (My non-Catholic husband is such a fan of Catholic intellectualism that he unsuccessfully lobbied our son long and hard to attend a Jesuit college.)

All that said, I also understand why Catholic school enrollment has ebbed. It’s still by far the largest non-public K-12 system in the country — 44 percent of American private-school students go to a Catholic institution — but enrollment is half of that 1965 peak.

Part of the issue is that Catholic schools have changed; once largely staffed by nuns and brothers who worked for a pittance, it’s mostly lay teachers now and that’s driven up tuition costs.

But the much, much larger issue, I think, is that Catholics themselves have changed. These days, diocesan directives about the value of a Catholic education often falls on deaf ears — in the mid-1960s, roughly half of Catholic children went to Catholic school; today it’s 15 percent.

One reason: That feeling of separateness we felt in the 1960s? Doesn’t exist anymore. Catholics have entered the mainstream, and one unintended consequence is diluting the imperative for Catholic schools. That makes it more difficult to recruit students, but also harder to justify to congregants why they should be subsidizing a parish school, especially one with shrinking enrollment.

Another factor, I suspect, is that many American Catholics as a group are becoming more liberal as Rome is becoming more conservative. I know many Catholics who disagree with Church stances on gender equality, contraception and gay rights; while sending their children to Catholic school would enforce some of their values, they fear it would undermine others.

And the cultural shift isn’t entirely along political lines — Latinos are the fast-growing segment of American Catholics, yet just 3 percent enroll their children in Catholic schools.

Check out more at the link.