The news was full of the 31 parishes being closed in the Archdiocese of New York. Let’s not forget about the 14 schools. Today in the NYTimes, Dan Barry writes of one school in the Bronx. (only available to TimesSelect subscribers, of which I am not one. Thanks to Mary Campbell Gallagher, whose site and writings on urbanism are well worth a look)

She remarks:

The archdiocese appears to think of school and parish closings like
plant closings at General Motors, which are bad enough.  But the heart of New York City is in its great human institutions, including the Catholic schools.  New York City’s cardinal was raised in suburban Oak Park, Illinois, and he does not know about the role the Church plays in cities.

From the article:

The euphemism is apt only in that the news fell like a truck upon two women who work at St. Martin of Tours School, an institution in the East Tremont neighborhood of the Bronx for the last 85 years. They are Sister Cecilia McCarthy and Sister Nora McArt. If you do not recognize their names, it is because nuns have always been a quiet strength of this city.

The sisters and others at St. Martin’s did not learn of the school’s proposed demise from "10-11," but rather from an alumnus. This, of course, is in keeping with the archdiocese’s congenital inability to demonstrate a pastoral touch.

That day, Sister Cecilia, 87, had kept busy in the school’s library, whose collection includes books that she purchases with her modest allowance from her order, the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill, in Rockland County. Sister Nora, 61, had traveled to Lower Manhattan to lay claim to computers and other equipment that some business was discarding.

A typical day for them both, really. Then came the word, indirectly, from "downtown," as Sister Nora says.

A day’s distance did not ease the hurt. On Wednesday afternoon, after school, Sister Cecilia cloistered herself in the adjacent convent, rather than have children see her cry. Sister Nora, answering the telephone while the secretary led a "Save Our School" chant outside, teared up only when none of the 225 students were in sight.

When an anxious young girl materialized at the end of the school day, the shaken and quiet nun instantly became the radiant and smiling nun saying, "What’s up, darling?" Sister Nora told the child that her mother would be here soon, then patted her gently on the back.

That small gesture — of reassurance, of love, of I’ll always be here — represents what is at stake. The archdiocese clearly has hard choices to make, but no crunching of numbers, no mapping of demographics, not even a video from His Eminence himself, can capture the worth of a pat on the back from a nun in the Bronx.

Hard choices, indeed, and different times. It is worth pondering: 100 years ago, a 225-student school would have been considered a success, but now it is too burdensome. 100 years ago, nuns started schools with 20 students, and were backed all the way by the hierarchy and the rest of us.

And, to be honest, if it weren’t for insurance costs – both institutional and personal employee health insurance, as well as the cost of maintaining buildings and keeping them up to code, I’m suspecting that it would still be possible to keep most of these schools open.  But here, pardon the cliche, is the conversation that needs to happen, but isn’t:

What is the Catholic school system for? Is it for educating the children of middle-class and upper-middle class families who can afford to pay thousands of dollars a year in tuition, or is it for educating the children of anyone who wants them to be formed in a Catholic environment. Is it accurate to say that Catholic education is even an expression of the corporal works of mercy – instruct the ignorant – any more? Is it?

The problems of Catholic education have been deeply discussed on this blog, frequently. The problems are many, including an unwillingness of some to support Catholic education because it has failed them and their own children in the past. It’s that old trust issue, once again. But part of it involves the loss of a sense of mission, a passion to share the Gospel because we know that children today need it, just as they always have.

So yes, all of these factors need to be brought into it, and addressed: "Times have changed. Expenses of all kinds are through the roof. We no longer have the corps of religious sisters who built this school system. Demographics have changed, and continue to change. No, it’s not 1889 anymore. But what can we do so that a school of 225 students in the Bronx is no longer seen as a failure but as a success?"

(The key, it seems to me, in places where there is a shortage of sisters – er, almost everywhere – is for dioceses to develop teacher corps that may not be made of religious, but of young teachers, perhaps some volunteer, who come into schools with a sense of shared mission and community. I do believe the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has something like this, but correct me if I’m wrong.)