Opinion: Archdiocese Guts Philadelphia Schools

by Victoria A. Brownworth

 

On Jan. 13, in Washington state, the Spokane Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy. According to the Associated Press, the Archdiocese owes $48 million to nearly 200 victims of priest sex abuse, forcing the bankruptcy.

The priest sex abuse scandal–now an epidemic–has cost the Catholic Church an estimated $1 billion in the U.S. and created a ripple effect no one anticipated: no money to operate parochial school systems. 

It’s not the reason archdioceses give for school closings, but the equation is a simple one: if the Church must pay out millions in restitution to victims, that money cannot pay teachers and other personnel at parochial schools. Tuitions must be hiked to fill the gap and parents can’t afford the costs, so enrollment dips, forcing school closings. 

In an ironic metaphor, Philadelphia’s new archbishop, Charles Chaput, chose Epiphany to deliver the announcement that the Philadelphia Archdiocese would either close or merge 44 elementary schools and permanently close four high schools–including the celebrated West Catholic and St. Hubert’s–at the end of the current school year. According to Chaput, the move was necessary to restore the Archdiocese’s finances.

This is one more punishment inflicted on Philadelphia’s Catholic school children.

Since 2005 there have been three Grand Jury reports related to the breadth of the priest sex abuse scandal in Philadelphia. More than 75 priests and other archdiocesan personnel have been identified as serial pedophiles, perpetrating what former D.A. Lynne Abraham called “sodomy and forcible rape” against hundreds of girls and boys in the Philadelphia Archdiocese. The Grand Jury reports also detailed a pattern on the part of the Church hierarchy to hide the abuse by moving offending priests from parish to unsuspecting parish without ever notifying police.

The Archdiocese has refused to release stats on the amount of money it has paid out to victims, but considering the size of the Philadelphia Archdiocese–fifth largest in the nation–it can be presumed that the payout is similar to that of the other major archdioceses of Boston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, all of which have paid out hundreds of millions.

According to Chaput, the decision to close the schools was based on a rise in educational costs and a decrease in enrollment. The Archdiocese claims enrollment is down 35 percent over the past ten years. The closings will mean the area will have only 178 schools because others have already been closed in the past five years. However, a well-publicized strike by lay teachers last fall revealed that the Archdiocese was unwilling to negotiate contracts with teachers, yet was bringing in new personnel. 

After Chaput’s closings announcement, a collective gasp could be heard throughout the city. Scenes of sobbing uniformed high school girls played again and again on local newscasts. That evening, candlelight vigils and protests took place all over the city. Parents and alumni were incensed, students felt betrayed–particularly those in the four high schools slated for closure. Even parish priests and teaching nuns engaged in protests. Some parish priests asserted that their schools were not in the red financially and thus should not close or merge. 

Chaput, however, who has only been in Philadelphia since Justin Rigali’s retirement in July, disagreed. He was succinct–and less than compassionate–about the closings. “Nostalgia for the past is a bad foundation if we want to think clearly and build creatively for the future,” Chaput said in a press conference.

Not exactly the response students and their families had hoped for.

It’s hard to do the math and come up with the same answers as Chaput and the Blue Ribbon Commission of 16 laity and other Church personnel convened by Rigali last year to assess the Archdiocese’s financial viability. Particularly since the costs of the priest sex abuse scandal here have not been factored in. Also, the Commission was always meant to suggest ways to make the parochial school system more viable–not just close schools. But Chaput took suggestions in the 37-page assessment as absolutes and has decided irrespective of those suggestions to close the 48 schools. 

Enrollment is down–it’s also down in public schools. But the archdiocese is closing 30 percent of the city’s elementary schools, a cut that seems Draconian to all but Chaput.

There are still nearly 70,000 students enrolled in the city’s parochial schools. The school closings will displace 24,000 students. Where will they go? According to Superintendent Mary Rochford, Chaput’s decision means that 1,700 teachers and 85 administrators will be displaced. Those personnel will have to reapply for positions in the merged schools. Those from schools closing permanently, like the four high schools, will be out of jobs–more than 300 teaching positions will be totally lost by the end of the school year.

The Commission’s report was supposed to result in a plan to save the system, not break it further. Isn’t there supposed to be a commitment between the Archdiocese and its parishioners that their children be educated in the parochial school system? While it’s true that families no longer have eight and ten children per household like they once did years ago, it is equally true that most Catholic parents would prefer to have their children educated in parochial schools. The archdiocese asserts that the enrollment in 2012 is the same as it was in 1911. But that was a zenith for parochial school education and Philadelphia was then the third largest archdiocese in the country.

The numbers need more explanation. The average tuition cost for Catholic elementary schools is $3,000. For high schools it is closer to $8,000. The question no one will pose–or answer–is why the Archdiocese has had to raise tuition rates so high that enrollment is dropping. The answer seems clear: payouts to abuse victims. Shouldn’t the Vatican, which has plenty of money, be paying for the scandal they ignored, rather than parents and children who have already been victimized?

Catholic schools have long been the subject of jokes, but the reality is, compared with the education proffered by most of the public schools in Philadelphia, parochial schools are preferred even by families who are not Catholic.

Philadelphia’s Catholic schools are far less violent and much better racially integrated than Philadelphia’s public schools. What’s more, parochial schools have long been anchors of safety in neighborhoods where gangs and other crime activity has threatened neighborhood youth. Mayor Nutter himself attended Catholic elementary and high schools in West and North Philadelphia. 

The schools being merged present enormous issues for parents as well as students. Some of the merging schools are as much as a 45-minute drive away from the original site. How will students access the schools, when most previously walked or at most took a short school-bus ride?

And what happens to the high school students–particularly those at St. Hubert’s and West Catholic? Where will they go? The only non-parochial and non-private girl’s school in Philadelphia is Girl’s High. Will the St. Hubert’s girls be ready and willing–and able–to attend GHS?

Leroy Nunnery, newly appointed head of the Philadelphia School Board, has noted that he is in “talks” with the Archdiocese, which one presumes means he’s talking about where the 24,000 displaced students will go if the Philadelphia School District, already in shambles due to Arleen Ackerman’s mismanagement, must accommodate them. Those students would mean a ten percent increase in the current Philadelphia School District enrollment—a significant problem given the cutbacks within the public school system.

These school closings present real problems for all Philadelphians regardless of religious affiliation and are one more tragic consequence of the priest sex abuse scandal that went ignored by the Church hierarchy for years.

There are other routes the Archdiocese can take other than closing so many of its schools. A Catholic school education still has value in the 21st century. What’s shocking is that the Church’s own leadership can’t recognize that fact.      

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