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Diocese Gets Assistance With Catholic Education; Foundation to Provide Funds, Help in Reversing Schools' Falling Enrollment

Posted on: Sunday, 29 January 2006, 09:00 CST

By Jay Tokasz

The latest round of parochial school closings in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo isn't without a green lining.

Green, as in the color of money.

A New Jersey foundation plans to contribute several hundred thousand dollars to help the diocese stem the tide of school closings.

It will be too late to save parish schools like St. Bonaventure in West Seneca, St. Anthony in Batavia, and St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Martin of Tours in South Buffalo. They are scheduled to close in June, adding to the list of 10 elementary schools and a high school shut down in the last five years.

The upcoming closings -- especially in South Buffalo, traditionally a bastion of Catholicism -- have raised fears among some Catholics that the diocese is giving up on education.

But diocesan officials and representatives of the International Education Foundation say they believe they can turn around massive enrollment declines and keep Catholic education in Western New York alive and vibrant.

The foundation, which runs the Catholic School Development Program, will provide a team of school consultants working to attract more pupils through better marketing and to bolster finances through more sophisticated fund raising.

In a partnership with the diocese's own fund-raising arm, the foundation plans to spend as much as $800,000 over the next three years on Buffalo-area schools.

The International Education Foundation already has had some success in Camden, N.J., a diocese of about 458,000 Catholics, 10 high schools and 55 parochial schools.

Five years ago, Camden Catholic High School was on the verge of closing. It was $3 million in debt and its buildings needed repair and updating, while its enrollment had fallen dramatically.

The foundation helped set up an institutional advancement office and pushed for a working school board to govern the school.

Today, enrollment has grown to 1,100 students from 700, and the school sustains itself.

The foundation, which employs three consultants, is now expanding its work to Camden's parochial schools, Robert T. Healey, the foundation's founder and primary benefactor, told those at the Buffalo diocese's annual "Celebrate Catholic Education" dinner, held Thursday in Adam's Mark Hotel.

In Buffalo, six to 10 elementary schools will participate in a pilot project, and if the program goes well, it will be taken to other dioceses.

"The problem in Buffalo is universal," said Healey, chairman and chief executive officer of the Viking Group of Companies.

"There are tremendous amounts of Catholics out there interested in the Catholic schools, but nobody knows what the heck to do about it," he added. "We expect to spend millions of dollars in bringing back Catholic schools."

>Short-term still gloomy

The foundation won't provide bailout grants for any schools, and diocesan officials are under no illusions the new program will instantly turn around their plight.

In the short term, the schools still are fighting a dangerous tide, particularly in Western New York, where many cost-conscious parents are unwilling or unable to pay for Catholic education.

At St. Thomas Aquinas school, for example, tuition is $1,700 this year -- more than $700 less than the national average for Catholic elementary schools.

Yet the school lost 70 students from last year.

And the Rev. Arthur J. Smith, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in South Buffalo, knows what would happen if the parish school charged more in line with the national average.

"We would guarantee that we would have no students," Smith said.

Instead, the school relied on parishioners for the rest of the tab, an estimated $3,400 per pupil to cover teacher salaries, building expenses and other costs.

It became too much. Nearly 80 percent of church collections each week were going toward the school.

The diocese recommends that no more than 40 percent of parish collections get passed on to schools.

Population losses, demographic shifts and a difficult regional economy all have been listed as factors in enrollment declines at the area's parochial schools.

>Role of value system

Denise McKenzie, secretary of education for the diocese, cited some subtler reasons.

McKenzie said she senses a clash of values that was less prevalent years ago in parents of school-aged children.

"We're fighting a value system these days, where $1,500 cash can buy a trip to Disney. How do you fight with that?" she said.

People in the Buffalo diocese are accustomed to not paying tuition or to paying a nominal amount -- even though school personnel and other costs have increased rapidly.

"When you raise tuition, people leave the school," McKenzie said. "However small we try to keep tuition, it's something people simply can't afford."

As in previous closings, last week's decision to shut down four parish schools provoked anger and disappointment in some parents.

The announcement also stirred a cocktail of anxiety and optimism. Some parents say they hope a new regional school formed on the campus of St. Martin of Tours parish on Abbott Road will keep Catholic education going in South Buffalo for a long time.

"It's sad but you have to take it in a positive direction," said Jill Parisi, who has three daughters, two enrolled at St. Thomas Aquinas this year.

She plans to send them to the new regional school in the fall.

"I don't want in three years from now to go through this again. I hope it works," she said.

But questions have arisen on transportation. Unlike suburban districts, Buffalo Public Schools does not provide busing for students in parochial schools.

Some city residents worry that their neighborhoods will change dramatically without an active parish school drawing children daily.

>Lay leaders needed

Ultimately, saving Catholic schools will depend on the involvement and expertise of lay people, Healey said.

Healey proposes that each school have a board with power to make decisions -- rather than relying on the principal and the pastor, who isn't trained in school finances or marketing.

"The schools are going to have to be run by the laity if they're going to survive," Healey said. "You get that kind of talent, and you say to them, 'It's your job to save the school.' "

Unlike in the past, many pastors willingly will cede some of their decision-making authority to a board of committed individuals, said David J. Kersten, executive director of the Foundation of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, which is partnering with the International Education Foundation.

"Pastors are saying, 'We need help and this whole enterprise of running a Catholic school can't fall solely on our shoulders,' " Kersten said.

Smith, the pastor who has experience operating a school, doesn't disagree.

"What you're doing is putting many more resources and talents together to make it happen," Smith said.

e-mail: jtokasz@buffnews.com

Source: Buffalo News

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