This is my first day back to work and you " the principals of Catholic grade schools, the presidents and principals of Catholic high schools " are the first group I am addressing as I get back to work.
And that is fitting. Because, as I hope is clear, Catholic education is of the highest priority for me as archbishop: to keep our Catholic grade schools, high schools, colleges, and universities strong, academically first-rate, genuinely Catholic, available, and affordable, true to our heritage of forming soul, mind, body, character.
And this is not just my high priority. As you know, last spring we completed a process of strategic planning for our Archdiocese of Milwaukee. After extensive, professional consultation with our priests, religious, deacons, lay ministers, teachers, Church professionals, and, at my special insistence, the people in the pews, it is clear a major priority of our people is also exactly that: to keep Catholic education strong, academically first-rate, genuinely Catholic, available and affordable, true to our heritage of forming soul, mind, body, and character.
What I want to encourage you about this morning, as we contemplate a new academic year, is the development of a strong sense of confidence. We need to be confident about our mission, about the supreme value of our product, and about our future.
We face temptations against confidence: We confront a defeatist attitude among some that our Catholic schools are a relic of the past, part of a fading Catholic culture; we are afraid to trumpet the proven value of our schools for fear of offending those in public schools or in our programs of religious education; we are sensitive to jabs that our schools cost too much and drain money from other necessary ministries. So, we are tempted to be shy about our schools, hesitant to promote them, meek about defending them.
Enough of that: we need confidence. The jury is back, the verdict is in: our Catholic schools are one of the best things going, cherished by both Catholics and the wider community, one of the most effective tools of evangelization ever devised, and one of the most admired ways we serve the wider society. They are worth every penny. Our children need them, our parents love them, our alumni are eternally grateful to them, and the wider community admires them. We who have positions of leadership in Catholic education " we bishops, priests, deacons, religious, lay leaders, principals, and teachers " need to exude a sense of confidence in our schools.
Now, being confident does not mean being unrealistic. You bet we have towering challenges to the sacred enterprise of Catholic education. These challenges must indeed be met with creativity, care, concern " and with confidence.
"¢ We do have monumental financial problems. In our strategic plan, we found out our Catholic people want their schools on a solid fiscal foundation, so that paying our teachers justly and keeping the lights on are not contingent upon tomorrow's bake sale. Some schools " particularly some small rural ones and those in the city " especially struggle. As one principal observed, "The poor in the city are helped with choice money, the more affluent in the suburbs can afford tuition " I worry about our vast middle-class, parents who are 'just making it' who can no longer afford our schools." Well said.
"¢ We struggle with demographics, as populations shift and the school-age pool shrinks. Our public school colleagues wrestle with this, too. I am so grateful to promising new endeavors like St. Thomas Aquinas Academy in our neighborhood here in St. Francis, Cudahy, and South Milwaukee, and Mary Queen of Saints Academy in West Allis, where committed pastors, principals, parents, and parishioners came together in neighborhoods that no longer had the numbers to support multiple schools and, with gritty confidence, have given us a new model of Catholic schools.
"¢ We face the challenge of never allowing our unwavering dedication to our schools to make us callous to the needs of our young people who are not in our schools, compelling us to promote sound religious education programs for them, nor to ignore the need for lifelong faith formation, nor to forget that our schools exist to further the broader aims of Church, diocese, and parishes, not vice versa. Our schools are only one " albeit a singularly important one " of many ministries our parishes sponsor in today's exciting Church.
Strengthening the faith dimension of our schools is essential. Unless " like Ezekiel prophesies in our reading " unless we work on the heart, on the spirit, we work in vain. Our schools put faith first, and not some generic, feel-good, Hallmark-greeting-card type of faith, but our Catholic faith. If our school day does not begin and end with prayer; if our classrooms do not have a crucifix, image of our blessed Mother, and a Bible enshrined; if the liturgy and the sacraments are not frequently, reverently, and fittingly celebrated; if our students are not daily fed with God's word, with a class in religion professionally taught with fidelity to the teachings of our Church, well, "we're just whistling Dixie," and then we ought to save a bundle and close up shop. We are not "private schools;" we are Catholic schools.
Before I left Mexico, I had the honor of celebrating Mass for 4,000 girls at a Catholic high school. It is a residential school in session 11 months a year, which takes the poorest of Mexican girls from the most primitive villages. I came to know of it from Dan and Eileen Meehan, from our archdiocese, who are generous benefactors. Each year the Sisters of Mary who administer the school must turn away three girls for every one they accept, that's how popular it is. After my visit with the students, I met with a group of poor parents. "Monseñor," they explained, "we are so grateful our girls are here. They get the best education they can, and then they get a good job and can even go to the university. But, more important, they learn here about Jesus, His Mother, His Church; they learn that He loves them and wants them to love others; they learn to know, love and serve Him. That's why we want our children here." That's what I mean by a Catholic school. There's our strength. There's our difference. There's our past. There's our future.
Last year a mom and dad came to visit me. They had moved here from another city and wanted to enroll their children in one of our Catholic schools. They visited the one nearest them. As they walked in, no one greeted them. They finally caught the attention of an unshaven man wearing a baseball hat whom they thought was a delivery man but who then introduced himself as one of the teachers. He was unable to answer any of their questions, but pointed them to the office. They told me that on their walk to the office, they looked in vain for crucifixes or statues. The classrooms were loud and unruly. No one offered to help them or welcome them. When they finally reached the office, a receptionist tried to answer questions, but seemed particularly tongue-tied about the religion curriculum and questions about discipline. The only thing she knew for sure was the cost of tuition, which was high.
"Archbishop," they told me, "as we drove away, we passed the brand new public school. We both looked at each other and wondered why we should sacrifice to send our two boys to a school that seemed so indifferent versus the school that would cost us nothing." I'm afraid they had a point.
I don't want any parents ever to say that again.
The French say, "Vive la différence!" So do we. We are different " and that's why we're confident.
God bless this new year.
