100 Catholic schools to close

Six struggling Catholic elementary schools in Brooklyn and Queens will close for good following months of financial hardships and low enrollment due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Diocese of Brooklyn announced on Thursday.

Queen of the Rosary in Williamsburg, St. Gregory the Great in Crown Heights, Our Lady’s Catholic Academy in South Ozone Park, Our Lady of Grace in Howard Beach, and Holy Trinity Catholic Academy and St. Mel’s Catholic Academy in Whitestone will permanently shut down Aug. 31, officials said.

“This is an incredibly sad day for our Catholic community to have to close these schools, but the devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic is insurmountable,” said Superintendent of Schools Thomas Chadzutk. “The difficult decisions come after the intense analysis of the financial picture of each academy.”

The closures come as the number of shuttered Catholic schools continues to climb. Twenty schools under the Archdiocese of New York — three of which will merge with other schools — closed earlier this month after high unemployment numbers and cancelled fundraisers made it impossible for parents to foot the bills.

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-coronavirus-six-catholic-schools-will-permanently-shut-down-due-20200709-esgnrphke5d2fmxfd6ehiqgcuq-story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/covid-19-is-killing-catholic-schools--and-hurting-the-minorities-that-attend-them/2020/06/12/056ad3ac-ace0-11ea-9063-e69bd6520940_story.html

Among the many consequences of our covid-19 economy is the likely closing of dozens of Catholic schools that serve minority students in vulnerable, underserved communities.

The National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) estimates that at least 100 such schools won’t reopen in the fall — or probably ever. Their fortunes and those of their students rely heavily upon charitable donations, which have fallen off in the months since stay-at-home orders went into effect. Without those funds, the schools can’t offer scholarships to families that otherwise couldn’t afford tuition. Twenty percent of students in the nation’s 6,000 Catholic schools are minorities, including Hispanics, African Americans and Asians.

The numbers are much higher in what’s called the Partnership Schools, a network of nine Catholic schools in Harlem and the South Bronx in New York and in Cleveland. In addition to the coursework usually found in public schools, schools in the partnership stress four core values — integrity, humility, hard work and service.


Enrollees at these nine schools are 67 percent Hispanic and 31 percent African American. Of these students, 85 percent have received scholarships.

The average yearly tuition cost of a Catholic school is $4,800 for elementary school and $11,200 for high school, according to the NCEA. Right off, it would seem that only the rich or the very poor can afford a Catholic education these days. The middle class — too rich for financial aid and too strapped for full tuition — is out of luck.

This wasn’t always the case. Several decades ago, almost anyone could attend a Catholic school, in part because, at the time, there were many more schools. In 1960, the United States boasted 13,000 Catholic schools compared to just 6,000 or so today. And, in 1965, of elementary-age children attending private school, 89 percent attended a Catholic school. But, times change, and other private schools emerged virtually everywhere.


Adaptation is key to survival. Catholic schools failed to adapt to the loss of a cheap labor force as the number of young priests and nuns began to fall. In 1960, 74 percent of parochial school staff were members of religious orders or clergy. By 2017, with half of all Catholic schools closed, less than 3 percent of staff were clergy, replaced by lay staff who require a reasonable salary. That meant increasing donations or increasing tuition — and often both. Even when doing God’s work, the cost of doing business is passed on to the consumer.

Perhaps, too, some of the closings in recent years are related to the sexual abuse scandals, though as mentioned, clergy are largely absent from schools.