Catholic Schools Nationwide Looking to Stem Falling Enrollments

Catholic schools nationwide are seeking to reinvent themselves in an effort to combat declining enrollments that threaten to close some institutions, according to The New York Times.

The Archdiocese of Chicago, as well as dioceses in Memphis, and Wichita, Kan., are experimenting with new ways to recruit students and pay for their tuition. The Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., which this month proposed closing 14 of its elementary schools, is now recruiting parents and alumni to play bigger roles in managing parochial schools, alleviating pressure on the priests who have traditionally run those institutions single-handedly. The Archdiocese of Washington converted seven of its endangered schools into secular charter schools.

“It was taken for granted for a long time that Catholic schools would always be there,” said Karen M. Ristau, president of the National Catholic Educational Association, a lobbying group. “People are beginning to realize that this is a false assumption.”

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