Chicago Catholic News: Catholic schools here, around country to focus more on recruiting Latinos

Catholic schools here, around country to focus more on recruiting Latinos

(UPDATED: 12/11/09) Out of 2.3 million Roman Catholics in the Archdiocese of Chicago, a whopping 40 percent are Latino, Church records show.

Yet less than 20 percent of the Catholic school population in Cook and Lake counties was Latino in the 2008-2009 school year -- and the number of Latino elementary students has trended down.

Parochial school systems around the country are facing a similar disconnect between heavily Catholic Latino populations and Catholic schools.

But Church officials hope to change that with a new initiative -- being unveiled this week -- that seeks to boost Hispanic enrollment in America's Catholic elementary and high schools to at least one million by 2020, up from 290,000 now in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.

A task force created a year ago by the University of Notre Dame is releasing a series of recommendations that should help schools better recruit and serve the fast-growing Latino population -- with an aim toward keeping them in the faith, as well as improving their academic achievement, officials said.

Among the recommendations -- which Notre Dame will help interested dioceses implement: "personalizing recruiting efforts toward Latinos, promoting Catholic schooling from the pulpit, and filling empty seats through creative tuition assistance," according to the executive summary.

"Schools should employ Spanish speakers to reach out to Hispanic families, function as community centers in the evenings and on weekends, develop early childhood programs, and provide high quality after-school care."

With many Hispanics low-income, the cost of tuition is one reason so few have been enrolling in Catholic schools, "but that's only part of the underrepresentation," said T.J. D'Agostino, special projects coordinator for the Institute for Educational Initiatives at Notre Dame.

There's also a sizable "gap" in information, culture and leadership in the schools and dioceses, officials said.

Another arm of the Chicago archdiocese -- Catholic Charities -- has come under criticism in recent years for not doing what some believe is enough to serve the Hispanic community in the region through social services.

But the archdiocese is signaling that it's on board with this latest program.

"The Archdiocese of Chicago has agreed to join the campaign, and discussions are underway with five other (arch)dioceses that serve large Latino populations," according to a press release from Notre Dame.

The Catholic school system in this country "doesn't touch nearly enough kids," said the superintendent of Chicago's archdiocesan schools, Sister Mary Paul McCaughey. "It's abysmal."

Notre Dame officials will be in Chicago today, Dec. 11, to brief archdiocesan school board members on the plan, McCaughey said.

A number of folks from the Chicago area served on the task force, a spokesman for Chicago's Office of Catholic Schools said.

Added the Rev. Joseph Corpora, who helped coordinate the study: "The Church has always sought to serve immigrants, and it needs to put all of its energy and efforts to do it now. . . . It means sort of understanding the Latin American mind and soul and working with that."

By ChicagoCatholicNews
Contact: info@chicagocatholicnews.com

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