Hello,

Today I finished with gathering the enrollment numbers for this July, and comparing them with those of last July’s. As I had seen, even before embarking on this project, enrollment figures have been decreasing. While it is true that many schools are experiencing substantial growth in their enrollment figures (as compared with last July’s), it would be more candid to say that most schools are suffering from an ever increasing secular country that seeks to obviate any roles formerly corresponding to faith and religious institutions. Thus, it should not come as a shock to anyone with a perspicacious brain working within the Catholic school system that numbers are decreasing, and that schools’ enrollment figures fluctuate so much. That is to say, because society and the country no longer adhere to the ethical demands of religious faith upon which the country was founded, but rather each family/individual seeks only what is best for themselves, a parent might enroll a student, one year, in a Catholic school for educational purposes (since Catholic schools are known for their great achievements vis-à-vis public schools), and the next year pull out their child to protect them against being indoctrinated. From many of the letters that we receive, hence, employees of the Office of Catholic Schools are aware that many parents send their children to Catholic schools, not for religious purposes, but because of the many accolades which our schools have received and lauds it has garnered.

Now, at the same time, to be fair to society, one can be perhaps more understanding and acquiesce to parent’s decision of withdrawing their children from Catholic schools. Reason, you might ask? The sex abuse scandals which so rocked and enervated the Church and placed it under the most deleterious of lights. Since the first cases of sex abuse scandals, many school’s enrollment have plummeted, many to the extent of being closed. While schools seem to recuperate some of their loses when tragedy strikes (as people run back to God), they soon find themselves in a worst position than before, as more and more people become listless to religion.

And so, when I do my comparing and contrasting, much of the history of the past decades crosses my mind, from the glorious fifties, to the revolutionary seventies, to the tranquil eighties, to the disastrous problems commencing in the mid- to late nineties up to now.

Ah! But I must mention. There is still some hope. In the 19^th century, the Catholic Church grew because of immigrants from Europe, mainly Italian and Irish families. Today, the hope of Catholic schools lies in fostering education for Latinos, who are quickly becoming the majority in many of the urban schools. Overall, whites still provide the greatest number of students for Catholic education, though Latinos are, in comparison to even a few years ago, not lagging too far behind.

Peace