Catholic schools from New Jersey to California are permanently closing their doors.
Things were looking bright for All Saints Catholic School in Wilmington, Delaware. Even as enrollment in Catholic schools was dropping nationwide, its student population had grown 6% this year. Its finances were looking up too: Fundraising increased 368% in the past four years.The school’s finances were suddenly in shambles. The foundations it relied on for financial support refocused their spending on serving families’ immediate needs, like hunger.
Foundations that help Catholic schools are also shifting their spending priorities amid widespread unemployment and financial devastation. “The Catholic schools that serve wealthier clientele will probably be fine, but the ones that serve the working class and the poor, it will be difficult,” said Mears. “If this trend continues, I worry there won’t be Catholic school options, especially for the middle class and poor.”
The closure of All Saints is symptomatic of larger issues. The Wilmington Diocese had already announced the closure of two other schools before the pandemic hit. All Saints itself opened after three schools in the area had to merge. In recent years, the school seemed to have turned a corner, steadily getting enrollment rates on an upward trajectory.
“We couldn’t be together. We haven’t been together. So I think it’s very raw,” said Muir over the phone, choking back tears. “We’re never going to do school again together. We’re never going to be together in the way that we were called to be together.” “The staff is the best staff I’ve ever worked with,” said Dzielak, who has already found a new position at another local Catholic school, which her daughter will also attend. “It was devastating.”
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