Deacon Keith Fournier: The Identity Crisis in Catholic Schools

(Hat tip: Catholic World News)

Deacon Keith Fournier writes:

From January 28 through February 3, 2006, we observed Catholic Schools Week in the Catholic Dioceses of the United States of America. The theme for the week was, “Good News in Education”. Materials were sent to every Catholic School in the United States along with offers for clothing, posters, and other self congratulatory items. I do not believe it is a time to send up balloons. Rather, it is a time for deep soul searching concerning the state of Catholic schools; time for real honesty. It is also a time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. There is an identity crisis in many Catholic schools. My purpose in this article is to examine some of the challenges we must face and to propose that the only path to recovery is through the rediscovery and reaffirmation of the purpose, nature and mission of Catholic education.

There is much to affirm about Catholic Schools. In some Dioceses, the faithful are witnessing a true restoration and flourishing of Catholic education. However, there are too many places where that restoration is not yet occurring. I believe that it can and will, if the purpose, nature and mission of Catholic education is articulated by leaders and then our schools are properly led. We must first identify the most significant impediment to the flourishing of Catholic Schools, the roadblock to authentic progress if we truly want to move them toward vision that the Church has so clearly and eloquently articulated in her wonderful pronouncements concerning Catholic education. Here it is, in what some may believe is “simplistic” but which I maintain is absolutely fundamental: many Catholic schools have lost their Catholic identity. They suffer from an identity crisis.

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