Today, it is commonplace to hear of another Catholic elementary school closing its doors or merging with another while the local Catholic high school struggles with enrollment to keep its doors open. This story has become so commonplace that we, as Catholics, simply accept the decline of Catholic education, the reality that families just cannot afford it, and that sooner or later most, if not all, of our Catholic schools… will close. The rising cost of living, our societal desire to save for our children’s costly college education, and our need to save for retirement have superseded the desire to provide a foundational, faith-based education for our children.

Why are we as Catholics not more panicked?? May it be that we do not fully understand the tremendous impact on our Church and our society that the closing of Catholic schools will have?? The impact based on recent research suggests that school closings will significantly affect present and future Mass attendance.

As the table graph above shows, present and future Mass attendance by adults of the Post Vatican II generation and Millennial generation has declined significantly, especially in relationship to whether or not these individuals attended Catholic school. Today, only 5% of the millennial generation who did not attend Catholic elementary school or high school attend Mass as adults. Yet, 34% who did attend Catholic elementary school and 39% who attended Catholic High school do attend Mass.

We, as a Catholic family of faith, must also realize that if we do not make a significant effort to save our Catholic schools, the very future of our Catholic parishes will be next!

Therefore, it is critical for dioceses, parishes, and elementary and high Schools, to create endowments to fund financial assistance programs for their institutions. On the parish level, these endowments can be initiated by including their funding in parish-based capital campaigns that highlight the long-term mission of the school and its relationship to the entire Catholic faith community. For our high schools, we all see that it is important to have capital campaigns to build new STEM buildings and wings and provide excellent theater and sports facilities, yet it is critically important that endowments be included as a significant portion of your case! Without this funding, the science buildings, theaters, and sports fields will be of little use to a declining population of young people who, without assistance, would not be able to attend Catholic high school.

Although this may be a new concept for parishioners and alumni, our firm has found that faithful Catholics are very interested and generous when developing endowments for enrollment support and the long-term viability of our Catholic schools. There is little time to waste, and the time to act is right now.