(The following interview with Father Daniel O’Connor, archdiocesan secretary for Education and principal of St. Joseph High School, spotlights the changing focus of the Catholic school education and what is being done in the Archdiocese of Atlanta to meet this change. --Ed.)

Q. Father O’Connor what is the outlook for the new school year? A. Perhaps more significant than anything else is the sharp increase in high school enrollment this year. St. Pius will have its largest enrollment. Waiting lists were established sooner than ever and it looks like this will be a serious problem in the years ahead.

St. Joseph High School will have its largest freshman class and all other classes have risen in numbers too, with transfers from our public schools and with the children of families who have moved to the city. Most gratifying is the increase in enrollment at Drexel High School. Since the building of Harper Public High School across the street, Drexel has had a difficult time attracting as many students as were necessary for economical operation. With so many of its graduates going on to college and other institutions of advanced training, and especially due to the fact that some of its graduates have received excellent scholarships, I believe that Drexel’s enrollment will continue to grow in the years ahead until it operates at capacity level.

Q. What about the elementary schools? Is their enrollment going up, too?

A. Last year our elementary enrollment dropped for the first time, and this despite the opening of Blessed Sacrament School. Enrollment in 1964-65 was 6,667, the highest it ever had been. Last year it dropped slightly to 6,604. This parallels the decrease in elementary enrollment in parochial schools throughout the nation, as reported by the National Catholic Welfare Conference.

This dip in enrollment was due to several factors, not the least of which was the continuing rise in tuitions. The most important factor, however, was the effort being made by our schools all over the country to reduce class size. Many dioceses have made regulations limiting class size to a 45-student maximum. Here in Atlanta, several schools limited their classroom enrollment to 35 students.

Although enrollment will be down in some of the elementary schools closer to the center of the city, I think we still might have an increase in the number over last year’s. Most of the schools in Atlanta have been forced to close enrollment, and several will be filled that have not been previously.

Q. There has been much criticism of Catholic schools in recent years. Has the criticism been deserved, and if so, do our schools provide quality education?

A. Knowledgeable criticism is always welcomed, and in the past few years, especially criticism of Catholic schools, has been knowledgeable and constructive, partially due to the fact that much of it was being offered by Catholic educators and by laymen who have been seriously concerned with the future of Catholic education.

Speaking only for the schools of this archdiocese, the question of whether or not our schools are offering quality education is answered by the fact that the parents of 8,300 students think so, or they would not be spending hundreds of dollars in tuition fees. Most of these children could attend public schools that are much closer to home. The fact that they are in our schools indicates that parents think enough of the unique qualities of the Catholic education that they receive in our schools to make great financial and other sacrifices to send them to Catholic schools, and people just do not pay hard earned dollars for inferior education.

Q. What about our teachers? Are they as qualified as those that teach in the public schools?

A. The teaching sister today is more highly qualified than ever before. Some congregations still send sisters out teaching before they have finished their B.A. degree, but their number decreases each year. Every sister in our high schools has her B.A. Degree and most are working summers on their master’s degree. Many of our high school sisters already have two or more master degrees, and almost all of them still do some type of post graduate work during their summer vacations. There is not one lay teacher in our high schools that could not be employed in any school in the state. Not only are they qualified, but they are particularly dedicated. They could be earning higher salaries elsewhere. They are teaching in Catholic high schools because they prefer to. I think this is evident in all that they do for our children.

In our elementary schools, our lay teachers are equally as dedicated. Some could not be certified by the state because they do not have college degrees, but the majority of these have been employed by our schools for many years, or have come to us with years of experience earned elsewhere.

Q. What about the future? Are we going to be able to get enough qualified teachers to staff our schools?

A. The supply of teaching sisters is falling far below the demands of our growing Catholic population. And the fact that our sisters are spending more and more time in post-graduate education is also taking teachers out of classrooms. In the years ahead we are going to find fewer sisters interested in teaching subjects such as English and math. They will want to teach Religion, and not only in parochial schools but in parish catechetical centers, in secular colleges, in slum neighborhoods, and the like. There is no doubt that there is a “new breed” sister in today’s Catholic church, and their number is going to increase.

The ratio of lay teacher to the teaching priest, or brother, or sister in our schools is going to increase. And here in the archdiocese that ratio is already 1:1 in our high schools, and almost that in our elementary schools.

We simply are not going to get that number of qualified lay teachers for our schools unless we can compete with the local public school system in the matter of salaries and other benefits, such as hospitalization and pension plans. Even now it is becoming more and more difficult to fill the positions open in our elementary schools. And it is not a good position to be in when you have to take anyone who shows up and are unable to screen them.

In our high schools the situation has been better due to the fact that our salaries there have to meet the specifications of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. But even these are now falling far behind what is being offered by the DeKalb System and the City of Atlanta.

Only one of our elementary schools is meeting these salary schedules. The rest are offering beginning teachers anywhere from $3,200 to $3,800. This is in many cases $2,000 less than what they would receive if they worked in the public schools. You cannot ask, and certainly cannot expect, many persons to make that much of a personal sacrifice for Catholic education. Salaries are going to have to increase sharply if we are going to continue to staff our schools.

Q. Where is the money going to come from?

A. It is going to have to come from increased tuitions, and that means that less of our parents are going to be able to afford Catholic education. And this is what is meant by the people who speak of the “crisis” of Catholic education.

Q. Is the Catechetical Center rather than the parish school the answer?

A. No one knows yet. It is proposed by some as a solution, but is still experimental. However, it is an experiment that must be tried.

There is one thing that we cannot let happen. We cannot make religious education exclusive. It cannot be available to just those who can afford to pay a good deal of money for it. Religious education must be available to all of our people, adults as well as children, the poor and the middle class as well as the wealthy. Good religious education is available now only in the Catholic elementary and high school. It is not available yet in our C.C.D. programs. We are not even reaching 50% of the children who should be in C.C.D. classes.

Most of the parishes with schools here in the City of Atlanta are spending well over $60,000 annually for their parish schools. But I don’t believe that any parish spent $1,000 last year for the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine program. Most didn’t spend anything on it.

In the future we are going to have to take a very close look at how our educational dollar is to be spent. There is going to have to be some definite equity between the dollars spent on our boys and girls attending parochial elementary and high schools, and those attending the public schools. Money is going to have to be spent on adult education, particularly in the field of Newman work on the campuses of our state universities. This is where the majority of our young men and women end up when they have finished high school.

Q. Does this mean the end of the parish school as we know it today? A. I don’t think you can say that with any certitude. The Greeley-Rossi Survey of Catholic schools (The Education of American Catholics, National Opinion Research Center) shows that the better educated American Catholics are, and the higher their income rises, the more they insist on a complete Catholic education for their children. The sacrifices are going to be greater in the future. But the majority of American Catholics are not yet ready to phase out the parish school or our Catholic high schools. Too great an investment is involved, too much effort has been put into them, they are operating more effectively than ever before -- and they are still the only source of quality religious education.

There will be changes in the years ahead, even radical ones. We cannot be afraid to ask all questions and answer them truthfully. If change is necessary, we must not be afraid to make the changes. We must do our duty, which is to give all of our people the best religious education possible, using our best personnel in the most efficient manner.

That is the problem. I suspect that there are many possible solutions. Some we know, some we will find through experimenting.