The continuance of the Catholic educational system rests on conviction, not on sociological reports, Msgr. Joseph A. Koury told a large audience in his address to the Teachers’ Institute at St. Joseph High School.

Msgr. Koury, superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson, Miss., spoke on the subject, “American Catholic Education as Reflected in the Greeley-Rossi Report and Other Research.”

He outlined the main issues of the Greeley-Rossi report, which the monsignor said, was represented in both the Catholic and secular press as giving the impression that “if parents are regular, practicing Catholics, why send them to Catholic schools?” The press, he said, “implied that the study of religion in Catholic schools was unimportant and conveyed this idea to the readers.”

What were the issues raised by the Greeley-Rossi report that caused the misunderstanding and controversy?

Did Catholic schools affect the attitudes and social background of the students as adults?

Did Catholic schools “set the students aside” from students in public schools, causing a divisive influence?

What is the role of the Catholic schools in preparing students for successful careers?

Do Catholic parents want to contribute to the continuance of Catholic schools in America?

Msgr. Koury replied to the first question: “We can say that those adults trained in Catholic schools are much better informed on Catholic doctrine; they concede more authority to the Church, and as adults, they participate more actively in the religious organizations of their parish.” He added, “As the press neglected to point out, the students from Catholic schools showed much less prejudice than those who attended public schools—a statistic not revealed in the press, but included in the report.”

Catholic schools are not divisive, Msgr. Koury concluded from his evaluation of the report. “Attendance at a Catholic school has a culminate effect,” he said, “68 per cent of the Catholics in this country attend Mass every Sunday; with nine years in a Catholic school, the ratio increases to 96 per cent. There are children from Catholic homes who go to the Catholic and elementary schools and emerge as good, practicing Catholics no matter what the parents’ religious training was.” As Father McNamara stated in the Notre Dame report, “the ratio between this high degree of belief and practice are due to Catholic school training.” Msgr. Koury added, “The great problem today is convincing the public that Catholic schools are not divisive.”

Third, Catholic students do better than students who attend public schools, said Msgr. Koury evaluating the results of the Greeley-Rossi report. ‘The Catholic students are ‘over-achievers; they are with a peer group and seem to do better than Catholic students who do not attend Catholic schools. They feel secure with their own group, and ‘over-achieve’ in high school. Most of the graduates go on to Catholic colleges, which is “a fine indication that they are achievers,” the monsignor said.

Both the Greeley-Rossi report and the Notre Dame report find it “wishful thinking” to assume that Catholic parents will continue to support the Catholic school system, said Msgr. Koury. He replied: “Yes, the Catholic parents will continue to support the school system, but there will be more sophisticated criticism because our Catholic people have a higher level of education and will criticize more and more—this is to be expected.”

A problem faced by the Catholic school system is one of ‘ecumenism’, the monsignor said. “Why in a time of Vatican II when ecumenism is being practiced in all churches; why can’t Catholics work together?” In suggesting inter-community schools and inter-community convents, Msgr. Koury made a plea for “functional unity.” He said,” It would be more efficient and certainly more economical.”

What did the Greeley-Rossi report say about religious education? In his evaluations, Msgr. Koury found that the report concludes that the CCD program “is not a good substitute for Catholic schools at the present level of success. It is not a good substitute at all. It is, more than anything else, a proof that the parents simply resist, or give their religious disapproval to the Catholic schools.’

“If we are going to have a good CCD program,” the monsignor said, “our teachers have to be better than the teachers in the parochial schools. Do not misunderstand this as an indictment of the CCD.”

As the Greeley-Rossi report points out, “If we are going to have informed Catholic students, we have to bring a new depth to our theology. This means an indictment of our Catholic school religious classes. If we are going to teach religion, our best teachers have to be in this area,” said the monsignor.

“Don’t take statistics as dogma—or to create pessimist about Catholic education, I say, ‘Get out of Catholic education’ our only salvation is in the Catholic schools.”