Notre Dame task force issues report on future of Catholic schools

Published: 2007-01-23

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- For today's Catholic schools to thrive, school officials must rethink traditional ways of operating and try innovative approaches, said a report highlighting the current challenges facing Catholic schools. The report also calls on the Catholic community at large to play a key role in restoring its schools. The 32-page report, "Making God Known, Loved, and Served: The Future of Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in the United States," was prepared by the University of Notre Dame Task Force on Catholic Education -- a group of educators, administrators, diocesan representatives, philanthropists and investment specialists. The report was a response to the 2005 pastoral statement of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops titled "Renewing Our Commitment to Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools in the Third Millennium." The Notre Dame report, released in December, does not gloss over Catholic schools' difficulties, pointing out in the second paragraph how enrollment has declined from more than 5 million students 40 years ago to half that number today even as the Catholic population has grown.

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