Mid-Atlantic summit looks at securing future of Catholic schools

Published: 2007-09-24

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (CNS) -- Catholic school leaders from the mid-Atlantic region meeting Sept. 19 in College Park were reminded Catholic education is a unique institution that should be preserved for the good of the church, community, country and future generations. If Catholic schools continue to take a piecemeal approach in dealing with dwindling enrollment in the urban and lower-income parish schools, more closings will be inevitable, Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl told educators, clergy and laypeople of the Mid-Atlantic Catholic Schools Consortium at a summit on the future of Catholic schools. "The cost of a Catholic education has to be in the reach of families and if they can't afford it, their children can't access it," Archbishop Wuerl said in the summit's keynote address. "If (rising tuition) continues, we'll only see schools continue in affluent areas for people who can afford it. The Annapolis-based consortium invited 160 national experts, benefactors, laity, educators and clergy to formulate methods that will keep Catholic schools in the region academically superior, affordable and accessible, while maintaining their faith-based identity and value system.

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