“Three Catholic elementary schools in Allentown will merge into one building called St. John Vianney Regional School, and two other parochial schools will close, the Diocese of Allentown announced Friday.”
Read the whole article, Allentown diocese to merge 3 schools, close 2 others.
What makes this story exceptional is that the Latino population in Allentown is exploding (37.5% Hispanic as of 2008, up from 24.5% in 2000), offering a plethora of Catholic children to fill the seats in Allentown’s Catholic schools. This would mean a quality Catholic education for Hispanic children and the viability of Allentown’s Catholic schools.
If Catholic schools do not see the signs of the times and throw open their doors to the changing face of the Church, they will be forced to close their doors permanently.
Visit the Catholic School Advantage website and read the report “To Nurture the Soul of a Nation: Latino Families, Catholic Schools and Educational Opportunity” to learn more about Notre Dame’s effort to increase Latino enrollment in Catholic schools nationally.
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August 15, 2010 at 9:20 am
Fort Wayne-South Bend Catholic high schools engage Latinos « Catholic Schools: Nurturing the Soul of a Nation
[...] Today’s Catholic, the paper for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, reported on a new effort under-way by the four diocesan high schools to engage the Latino population. A number of leaders from the high schools in the diocese recently attended a workshop hosted by the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) and their Catholic School Advantage (CSA) campaign that seeks to expand the participation of Latino families in Catholic schools. The workshop, held at Notre Dame’s campus from July 9 to 11, welcomed over 150 Catholic educators from around the country to discuss the critical need for Catholic schools to reach out to Latino children and families. I’ve discussed the CSA campaign in earlier blog posts, here and here. [...]