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Inner City By In yesteryear, many city neighborhoods were populated by ethnic minorities. Catholic parishes catered to these ethnic groups by having Irish – Polish – Italian – African American focused churches and schools. Many large beautiful churches and neighborhood elementary schools flourished. Yet today ethnic segregation is an artifact of a bygone era leaving many inner city Catholic churches scrambling to survive for today’s urban populations may not come to church or share yesterday’s value for the church’s teaching. Ethnic segregation worked well until upwardly mobile people started to exodus the cities for the suburbs. This exodus means empty city churches on Sunday morning and inner city Catholic schools without enough students to justify their continued existence. It has become commonplace to see old yesterday’s ethnic minority communities lamenting over their Archdiocese announcing the closure of their local Catholic Church school. The appearance of Catholic school closures when the neighborhoods are not empty suggests there is a very serious disconnect between the thinking of the church leadership and the needs of the community. I broached Most Reverend Michael A. Saltarelli, Bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington, DE, to appreciate his efforts on calming the death rattles now decimating city Catholic schools. Bishop Saltarelli said that Charter Schools are very good competitors in the city. Charter Schools are tuition free and Catholic schools’ tuition may be beyond the means of many inner city poor families. On the other hand, Bishop Saltarelli shared that they have waiting lists at some suburban Catholic schools.
Bishop Saltarelli’s comment reminded
me of the significant sacrifice my late parents made to send
their six children to Catholic elementary schools in the
Nineteen Fifties because they wanted us to have a quality
education. The four older kids went to
I asked Bishop Saltarelli why the church wasn’t trying to find religious philanthropists to underwrite inner city Catholic schools’ operating cost. He shared that he has a mission to raise 25 million dollars for an endowment fund to insure the health of the inner city Catholic schools before he retires. As I walked away, I visualized Bishop Saltarelli in a comparable role to the fundraising duties of a college or university president where he is fundraising today to guarantee the institution will survive into the next century. On the other hand, this inner city Catholic schools’ existence struggle is a vote of confidence on the positive credibility charter schools are garnering. Charter schools are now providing a choice for poor people seeking quality education for their children at an affordable cost. Bishop Saltarelli may want to ponder making a competitive strategic move at the Achilles heel of the public charter schools. It is common knowledge that a persona non grata sign against God now hangs symbolically over the entrance to American public education. Prayer in public schools is a definite no-no! A good marketing strategy for Bishop Saltarelli is to focus his strength in offering moral values on his competitors’ weakness of being perceived as anti-religious bastions.
Some people might argue that many of today’s inner city public
schools may be infected by a hip-hop thug mentality underpinning
its value system. Perhaps Bishop Saltarelli can raise enough
money to lower the tuition rate at inner city Wilmington
Catholic schools to make it feasible for poor parents to
sacrifice financially to give their children yesteryear’s
religious education. Will
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