Robert Barron | – The Future of Catholic Schools


According to a recent “Wall Street Journal” headline, “Catholic Schools Are Losing Students at Record Rates, and Hundreds Are Closing.” Catholic schools peaked in the 1960s with about 5.5 million students in 11,000 schools. Today, Catholic schools boast only 1.6 million students in 5,900 schools. What explains this decline? And what can we do about it?

Bishop Barron and Brandon Vogt discuss the situation of Catholic schools, the purpose of Catholic education, and where Catholic schools should move in the future. 

A listener asks, how can we be better friends with our friends who are not Christian?

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About The Author

Bishop Robert Barron These are brief and insightful commentaries on faith and culture by Catholic theologian and author Bishop Robert Barron. The videos complement his weekly sermons posted and podcasted at WordOnFire.org.

Comment (6)

  1. What if we set up a system where instead of the government funding the schools directly, the government can give a coupon or something to families of school age children and then they can take that coupon to their choice of school, such as a Catholic school, and then the school can turn in those coupons for funding. We can call this program "parent deciding education" and will be able to allow kids in poor areas to go to good schools

  2. Now is the exact opportunity for Catholic schools to be counter-cultural and at minimum stand against the diabolical "woke" ideology. We are seeing countless articles of enraged teachers and parents leaving the supposed elite private schools due to this indoctrination and propaganda.

    Please, all the Catholic schools have to do stand fast to the Kingship of Christ and not cave in to culture. The sad fear is it's already too late. Most Catholic schools seem to already be compromised and any Catholic parent wanting to ensure their child keep the faith already know to steer clear of them. I pray that I am wrong.

  3. It might seem strange given the history of Britain, but Catholic Schools (and other religious denominations) here are funded by the State and in the case of Catholic schools, have been for over 100 years.
    England also has some prominent “Public” schools. Confusingly, “Public” schools here are very exclusive, very expensive, private schools, like Stonyhurst and Ampleforth. Arthur Conan Doyle, of Sherlock Holmes fame, is amongst Stonyhurst’s famous former pupils.
    Sadly the evidence points to the fact that at least as far as tax payer sponsored schools are concerned, they are very unsuccessful in educating students in the faith. Statistics point to over 90% of students no longer practising their faith before they leave school. There needs to be more emphasis, here at least, on fewer schools catholic in name only and more on creating real Catholic schools for students for whom faith really matters.

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