As lay people take over teaching, Catholic schools focus on what makes them unique
Sunday, January 29, 2006
By Tim Grant, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A generation ago, Pittsburgh's Catholic schools were teeming with nuns, priests and brothers.

Children in Catholic schools here and across the country were taught reading and writing by nuns wearing black habits, and, because they worked for next to nothing, families paid little or no tuition for a private school education.

"It's certainly no secret that the number of religious have declined," said Sister Mariella Bradley, principal of St. Alphonsus Catholic School in Pine and the school's only remaining nun.

As the religious disappear from the classrooms and non-Catholics attend Catholic schools more than ever, Catholic schools are striving to maintain their identity and the qualities that set them apart from other private institutions.

Catholic Schools Week, which starts today, is an annual celebration of that distinctive educational experience. It's a time when Catholic schools nationwide break from their usual curriculum to step back and reflect on what they do.

"It's done to increase school spirit," said Jeanne French, development director at North Catholic High School. "It's like a big pep rally to celebrate all the components that make Catholic schools unique."

The increasing number of lay teachers, most Catholic, but some not, has caused some concern that the strong religious focus in Catholic schools will be replaced with a greater emphasis on academics.

Catholic educators are having to evaluate the significance of the decline of the most universal symbol of Catholic education, the nuns, priests and brothers.

"Nearly all of our lay teachers are of the Roman Catholic faith. Non-Catholic teachers may be hired for one year if we can't find a Catholic teacher for a particular class," said Robert Paserba, superintendent of schools for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.

He added that Catholic schoolteachers also must take continuing education courses in theology, the history of the church and the life of Christ.

"The requirement is that teachers be Catholic except in unusual circumstances like advanced placement math or calculus, which are difficult to find," Dr. Paserba said. "But a non-Catholic lay person would never teach a religion class."

Over the past three decades, the number of religious in Pittsburgh's Catholic schools has fallen dramatically.

There were 2,659 priests, brothers and sisters, 68 percent of the teaching force, serving more than 100,000 pupils in this diocese in 1965.

Today, the number of pupils in Pittsburgh's Catholic schools has tumbled to 29,000 and ranks of religious instructors in the diocese has dropped to 89. The other 1,839 current teachers, 95 percent of the teaching force, are lay people.

This mirrors a national trend of downwardly spiraling numbers of religious leaders in schools. The effect has been far-reaching.

While many nuns used to work in Catholic schools for no pay, and many pupils paid no tuition, today's teachers in the Diocese of Pittsburgh earn starting salaries of $23,500 and average salaries in the mid-$30,000s. Tuition at Catholic schools in the diocese average $2,350 for elementary school and $6,300 for high school.

Although the vast majority of teachers in the Catholic school system are not religious, most are products of Catholic schools.

"Everybody who is within the Catholic school system is dedicated, and I'd like to think it's because of the education received in Catholic schools," said Sister Mariella, who has taught for 39 years in Catholic schools.

"The people here are faith-filled people and want nothing more than to pass on the traditions of our faith and a solid Catholic education."

The problem actually feeds itself.

As lay people steadily replace religious in Catholic schools, there are fewer nuns and priests to serve as role models and to recruit young people into religious vocations.

Sister Sharon Costello, the congregational moderator for the Sisters of St. Joseph in Baden, said she was influenced by the sisters who taught her as a youth.

"What inspired me was the desire to really help people become learners and to become fully who they are," said Sister Sharon, who has taught Catholic school for 25 years.

Sister Janice Vanderneck, the pastoral assistant of the Latino Catholic Community in the diocese, said she was working with four adult women in various stages of joining the sisterhood.

"They genuinely feel a call from God and, particularly, the way the Sisters of St. Joseph live the call," she said.

The sharp decline in the number of priests and nuns taking religious vows was triggered 40 years ago by Vatican II reforms. Modern lifestyle was taken into account as well as a return to the original doctrines of the church.

For nuns, many of the symbolic traditions, such as wearing the black habit, were abandoned and traded for modern dress.

Priests began using regular language instead of Latin during services. Lay people were encouraged to be more active in the church. Some experts believe those and other changes have led to a decline in people joining religious communities.

Women who might have become nuns found other opportunities during the women's liberation movement, and nuns who had been limited to serving either in schools or hospitals were given more freedom to work in other professional occupations.

"We're really trying to encourage more priests and religious," said Father Terrence O'Connor, parochial vicar at St. Alphonsus Church in Pine. "But we're coming with a message that's counter-cultural. That message is hard to break through in an age of secularism."

Youngsters in Catholic schools still take daily religion classes, attend Mass and learn traditional Catholic practices, such as the stations of the cross.

"Kids in public schools don't have the opportunity to talk about faith," said John Wentz, 18, a senior at North Catholic High School. "We can do it in science class or any of our classes. My friends in public schools are real surprised we can talk about God in school."

Along with their school spirit activities, which will include a visit from Mayor Bob O'Connor and City Council President Luke Ravenstahl, students at North Catholic will spend Catholic Schools Week this year learning more about the Marianist religious life.

They'll look at what it means to make a formal commitment to become a brother, priest or lay Marianist. Freshmen at North Catholic will spend the week reading the biography of the founder of the Marianists, Father Joseph Chaminade.

"Catholic Schools Week is not just about saying we're proud to go to North Catholic," said Amanda Pietrone, 17, a senior. "We're proud to be Catholic and show it to the rest of the world."