Posted on 07/31/2008 5:14:43 PM PDT by tcg
When the Rev. John Haney came to St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin in 1983, the church elementary school charged a $50 book fee for each parish child to attend.
Get rid of it, Haney said. Providing a free Catholic education to parishioners is vital.
Flash forward 25 years. The Whitehall school remains free, and it's the only Catholic school in the state without tuition.
Staying free matters, according to Haney, school officials and parish members, because of the pride, sense of community and passion it creates. They have done it for one another and God through tithing, said parishioner Francis Nowalk, 79.
"It costs a lot of money to run a school," said Nowalk of Whitehall, who sent six children to St. Gabriel and is on the parish financial committee. "The fact is we're doing it and not only are we doing it, but in academics we're really on top of things. You're not going to a second-class school because it is free."
The eight dioceses of Pennsylvania include 443 Catholic schools, including five seminaries, 27 colleges and universities, 62 parish high schools and 11 schools for the disabled, according to the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference.
Only the 390 students at St. Gabriel don't pay a single cent.
"It's incredible what they are able to do," said Robert Paserba, superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholic.org ...
sounds like all the parishioners regard children getting a catholic education as a priority. This is a good thing one more point of light.
Make that 26 colleges and universities. My so-called “Catholic” alma mater is CINO.
**Providing a free Catholic education to parishioners is vital. **
I wish more priests had this one’s views.
I conclude that those Christian churches ( Catholic and Protestant) that don't have **FREE** parochial schools for their children do **NOT** have a commitment to their faith. For certain, they do **NOT** see their own children as their first, most important, and urgent mission field!
Shame on them!
( Yes, I am shouting! I think Christians without free parochial schools are deaf, and, absolutely, they **are** blind! )
By the way,....With a little imagination, and volunteer help, giving a child an outstanding Christian education shouldn't be expensive. Homeschoolers have shown us how. With homeschool cooperatives, one room school houses, virtual schools, tutoring centers, and dame schools surely Christians could educate their children if they **wanted**. They could do this with very little money, at little imagination, and a willingness to abandon the brick and mortar school.
The parishioners and priest understand that their own children are their first, most important, and **urgent** mission field.
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