Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk to retire as archbishop of Seoul

SEOUL, May 10 (Yonhap) — Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk, the archbishop of Seoul, will retire from the top post of the Seoul Archdiocese next month, South Korean Catholic sources said.

   The sources said the Vatican will announce the new archbishop of Seoul at noon Thursday (Vatican time), adding that Bishop Andrew Yeom Soo-jung is likely to be named as the successor to the cardinal.

Cheong submitted his resignation in 2006 when he was 75 years old, the retirement age for archbishops. Vatican’s action on the resignation letter will be made with the appointment of a new archbishop.

   Cheong has served as the archbishop of Seoul for 14 years since May 1998, when he was appointed to the post following the late Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan (1922-2009).

   The Seoul Archdiocese plans to hold an inaugural ceremony for the new archbishop on June 25. Cheong will fulfill his duties as archbishop until that time.

   kts@yna.co.kr
(END)

On Ignorance of Islam…and the Bogey Man

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On the Culture

On Ignorance of Islam…and the Bogey Man

By Dr. Jeff Mirus | March 20, 2012 11:37 AM

From Our Store: Witness of Suffering (eBook)

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran had this to say in a recent interview on the Al Jazeera television network:

We succeeded in avoiding the clash of civilizations; let us avoid the clash of ignorance’…. There is fear of Islam, but it is due to ignorance…. When you speak to these people—I have spoken to so many of these ‘right wing’ groups—you realize they have never opened a Koran and never met a Muslim.

Okay, I get it. Cardinal Tauran is the head of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue. It his job to give as much ground as he possibly can, in the hope of encouraging a similar conciliatory spirit on the other side. This, presumably, necessitates the denigration of those who can be most easily marginalized in the Western camp, namely the “right wing”. After all, somebody has to be thrown under the bus to prove one’s seriousness. It cannot be anybody on the Islamic side, and it cannot be the Church. This isn’t fair, but it is business as usual.

Still, one has to wonder how useful such pretenses really are. I can’t speak for the European ‘right wing’ any more than I can speak for the bogey man, but it seems to me self-evident worldwide that there is great fear of Islam in the West not so much from ignorance of Islamic beliefs as from observation of Islamic political behavior. Islam is a theocratic religion, and these theocracies more often than not marginalize and actively persecute those who refuse to say they are true believers. Moreover, Islam is currently inextricably linked to terrorism, something which Western morality, whether secular or Christian, condemns. Even a sadly broken and post-Christian West can see that this presents a problem, and they do not need to open a Koran to figure it out.

For their part, the Islamic peoples see the West as a sort of human cesspool which ardently desires the moral degradation of everyone with whom it comes in contact. Muslims may erroneously see this hedonism as a Christian thing, which is most unfortunate, but they certainly see it as a Western thing, and in their shrewder moments they may realize that the commitment to hedonism changes surprisingly little from the left to the right wings. But even if we focus exclusively on good Christians in the West, we find a strong theory of the separation of spiritual and political authority, and a reasonable openness to divergent viewpoints in the civil order within the limits of the natural law. Such a theory threatens Islamic polity as it is most often understood and, more importantly, as it is most often implemented.

Now when reasonable men of varying religious beliefs seek to explore peacefully their respective understandings of the dignity of the human person and the requirements of a just social order, this is always a good thing. Pope Benedict has himself challenged the Islamic world to engage in such a dialogue, though with only marginal success. But this does not mean that the general state of affairs is based on ignorance. It may be a greater ignorance, after all, to pretend that the respective worldviews of the two civilizational parties are not deeply at odds, preferring rather to focus on a handful of intellectuals who, as a rule, do not represent the more significant movements which drive policy.

It may also be, of course, that many Muslims who migrate to the West prefer to live in a secular (or, better, a natural law) state, and do not yearn for Muslim theocracy. Or it may be that in the end it will be only the dominant secular hedonists who cannot tolerate a significant Islamic presence, for the same reasons that they cannot tolerate a significant Christian presence. Time will tell, and Christian relations with Islam are obviously important. Indeed, I would explore every possibility in a spirit of Christian love and hope. But in the meantime it is disingenuous to pretend that our mutual fears are based on ignorance.

The point, of course, is that we have not avoided, and cannot avoid, the “clash of civilizations”. This being so, it is an even greater pity that there is no longer a reasonably Christian civilization to be involved in the clash, for then some progress might actually be made. Then it might not be necessary for the West to demand that Islam make itself acceptable by finding its inner hedonism. Meanwhile, even Cardinal Tauran must have trouble pretending the clash of civilizations has been avoided, as if ample grounds for concern are not everywhere apparent—even, doubtless, to the European ‘left wing’. One hopes, at least, that the Cardinal refuses to deviate from his script only because he is pretending. Ignorance of this magnitude would be difficult to imagine.

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Sound Off! Comments

• Posted by: Randal Mandock –
  Mar. 21, 2012 1:49 PM ET USA

  I wonder how much experience the good cardinal has as an apologist trench fighter. I used to be one. I am also so far to the right that I recognized in 2004 the Obama’s Marxist/Leninist tendencies. Every time I quoted the Koran either face to face or online, my Muslim opponents would deny the quote because it did not originate in the Koran. When I showed them the Koran, they told me that it was not a Koran, but merely a corrupt translation. They informed me that all translations are corrupt.

• Posted by: v.nagle –
  Mar. 21, 2012 3:23 AM ET USA

  As a long time resident of a Middle Eastern country, an Arabic speaker and a student of Islam, I think that the cardinal may be making a common confusion: it would make more sense to me if he were to say that there is no reason to fear Muslims. But the fact is that Islam can very easily be and very often is and has been interpreted in a way that one can only call ‘threatening’ to non-Muslim populations.

• Posted by: Defender –
  Mar. 20, 2012 11:52 PM ET USA

  In 846, Rome was sacked by 11,000 Muslims, who desecrated the tombs of Sts. Peter and Paul. St.Francis understood that the Fifth Crusade was part of an ongoing just war in response to Muslim invasions of Christian lands. So, my dear cardinal, I think we can safely say that there has been a Christian-Muslim “thing” going on for a long time and a clash of ignorance is not what’s wrong. Has anyone looked out the gates of Vienna lately?

• Posted by: Justin8110 –
  Mar. 20, 2012 7:42 PM ET USA

  Anyone that did happen to open up a Koran would find their worst fears about Islam confirmed. The Koran mocks the Trinity as a pagan fable; denies the Divinity of Christ; places both Christians and Jews in hell; and exhorts Muslims to humiliate, enslave and kill those who will not peacefully convert. Muslim history, current events and the Koran all show that many of our fears are justified. Are there peaceful Muslims? Certainly. Is Islam actually a religion of peace? Certainly not.

• Posted by: impossible –
  Mar. 20, 2012 7:32 PM ET USA

  Whether human or ostrich, what does one see with his head buried in the sand? An honest balanced evaluation of the Crusades cannot be gleaned from inherently anti-Catholic sources. Some of us, depending upon age, might well have the opportunity to die for our faith – not just the unbloody sacrifice of living in our present and descending culture, but actually losing our heads.

• Posted by: cloudchaser64 –
  Mar. 20, 2012 6:32 PM ET USA

  It is interesting to read newspaper articles from Europe in the 80′s along this genre. Amazing! Now Europe is having to deal with Shari’a law in common courts, surveillance of Arabic communities that harbor (and in some cases-encourage) the terrorist side of Islam. I wonder how the writer above will feel like when his wife and daughter are required to be second-class citizens when Islam becomes the dominant religion.

• Posted by: John J Plick –
  Mar. 20, 2012 6:17 PM ET USA

  To have “world peace” as a god is not a good idea….

• Posted by: Barbnet –
  Mar. 20, 2012 5:52 PM ET USA

  “but it seems to me self-evident worldwide that there is great fear of Islam in the West not so much from ignorance of Islamic beliefs as from observation of Islamic political behavior.”
  The problem is westerners use logic: we follow Islamic political behavior which is probably as totalitarian as the other 20th century political totalitarianims. Unfortunately, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran is now adopting the classic dhimmi posture: please don’t behead me yet.

• Posted by: mgreen32234 –
  Mar. 20, 2012 5:38 PM ET USA

  I looked at the video on youtube:

  I could only stay with it a few minutes before I reached my discouragement threshold. Apart from the scary quotes in the print story though, I wonder how much was about the dynamic between the interviewer and the Cardinal. Was I right to see careful dodging and weaving with a deliberate occasional duck from the Cardinal? Is this any worse than if a Cardinal were to appear on the White House channel? Ended feeling less angry at the Cardinal than when I started

• Posted by: John J Plick –
  Mar. 20, 2012 12:00 PM ET USA

  We just don’t learn, even after centuries…; The “us” against “them” attitude DOES NOT WORK; militarily or theologically… Most would agree that for the most part the Crusades were a miserable failure. So now we will do the same thing intellectualy? The seraphic father got it right…, Francis and his followers WENT to the Muslims, with love in their hearts and ready to die. We look forward to Easter…, but Lent is still here.

Inclusive ‘Old Catholic Church’ community formed in Saranac Lake

SARANAC LAKE – The Rev. Christopher Courtwright-Cox was at the heart of the Roman Catholic Church when he realized that he no longer could be affiliated with it.

It was at the height of the Catholic priest sex abuse scandal in 2004, and Cox was living in Vatican City. He had just completed his seminary training and been ordained as a priest.

“I had this growing sense of anxiety and depression while I was over there, and I couldn’t really articulate it,” said Cox. “But when (the sex abuse scandal) happened, to hear behind closed doors the amount of secretiveness and homophobia, and the amount of misogyny within the hierarchy of the church, it dawned on me why I was struggling so much.

“I started thinking about the place of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people in the church,” said Cox, who is gay. “I got to thinking about the place of women in the church, and about divorced people and how they’re not allowed to receive communion. All these things started coalescing for me, and I realized I can’t do this because it’s destroying me and it’s destroying people I care about. So I decided to leave active ministry.”

That decision marked the start of a journey that would eventually bring Cox to Saranac Lake, where he recently founded the Crossroads Catholic Community, billed as an “ecumenical, inclusive, non-judgmental and independent” religious community that still retains most Catholic traditions and practices.

Cox credits the Rev. Ann Gaillard, rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, where Crossroads is renting space for its services, for coming up with the Crossroads name.

“Crossroads worked because St. Luke’s is literally at the crossroads of the community, at the corner of Main and Church (streets), in the heart of the village,” he said. “But it’s also at the heart of what I’m trying to do and what the Old Catholic Church is about, and that is being an ecumenical bridge among all of the Christian denominations.”

The term “Old Catholic Church” refers to a number of Christian churches that originated with groups that split from the Roman Catholic Church over certain doctrines, primarily the belief that the pope can make infallible statements on church doctrine.

Cox’s connection to the Episcopal Church is what led him to try to learn more about the Old Catholic Church. About a year-and-a-half after he left active ministry, Cox was living in Plattsburgh and was approached by a friend who encouraged him to visit an Episcopal church.

“I started attending the Episcopal church to check it out, and I was like, ‘It’s Catholic-lite, but it’s also Catholic right,’” Cox said. “It’s kept all the things about Catholicism that I love: the scriptures, the Eucharist, the priesthood, the ritual, the community. But it got rid of a lot of the moralizing.”

Cox became a member of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Essex. He later moved to Saranac Lake, where he worked as the spiritual director of St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment and Recovery Centers, a position he held for four years until he recently stepped down. During his time at St. Joseph’s he received his doctorate in pastoral counseling and started work on a master’s degree in theology.

“It was then that I realized, while I was writing my dissertation, the call that’s always really been in my heart, that I want to be in active ministry again,” Cox said. “It was at that time that I brought it up to my spiritual director, and he said, ‘Have you ever heard about the Old Catholic Church?’”

Cox contacted Bishop Rose Tressel, head of the United Catholic Church, which describes itself as “an old Catholic heritage church for the church’s homeless.” After giving it a lot of thought, Cox reactivated his ministry in August 2011 and founded the Crossroads Catholic Community, a member of the United Catholic Church.

Its services – held Wednesdays and Saturdays at St. Luke’s – are almost identical to those of the Roman Catholic Church, Cox said.

“The only real difference is that in the Eucharistic prayer, the pope is not prayed for as such; he’s prayed for as the bishop of Rome,” he said. “And we have more freedom in our liturgy; it’s not as rigid. We can draw from Orthodox sources, Old Catholic sources, Roman Catholic sources, Celtic sources. But the basic structure is the same: There’s a gathering around the scriptures, a sermon and the liturgy of the Eucharist, where all believers gather around the table to receive the body and blood of Christ.”

Cox says he averages about a dozen parishioners at the Saturday service, but he said he isn’t measuring his success by the number of people who attend.

“If just one person finds healing or finds peace with their own struggles, then that’s enough,” he said.

Crossroads has also been taking its message to the street. Cox, Gaillard and several of the Crossroads Community’s parishioners provided “Ashes to Go” on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 22, outside the Saranac Lake post office and in the Sears parking lot. About 60 people received ashes and blessings, Cox said.

Cox stressed that he’s not out to pick a fight with the Roman Catholic Church and its local parishes, like St. Bernard’s in Saranac Lake.

“What’s unique about this is you are free to come and go,” he said. “You can be a part of this community and still be a Baptist, a Methodist, an Episcopalian, a Roman Catholic – whatever you want. Our object is not conversion. It’s just a matter of belief and practice, and we want to return to what all of Christianity held in common.”

The Rev. Mark Reilly, pastor of St. Bernard’s, was reluctant to speak about the Crossroads group, although he said he is aware of it.

“To the degree that we may share some things as common as Christians, that’s one thing,” Reilly said. “To the degree that it’s another form of schism, that it appears to be, I need to be very careful.”

Gaillard called what Cox is doing “very exciting.”

“I think that the idea of that very specific ministry of reaching out the marginalized – it’s a very important one,” she said. “All churches seek to do that, but when you’ve got a different sort of ecclesiastical structure that supports it, that’s a new way of doing things, and that’s what he has.”

Crossroads parishioners like Angela Estes of Saranac Lake are just as enthusiastic. Estes said she grew up in the Roman Catholic Church but became dissatisfied with the church’s hierarchy in the wake of the priest sex abuse scandal and because she said she was “treated differently” when she got divorced.

Estes said she likes the Crossroads Community because “there’s no judgment at all, and the rules are not the same. You can be divorced, you can be gay, you can be a woman priest. It’s just church. It’s wonderful.”

Contact Chris Knight at 891-2600 ext. 24 or cknight@adirondack

dailyenterprise.com.

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Celebrating Love – St Valentine’s Day

Remember that Valentine’s Day is more than just a celebration of rosy romance, but also a remembrance of the sacrifice of two courageous persons who died for what they believed in, writes Juliet.

It is strange how a wonderful celebration of love and affection amongst human beings can be so misunderstood and distorted by ignorance.

Do those loudly condemning Valentine’s Day, really know what they are talking about? Do they know what they are getting so worked up about? Do they even know how this tradition of showing affection to our loved ones started and why this tradition is being continued by Christians worldwide? Do those celebrating Valentine’s Day know or understand the significance of it?

Let’s travel back in time and find out who St. Valentine was and why his day is so special. I know of two versions of the legend of St. Valentine that actually began thousands of years ago during the time of the Roman Empire. Christianity was then a reasonably young religion, seen as radical and unacceptable to the Roman government. As with all great religions that still exist today, the early believers were persecuted for practising and evangelising this “new” religion.

According to Catholic Church sources, there are two saints named Valentine. Both of them were priests.

One Valentine lived in 197 AD in Terni. He was martyred for his spiritual belief and for sending secret messages to the Christian community he led during that period of Christian persecution, expressing the love and care he felt towards his ‘flock’.

The other Valentine lived in 269 AD and was a Roman priest who performed marriage ceremonies against a prohibition on marriage laid down by Claudius II, who was Roman Emperor at that time (Source: http://www.heartlandconnection.com/news/story). Emperor Claudius who was waging many wars had prohibited marriage amongst young people due to his mistaken view that married men were less likely to join the army than unmarried men who had no family or family obligations to worry about (Source: http://www.isabelperez.com/St%20ValentineStory.htm). In opposition to this harsh and oppressive edict, Valentine performed wedding ceremonies for young people who came to him for help. He was arrested just after doing this service for a young couple who escaped (‘St. Valentine’s Story’). Catholic sources also say that he performed marriage ceremonies for Christians as Christian marriages were not legally recognised. Helping Christians, at that time, was considered a crime by the Roman government (‘The history of Valentine’s Day’, Venessa Alonso, http://www.heartlandconnection.com/news/story).

Both Valentines were arrested for their activities, detained, tortured and ultimately put to death (martyred) for what they believed.

The more romantic version of Valentine goes on to tell of Valentine’s meeting with the daughter of his jailer who visited him when he was in prison. They became good friends and before he was executed, Valentine left her a letter thanking her for “her friendship and loyalty” and signing off with the words, “Love from your Valentine” (St. Valentine’s Story, http://www.isabelperez.com/St%20ValentineStory.htm). Valentine is said to have been executed either on 14 February 269 AD or 24 February 270 AD (2004abcteach.com).

All in all, Valentine was a brave person who believed in protecting the human right to love and marry, apart from being a true Christian ready to give his life for his faith. The 14 February celebration is really a celebration of this bravery and sacrifice by St Valentine, who is seen by some Catholic religious as an inspiration in loyalty to the faith.

Fr Frank O’Gara of Whitefriars Street Church in Dublin, Ireland, says, “What Valentine means to me as a priest,… is that there comes a time where you have to lay your life upon the line for what you believe. And with the power of the Holy Spirit we can do that — even to the point of death.” His is one of three churches that claim to house the relics of St Valentine and where pilgrims converge on 14 February every year.

Fr O’Gara also gives sound advice on the subject of marriage, “If Valentine were here today, he would say to married couples that there comes a time where you’re going to have to suffer. It’s not going to be easy to maintain your commitment and your vows in marriage. Don’t be surprised if the ‘gushing’ love that you have for someone changes to something less ‘gushing’ but maybe much
more mature. And the question is, is that young person ready for that?”
(Source: The Christian Broadcasting Network, http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/churchandministry/churchhistory/st_valentine_the_real_story)

So, with the enjoyment of the beautiful fragrant roses, chocolates, soft toys, balloons, cards and candle-light dinners, remember that Valentine’s Day is more than just a celebration of rosy romance, but also a remembrance of the sacrifice of two courageous persons in history who died for what they believed in and preserved the right to marry (Article 16 Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

Juliet (pseudonym)

Angeline Loh
17 February 2012

Birth control and birthday cake

How To… / Paranormal / Media / Politics

Birth control and birthday cake

Posted

by Sam Worley on

Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 12:46 PM

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Ross Douthat’s weekend column in the Times is about the differing views on abortion held by “cultural liberals” and “social conservatives.” There’s some funny language in this piece. It’s not clear, for instance, why Douthat considers abortion a “cultural” issue—a divertissement on par with, say, a night at the opera—for east-coast communist gay elites, and a “social” issue for others. And I have to confess being brought up short by Douthat’s use of the phrase “artificial birth control,” by which he means “birth control,” only modified with a meaningless adjective. “Natural” birth control—that is, abstinence—would appear to be, in the context of the two modifiers being opposites, equally without meaning. For instance! My boss will be pleased to learn that I am, right now, practicing natural birth control. At my desk! And Ross Douthat will be pleased to learn that I find natural birth control quite easy to consummate. “Birth control” is only a cogent concept if you’re actually talking about sex, in other words. In which case, “natural” styles of birth control range from the withdrawal method to various nonpenetrative tactics, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t what Douthat’s social conservatives have in mind.

Do people—non-Ross Douthat people—actually use the phrase “artificial birth control”?

I decided to try an experiment using the time-honored Google Autoresult Method for Determining the Populist Cachet of an Idea. To wit: how much of the phrase would I have to type in the search field before Google would suggest the answer I wanted? As it turned out, quite a bit: I got as far as “artificial bir” before I found what I was looking for, halfway down the list, following “artificial birds” and “artificial birch tree” but preceding “artificial birthday cake.” Artificial birthday cakes must be the ones that strippers jump out of. That these are less popular than artificial birth control is a result that cultural liberals and social conservatives are free to interpret according to their respective political agendas.

Clicking through, it appears that “artificial birth control” is used mostly by Catholic sources: the first result, entitled “What Does the Bible Teach,” is from catholicsource.net, and nearly all of the initial results are from similar places. Actually, “artificial birth control” was in the Times again yesterday, in this instance in a column by cultural liberal Frank Bruni, who’s making a plea for gay marriage. On his way there he points out that some Catholics opposed to contraception have “broods much smaller than they likely would if they let nature have its way,” presumably because of artificial birth control. He thinks this is evidence of hypocrisy. But who knows! Conservatives might get down with the natural method, too. Wasn’t it just the other day when Herman Cain ensured the country that Newt Gingrich would “pull it out”?

Tags: Ross Douthat, New York Times, birth control, pulling it out, Google, Frank Bruni, gay marriage, natural birth control

Feature – Catholic schools find new ways to stay afloat

Struggling American Catholic schools are finding new ways of making money, reports NCR Online.

Schools that are thriving have had to seek other forms of revenue from foundations, local businesses and alumni.

Mary McDonald, superintendent of schools in the Diocese of Memphis, Tennessee, knows all about needing money – and getting it – to keep Catholic schools open. She sought out funds from non-Catholic sources to completely reopen eight diocesan elementary schools that had been closed.

The resurrection theme of these Jubilee Schools in the poorest areas of Memphis came about through multimillion-dollar contributions, foundations, grants, corporate funding and private donations.

When McDonald first started her job as school superintendent in 1998, the Bishop of Memphis told her he wanted Catholic schools back in the city. “He also told me there was no money to do this,” she told the Catholic News Service.

She knew local Catholics, who made up only four percent of the population, could not finance these schools alone, so she turned to the broader community and convinced them that restoring Catholic education in the city was a worthwhile investment.

Since these schools began re-opening in 2000, she has continued her quest for funding and to prove to those who provide financial help – whom she calls investors, not donors – that their funds are making a difference.

She frequently gives tours of schools and shows their test scores to reinforce the message that Catholic education is improving the lives of the young people it’s serving, which in turn helps the community at large.

When she asks for help, she said, it is never with the mentality of asking for money for a sinking ship. Instead her plea has always been: “Here’s our plan, come along with us,” which she follows up with proving schools are “worthy of people investing in us” by showing what they do now and their future plans.

As she sees it, the “days of someone being philanthropic because you need money are fading and being replaced by an entrepreneurship philanthropy, which asks, what are you willing to do to make our investment grow?”

FULL STORY Catholic schools are looking at new ways to keep afloat (NCR)

Catholic schools are looking at new ways to keep afloat, thrive

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WASHINGTON — Today’s Catholic schools struggling to stay open or facing closure need new ways of making money.

Reports of school closures often point to escalating costs of operating schools coupled with the inability of parents to pay tuition, especially in inner cities, and the lack of available resources from parishes or dioceses to keep these schools afloat.

Schools that are thriving have had to seek other forms of revenue from foundations, local businesses and alumni.

Mary McDonald, superintendent of schools in the Diocese of Memphis, Tenn., knows all about needing money — and getting it — to keep Catholic schools open.

In fact, she sought out funds from non-Catholic sources to completely reopen eight diocesan elementary schools that had been closed.

The resurrection theme of these Jubilee Schools in the poorest areas of Memphis came about through multimillion-dollar contributions, foundations, grants, corporate funding and private donations.

When McDonald first started her job as school superintendent in 1998, Memphis Bishop J. Terry Steib told her he wanted Catholic schools back in the city. “He also told me there was no money to do this,” she told Catholic News Service Jan. 19.

She knew local Catholics, who made up only 4 percent of the population, could not finance these schools alone, so she turned to the broader community and convinced them that restoring Catholic education in the city was a worthwhile investment.

NCR: January 20-February 2, 2012

Subscribe to NCR to get all the news and special features that aren’t always available online. In this issue:

- US News: Apostolic Visitation
Results of investigation of women religious submitted to Rome/

- Special Section: Volunteers. Rebuilding New Orleans; finding the best service match; and more

- Viewpoint: New Missal
The illusion of authority and the realities of Catholic life today/

Since these schools began re-opening in 2000, she has continued her quest for funding and to prove to those who provide financial help — whom she calls investors, not donors — that their funds are making a difference. She frequently gives tours of schools and shows their test scores to reinforce the message that Catholic education is improving the lives of the young people it’s serving, which in turn helps the community at large.

When she asks for help, she said, it is never with the mentality of asking for money for a sinking ship. Instead her plea has always been: “Here’s our plan, come along with us,” which she follows up with proving schools are “worthy of people investing in us” by showing what they do now and their future plans.

As she sees it, the “days of someone being philanthropic because you need money are fading and being replaced by an entrepreneurship philanthropy, which asks, what are you willing to do to make our investment grow?”

Mary Walsh, at the Lynch School of Education at Boston College, echoed this idea, saying it was her impression that “fewer and fewer foundations are willing to provide operating support to Catholic schools.”

She said many foundations give student scholarships and some still provide funding for operational costs, but they are more interested in “trying to fund innovative innovation” collaborating with Catholic schools and also working with Catholic universities to strengthen schools’ futures instead of just fixing current troubles.

One example Walsh, the Daniel E. Kearns professor in urban education and innovative leadership counseling, cited was funding from the Mathile Family Foundation in Dayton, Ohio. The foundation has been collaborating with a Boston College program that links students, including those at Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School in Dayton, to needed resources in their local communities which has improved grades and deceased absenteeism.

Dozens of large foundations that support Catholic schools include the Cassin, Raskob, Hilton and Connelly foundations. There also are numerous local foundations such as Big Shoulders Fund in Chicago, Extra Mile Foundation in Pittsburgh, Tomorrow’s Hope Foundation in Rockville Centre, N.Y., the Catholic School Development Program in Mount Laurel, N.J., and the Catholic Education Foundation in Los Angeles, just to name a few.

Margaret Dames, superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., has been keen on tapping into outside resources not just to restore schools but to help them thrive. In 2004, Bridgeport Bishop William E. Lori created a cluster of inner-city schools which was given financial support from patrons and foundations to repair structures and get schools up to speed with modern technology.

The diocese also has had particular success with reaching out to alumni through a grant-funded project called Catholic Alumni Partnership. Some alumni have never been tapped for help and have been happy to be asked, Dames said. Help has come in big and small ways from contributions to enhance curriculum and a recent donation to treat all eighth grade students to a Broadway show.

The diocesan schools office knows it needs funds to keep its mission alive and it’s not shy about asking for money. A “donate here” link on a website for the schools asks for patrons in its “Adopt a School” program.

Catholic schools are looking at new ways to keep afloat, thrive

Catholic schools are looking at new ways to keep afloat, thrive

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WASHINGTON (CNS) — The phrase “show me the money!” from the 1996 movie “Jerry Maguire” could certainly be a mantra for today’s Catholic schools struggling to stay open or facing closure. Reports of school closures often point to escalating costs of operating schools coupled with the inability of parents to pay tuition especially in inner cities and the lack of available resources from parishes or dioceses to keep these schools afloat. Schools that are thriving have had to seek other forms of revenue from foundations, local businesses and alumni. Mary McDonald, superintendent of schools in the Diocese of Memphis, Tenn., knows all about needing money — and getting it — to keep Catholic schools open. In fact, she sought out funds from non-Catholic sources to completely reopen eight diocesan elementary schools that had been closed. The resurrection theme of these Jubilee Schools, in the poorest areas of Memphis, came about through multimillion-dollar contributions, foundations, grants, corporate funding and private donations. When McDonald first started her job as school superintendent in 1998, Memphis Bishop J. Terry Steib told her he wanted Catholic schools back in the city. “He also told me there was no money to do this,” she recounted to Catholic News Service Jan. 19. She knew local Catholics, who made up only 4 percent of the population, could not finance these schools alone so she turned to the broader community and convinced them that restoring Catholic education in the city was a worthwhile investment. Since these schools began re-opening in 2000, she has continued her quest for funding and to prove to those who provide financial help — whom she calls investors, not donors — that their funds are making a difference. She frequently gives tours of schools and shows their test scores to reinforce the message that Catholic education is improving the lives of the young people it’s serving, which in turn helps the community at large. When she asks for help, she said, it is never with the mentality of asking for money for a sinking ship. Instead her plea has always been: “Here’s our plan, come along with us,” which she follows up with proving schools are “worthy of people investing in us” by showing what they do now and their future plans.

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