Catholic school
Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered in association with the Catholic Church., the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school system. In 2016, the church supported 43,800 secondary schools and 95,200 primary schools. The schools include religious education alongside secular subjects in their curriculum. Catholic schools are often linked with Catholic church parishes.
Background
Across Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, a major historical driver for the establishment of Catholic schools was Irish immigration. Historically, the establishment of Catholic schools in Europe encountered various struggles following the creation of the Church of England in the Elizabethan Religious settlements of 1558–63. Anti-Catholicism in this period encouraged Catholics to create modern Catholic education systems to preserve their traditions. The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1782 and the Catholic Emancipation Act 1829 later extended the possibility of practicing Catholic Christianity in England more openly and the ability of the Church to create charitable institutions. This led to the development of numerous native religious congregations which established schools, hospitals, orphanages, reformatories, and workhouses.Purpose
Catholic schools are distinct from their public school counterparts in focusing on the development of individuals as practitioners of the Christian faith. The leaders, teachers, and students must focus on four fundamental rules initiated by the Church and school. This includes the Catholic identity of the school, education in regards to life and faith, the celebration of life and faith, and action and social equality.Pope Leo XIV observes that "when they are faithful to their name", Catholic schools will be "places of inclusion, integral formation and human development". He adds that "by combining faith and culture, they sow the seeds of the future, honor the image of God and build a better society".
Character
Like other Christian-affiliated institutions, Catholic schools generally adopt nondenominational admission policies, in that they accept anyone regardless of religion or denominational affiliation, sex, race or ethnicity, or nationality, provided the admission or enrollment requirements and legal documents are submitted, and rules and regulations are obeyed for a fruitful school life. However, non-Catholics, whether Christian or not, may need to participate in or be exempted from required activities, particularly those of a religious nature. These are in keeping with the spirit of social inclusiveness.Religious education
The religious education as a core subject is a vital element of the curriculum where individuals are to develop themselves "intellectually, physically, socially, emotionally and of course, spiritually". The education also involves "the distinct but complementary aspect of the school's religious dimension of liturgical and prayer life of the school community". In Catholic schools, teachers teach a Religious Education Program provided by the Bishop and Superintendent. The teacher Pastor, and Bishop therefore, contribute to the planning and teaching Religious Education Lessons.Catholic education has been identified as a positive fertility factor: Catholic education at the college level and, to a lesser degree, at secondary school level is associated with a higher number of children, even when accounting for the confounding effect that higher religiosity leads to a higher probability of attending religious education.
Americas
North America
Canada
The existence of Catholic schools in Canada can be traced to the year 1620, when the first school was founded by the Catholic Recollet Order in Quebec. Most schools in Canada were operated under the auspices of one Christian body or another until the 19th century. Currently publicly supported Catholic schools operate in three provinces, as well as all three federal territories. Publicly funded Catholic schools operate as separate schools in Canada, meaning they are constitutionally protected. The constitutional protection enjoyed by separate schools in Canadian provinces is enshrined in Section 93 of the Constitution. It gives provinces power over education but with restrictions designed to protect minority religious rights. These restrictions resulted from the significant debate between Protestants and Catholics in Canada over whether schools should be parochial or nondenominational. As opposed to the provinces, the right to separate schools is protected in the three federal territories by the federal Acts of Parliament, which establish those territories.File:QuebecConvention1864.jpg|thumb|left|Delegates of the Quebec Conference of 1864. Retention of separate school boards with public funding was a major issue towards Canadian Confederation
Section 93 was the result of constitutional negotiations in the 1860s. Pre-existing rights for tax-funded minority Catholic and Protestant schools had become a significant point for negotiations surrounding Canadian Confederation. Retention of separate school boards with public funding was a significant issue, chiefly due to ethnic and religious tension between Canada's Catholic population and the Protestant majority. The issue was a subject of debate at the 1864 Quebec Conference. It was finally resolved at the London Conference of 1866 with a proposal to preserve the separate school systems in Quebec and Ontario. The agreement was written into the Constitution to the effect that the condition of education in each colony when it entered Confederation would be constitutionally protected after that.
Despite the compromise, the debate over separate Catholic schools continued to be an issue in the new country. Manitoba's adoption of a single, secular school system in 1890 resulted in a national political crisis. The Manitoba Schools Question was a political crisis in the 1880s and 1890s, revolving around publicly funded separate schools for Catholics and Protestants in Manitoba. The crisis eventually spread to the national level, becoming one of the critical issues in the federal election of 1896. Due to the close link between religion and language during this period in Canada, the Schools Question represented a deeper issue of French survival as a language and culture in Western Canada. The secular system was upheld, with the guarantee of French instruction later revoked in 1916, leaving English as the only official language in use in the province until it was reinstated in 1985.
In the province of Quebec, publicly funded Catholic and Protestant schools were maintained until 1997, when the system was replaced by a linguistic-based secular school system, after passing a constitutional amendment that exempted Quebec from certain conditions of Section 93. Newfoundland and Labrador also operated separate schools for several Christian denominations, including Catholics, prior to 1997. This school system emerged before Newfoundland entered into Confederation in 1949 and continued until 1997 when the province established a secular public system. The absence of Catholic-Protestant tensions in the provinces of British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island resulted in no separate school systems emerging in these provinces.
File:West Toronto Collegiate.jpg|thumb|École secondaire catholique Saint-Frère-André in Toronto is one of many publicly funded French Catholic schools in the province of Ontario.
Presently, the Ontario Ministry of Education funds 29 English-language Catholic school boards and 8 French-language Catholic school boards. Originally, most of the province's secular school boards were Protestant-based. However, it was gradually transformed into a secular public system. Public funding of Catholic schools was initially provided only to Grade 10 in Ontario. However, in 1985, it was extended to cover the final three years of secondary education. Publicly funded Catholic separate schools are also present in Alberta and Saskatchewan. However, they are not as prevalent as in the province of Ontario.
The near-exclusive public funding for a single religious denomination in the province of Ontario has garnered controversy in the last few decades. The controversy led to a Supreme Court decision in 1996 that held that the provincial education power under section 93 of the Constitution Act, 1867 is plenary, and is not subject to Charter attack. They also noted it was the product of a historical compromise crucial to Confederation and formed a comprehensive code for denominational school rights that cannot be enlarged through the operation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The issue has garnered criticism internationally. On November 5, 1999, the United Nations Human Rights Committee condemned Canada and Ontario for having violated the equality provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee restated its concerns on November 2, 2005, when it published its regarding Canada's fifth periodic report under the Covenant. The Committee observed that Canada had failed to "adopt steps in order to eliminate discrimination on the basis of religion in the funding of schools in Ontario."
It is estimated that 60% of Residential Schools were operated by the Catholic Church.
United States
Catholic schools form the largest non-public, Christian school system in the United States. In 2010, 2 million students attended 6,980 schools. Three hundred thirty-one of these are private. They were first established in the United States during the 19th century with the arrival of English immigrants. American Catholic schools wield great significance in the country as they were instrumental in professing Catholicism, which has played a critical role in shaping and developing American culture. Enrollment and development of Americans in Catholic schools increased after World War II, post-war development and Cold War in the battle against anti-religious Communism. By the time of 1964–1965, Catholic schools accounted for nearly 89% of all private school attendance and 12% of all school-age children in school in the USA. The number of religious was at its highest, allowing schools to offer qualified teachers at minimal costs, meaning that most children in the 1940s and 1950s attended their parish school free of charge. Since then, despite American Catholics' widely favorable views of these institutions, there has been a large decline in enrollment predominantly believed to be due to "suburbanization, liberalization of education and the rise of the Catholic middle-class." In the United States, Catholic schools are accredited by independent or state agencies, and teachers are generally certified. Schools are supported through tuition payments, donations, and fundraising charities.In contrast to its public school counterpart, Catholic urbanization has made more significant achievements in poor areas than wealthier areas. For example, Holy Angels has become one of the strongest academic institutions in the country; it serves the Kenwood, Oakland neighborhoods of South Side Chicago, Illinois, where 3 out of 4 people live in poverty and violent crime is frequent. A recent study of U.S. elementary school students also finds that, regardless of demographic, students who attend Catholic schools exhibit less disruptive behavior and greater self-control than students in other private or public schools, suggesting the benefit that these kinds of environments can have for students of all backgrounds.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops listed six key responsibilities of Catholic schools. These are:
- Encouraging and supporting efforts in Catholic education by fostering the distribution and implementation of both universal Church documents on education as well as related documents developed by the bishops of the United States
- Supporting educational efforts in the Church in the United States by developing policies, guidelines, and resources for use by bishops in their dioceses
- Providing consultation on educational issues when requested, including advising and representing the bishops
- Collaborating with the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis regarding evangelization and catechesis in Catholic schools and universities
- Providing support and advocacy in federal public policy on behalf of Catholic educational institutions from pre-school through high school levels
- Bringing to Catholic education the perspectives and concerns of other cultures and people with special pastoral needs through collaboration with other committees/offices