A few weeks ago, families of Immaculate Conception Academy in Douglassville received heartbreaking news. After years of faithful service, the school will close its doors at the end of this school year.
No one ever wants to see a Catholic school close.
Behind every closure are students, parents, alumni, teachers, and parishioners whose lives have been shaped by Catholic education. There are cherished memories, lifelong friendships, and faith journeys that began inside those classrooms.
While every school closure has unique circumstances, these moments should cause all of us to pause and ask a difficult but necessary question:
What can we do today to ensure Catholic schools remain strong?
The Catholic Foundation of Eastern Pennsylvania believes the answer begins with thinking differently about the future.
How Do We Future Proof Catholic Schools?
Our theme for the next few years is Future Proof — Transforming Catholic Causes Forever.
Futureproofing Catholic schools means moving beyond annual budgets and immediate challenges. It means creating sustainable funding, stronger leadership, engaged alumni, and a culture of Catholic transformational generosity that supports our schools for generations.
Catholic schools are among the Church’s most effective evangelization efforts. Every day, thousands of students are formed in faith, character, service, and leadership. When a Catholic school disappears, an entire community loses a powerful daily connection to Christ and His Church.
That is why nearly half of the Catholic Foundation’s endowment and donor-designated funds are Catholic education centric supporting scholarships and school operations.
It is also why we recently launched the Catholic Schools Mission Fund, a donor-driven Catholic education initiative designed to strengthen schools that may be most vulnerable to becoming “Catholic education deserts.”
But foundations, Catholic school leaders and major donors cannot do this work alone. Future-proofing Catholic education requires all Catholics to participate.
Futureproofing Our Schools Starts With You
- Parents can choose Catholic education for their children. With more scholarships available, we can remove affordability from the conversation. (See BLOCS below)
- Alumni can reconnect with the schools that helped shape their lives.
- Parishes can embrace schools as an essential evangelization effort. Parish leaders need to change the narrative from “our school is a drain on our parish budget” to “our school is an investment in the youth of our parish and the future of our faith.”
- Business leaders can provide resources, mentorship, tax-credit participation, and advocacy.
- Donors can establish family endowment funds and designate their favorite Catholic schools as beneficiaries. This will generate support forever.
- Every Pennsylvania taxpayer has an opportunity to support Catholic school scholarships through programs such as BLOCS and the Educational Improvement Tax Credit.
More than 2,000 years ago, Christ gave the Church a mission that would endure through every generation. The challenge before us today is whether we will do our part to ensure Catholic education remains strong to foster Christ’s mission for the generations that follow.
The future of Catholic schools will not be determined by circumstances alone.
It will be determined by the choices and actions we make today. The future of our schools – and our faith – begin now.
With warmest regards,
Pete Waldron
President
petewaldron@catholicfoundationep.org
