By Michelle Martin
Staff writer

Ten days after announcing a reorganization plan and the closing of 14 Catholic schools, Superintendent Nicholas M. Wolsonovich took to the microphone Jan. 24 to spread some good news.

Wolsonovich, who took over as the leader of the nation’s largest non-public school system last summer, announced the creation of a new endowment fund for the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Catholic schools, envisioned a new Catholic teacher training academy and regional schools at the Academy of St. Benedict the African on the South Side and Children of Peace school in the University Village area.

At the same time, the Office of Catholic Schools will continue to study a proposal for a private, lay-owned and operated coeducational Catholic high school in Orland Park and renew its commitment to providing Catholic education in the North Lawndale neighborhood, despite the closing of Blessed Sacrament/Our Lady of Lourdes School.

Wolsonovich announced new initiatives with the release of the Office of Catholic Schools annual report at a breakfast honoring the 14 Heart of the School award winners. (See story, Pages 28-31)

“They represent all the wonderful teachers who day in and day out bring the message of the Gospel to the children in our schools,” Wolsonovich said, noting that Catholic school teachers make less money than their public school counterparts, and that they choose to do so out of a sense of ministry.

The initiatives are in addition to the opening of three new schools announced at the same time as the school closings.

All of the changes are intended to keep Catholic schools strong and vital for the long term, Wolsonovich said.

“I believe that a Catholic education is a holy gift we give to our children,” he said.

The new endowment fund will give the archdiocese a vehicle to accept donations from people who want to help Catholic education, Wolsonovich said. The plan is to use the interest from the endowment fund to help schools pay for capital expenses, operating costs and student scholarships, particularly in schools that are not supported by the Big Shoulders Fund.

The Big Shoulders Fund, a private organization, provides about $6 million in scholarships each year to schools in the inner city. But about 15,000 of the 26,000 Catholic school students who qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches don’t attend schools that the Big Shoulders Fund supports.

“The bottom line is that we need more money to address the financial problems for schools and for families,” Wolsonovich said. “There are three classical ways of paying for Catholic schools: tuition, parishes and fundraising. This is another way.”

The Catholic School Teacher Academy will provide training and professional development to teachers new to Catholic education as well as veterans.

The new regional schools demonstrate a move towards finding new models for Catholic education, Wolsonovich said. In both the examples given Jan. 24, the schools would be affiliated with particular parishes, but would draw students from other parishes that do not have their own schools. In other cases, such schools might stand alone, he said.

At the Academy of St. Benedict the African in Englewood, plans include a “complete building upgrade” and expansion of the campus at 7033 S. Honore St., along with renovations at the school’s other two campuses.

At Children of Peace, plans call for consolidating the two existing campuses into a new building at a site to be determined, to house 600 students from preschool through eighth grade, including those in the Holy Trinity School for the Deaf.

The Office of Catholic Schools also is moving forward with plans too expand several existing city schools and redevelop some schools in high-growth areas into model institutions with innovative curricula, advanced technology and interdisciplinary faculties.

Before announcing the plans, Wolsonovich discussed the schools’ annual report, which touts the benefits of Catholic education while acknowledging that enrollment slipped 3.4 percent last year.

Catholic schools develop the whole student, he said, providing superior academics and creating hopeful children who grow into productive, church-supporting adults.

“We need to convince parents and sometimes the young people themselves that they cannot not go to a Catholic school, that the benefits are so great, they have to find a way,” Wolsonovich said.