Who is "The Diocese?"
While visiting Catholic schools this past month, there has been more and more concern with what's going to happen regarding finances in light of the issues that have been affecting Wall Street. It brings up that phrase from the 1990's once again, "It's about the economy." There's usually another word that's included with that phrase, but since it's insulting, I left it out.
But think about what's caused the current "meltdown" in our nation's financial institutions:
- bad loans made to companies and individuals that had bad credit, no credit, or no money down;
- low interest rates that would be adjusted every so often based on market conditions;
- non-repayment of loans, especially student loans and mortgages;
And the list can go on. It all comes down to three things: poor business practices, irresponsibility and weak/greedy leadership.
While the fingerpointing continues, as does the debate as to how to get out of this mess, NO solution will be a "fair" one - we're way past that. However, we can do our own part to secure our schools' financial well-being with responsible and secure financial practices. Not to sound like a commercial, but are you collecting your own tuition from families? Do you allow them to pay when they want to pay, or how they want to pay? Do you enforce policies when they don't pay? Better yet, do you even HAVE written policies that apply to non-payment of tuition? That's step one.
Step two is a matter of enforcing those policies. If there are families that are not paying their tuition, that's not a financial matter - that's a justice issue. There may be some that cannot pay due to financial hardship, and that's a ministry issue - can you find additional financial aid for them? Are there scholarships that they can apply for?
But I'm sure you know that there are those that just don't pay, believing that they have a right to have their children educated in the school, and refuse to come to the school to explain why they do not pay. It's not that they "can't" pay - they make other financial choices based on their priorities. This type of behavior is an insult to those families that are making the sacrifices to ensure that their children receive a Catholic school education - and I'm sure you'll agree that there are more of these families that are "doing the right thing" than those that I've described here.
What to do with these people? Think of it this way - are you receiving tuition from them now? No. What does that do? It makes everyone else's tuition go up. If they were not in your school, would you receive funds from them? Of course not...and everyone's tuition will go up. So why are they in your school?
These are the people that are likely to suggest that the Diocese do more for Catholic schools than they are doing right now. After all, the local church is contributing to support the school, and the parents are paying tuition. Fundraising and development efforts are reaching out to alumni, friends, businesses and community members to support the work of the school in educating children, "Training them up in the way they should go" to paraphrase Scripture. If this type of comment is made in a forum atmosphere, some individuals are quick to jump on the bandwagon and say, "Yes - that's right! Let's go get money from the Diocese! If the Diocese wants these schools to continue, they should financially support them!"
The fact is - they do. Take a look at what the Diocese is. The Random House Unabridged Dictionary defines "Diocese" as "an ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop." Note that it says nothing about a building; it says nothing about an office. It's a "district" - a territory; a defined area. In that area are people - Catholics and non-Catholics alike. So - does the Diocese of (insert city name here) include those people that are not members of a parish within that area? Yes! The Bishop is responsible for shepherding ALL of the people within that area (which is why we sing "All Are Welcome." It's Jesus' prayer "That all may be one."). Because it's a big job, there are people that help (called Priests) in carrying out this work within a certain area (called a Parish).
So let's cut to the chase - where does the Diocese get its money from? The people of that area - either through contributions that are made to their local parishes or directly to the Diocese. I've heard people say that they're upset because the Diocese is reducing the amount of funds that go to a school, so they're reducing the amount of money they're giving to their Parish. Less money to the local parish means less money to the Diocese which means less monies the Diocese can use to help the people that need help. The Diocese is not a building...it's the people that reside within its boundaries.
Why is tuition so expensive today? Three reasons:
- There are very few religious teaching in the Catholic schools today. Religious women and men entered convents and friaries because they heard a calling from God to "Come and see." As we pray for vocations today, we have to remember there are so many voices in today's world (TV, radio, ipods, the Internet, newspapers, etc.) that can scream headlines at us, and block out the still, small voice that is the voice of God in our lives. Lay teachers must be paid a just wage;
- Demographics are shifting. Places that once had huge populations no longer have them (such as in the northeastern part of the United States) and places that have had no Catholic schools (in the South and West) are now seeing an increased need for more schools. Schools are in need of infrastructure and technology, which becomes more costly if there are fewer students in the schools, and building new schools is a multi-million dollar investment, which can be difficult for poor yet large communities of Catholics. People have cars today and are mobile. The parish and school are not the gathering places of the local community; sidewalks have disappeared in favor of better roads; people turn to the media and the Internet as places of authoritative information, or to psychologists and psychiatrists for counseling rather than to the priest or the Church as they did in the past; and
- We need to support strong leadership and adopt good business practices in our schools. A compelling vision, solid business practices, and a mission which includes instilling an attitude of service to others, following Jesus' example of washing the feet of His disciples. You could say that we care about those families that can't pay tuition, just as the banks invited those that had no credit or bad credit to take out loans and mortgages that they couldn't possibly pay back. But if we need to learn a lesson from Wall Street, if we haven't already - non-collected funds equals meltdown.
© Michael V. Ziemski, SchoolAdvancement, 2008 (Original Publication Date: 20080929)
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