The Diocese of Brooklyn has proposed to close 14 elementary schools due to lack of enrollment. As one of the nation’s largest Catholic dioceses, nearly 40 percent of its grade schools have been shut down in the past seven years.
Catholic school enrollment has steadily decreased by more than half from its peak of five million students in the late 1960s. This trend forges the future for parochial education and tests the possibility of a country without Catholic schools. A report by the White House Domestic Policy Council describes the dwindling presence of parochial schools as a crisis not just for Catholics but also for society.
Parents and schools administrations are rallying to save their schools through radical experiments in recruiting new students and financing their educations.
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