Laity Taking School Reins
By Marjorie Hernandez
Ventura County Star
January 27, 2008
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jan/27/laity-taking-school-reins/
When Catherine Osimo attended Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana in the 1960s, it was common to see Catholic nuns in their habits heading classrooms and teaching everything from religion to mathematics.
Sisters, brothers and priests from various Catholic religious orders oversaw the education of 1,300 Mater Dei students, with only two lay people on the faculty, Osimo said.
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| Don Huntley, assistant vice principal at St. Bonaventure High School, teaches a social justice class. The number of nuns and priests teaching in Catholic schools is decreasing nationally. Photo by Chuck Kirman |
Four decades later, Osimo is leading her own class at Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai. She is known to students as Sister Catherine Osimo — one of only five with religious titles among the 51 faculty and staff at the Catholic school.
"When I was in school, every teacher was a priest, a sister or a brother," said Sister Osimo, 62. "Now, it is unusual to see that in schools."
As the nation marks Catholic Schools Week beginning today, Catholic education continues to evolve as the presence of non-lay faculty keeps declining. At the same time, the rising cost of a Catholic education and other factors have left many schools with declining enrollment, according to a recent article in Education Next, a research journal from the Hoover Institution think tank at Stanford University.
Although enrollment remains strong at Catholic schools in Ventura County, they too have fewer nuns, brothers and priests, and more laymen who must serve as administrators, teachers and spiritual leaders.
The shift provides a new dynamic for students, staff and even the community, said Marc Groff, principal of St. Bonaventure High School in Ventura. Groff, who took over after Brother Paulinus Horkan retired last year, is the first layman to head the campus in its 44-year history.
When Sister Josanne Furey retired last year, it left the school without a single nun, priest or brother on its staff of 50 teachers. Two decades ago, St. Bonaventure had as many as eight on staff, Groff said.
To help fill the void, the Rev. Steve Daveren, a pastor from Our Lady of the Assumption parish in Ventura, periodically stops by to chat with students and staff.
"He's done an exceptional job of filling in for the fact that we don't have other religious (faculty) full time," Groff said. "When I was growing up and attending Catholic school, you'd have that recognition that reverence for them. A student who comes to our school from a public school probably has never interacted with a priest before, except maybe in church.
"It's definitely a missing dimension, but it's the world we live in today."
Operating at capacity
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| Sister Catherine Osimo leaves the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross convent in Ventura for her teaching job at Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai. Photo by Karen Quincy Loberg |
According to the Education Next article, Catholic school staffs that once consisted of 90 percent nuns or brothers now have less than 5 percent on average — a reflection of the overall decrease in nuns and priests as fewer Americans pursue religious vocations. As a result, the schools must hire more and more laymen and pay them living wages, instead of the minimum wage often paid to nuns.
At Villanova, nuns on the faculty and staff, who belong to the Sisters of Holy Cross order, make anywhere from $28,752 to $36,855 a year, not including special compensation and benefits, Headmaster Tony Sabatino said. Their pay scale is determined by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Augustinian clergy on the faculty and staff are paid anywhere from $37,132 to $61,866, which is comparable to the salaries lay faculty receive, Sabatino said.
The salaries for sisters and clergy, however, go directly to their respective religious orders, which then give them stipends, Sabatino said.
According to the Education Next article, despite a growing Catholic population in the United States, Catholic school enrollment has declined from 5.2 million students in 13,000 schools in 1960 to 2.3 million students in 7,500 schools today.
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| Sister Catherine Osimo, center, teaches a religion class for juniors called justice and peace at Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai. Osimo is one of only five with religious titles among the 51 faculty and staff members at the Catholic school. Photo by Juan Carlo Mendoza |
In Ventura County, enrollment in Catholic elementary schools has fluctuated over the years, but most high schools have recorded increases or were already operating at capacity and have waiting lists.
Santa Clara High School in Oxnard, which was in danger of closing about four years ago with only 240 students, now has almost 500, said Principal Siobhain O'Reilly-Hill.
Villanova Preparatory, which also offers boarding for international students, is at capacity with 310 students. St. Bonaventure is full at 700 students and has a long waiting list, while La Reina High School— an all-girls campus in Thousand Oaks — is also at capacity with 625 students.
"We really have a good distribution of Catholic schools in this county," said Don Huntley, religion teacher and assistant vice principal at St. Bonaventure. "In other areas, the schools are too close together. Our county also has seen steady growth, and the schools are doing well in managing that growth."
'Valuable ministry'
Although there is only a handful of faculties with religious titles at local Catholic schools, administrators said nuns, brothers and priests continue to be an integral part of their success.
At Villanova, Sister Timothea Kingston serves as the academic counselor, and Sister Osimo not only teaches religion but also is the department chairwoman. The Rev. Stephen Ochoa also joined the faculty this year.
After years of serving as a parish priest in a village in Peru and working in housing projects in Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego, Ochoa is now teaching religion and Spanish and assisting in campus ministry.
"I knew there was a need to strengthen our presence in Villanova, and I saw this as a valuable ministry," he said.
La Reina has five sisters of Notre Dame, including Sister Mary Rebekah Kennedy, who teaches religion, and Sister Mary Leanne Hubbard, who teaches religion and Spanish.
Sister LaReina Kelly has been the school's president for three years.
About 11 percent of the faculty at La Reina High are nuns, a drop from 19 percent two decades ago, she said.
Some of the sisters oversee the Notre Dame Learning Center, a preschool that also offers day care. Sister Kelly said the presence of the Sisters of Notre Dame convent on campus also benefits the school community.
"A mother once told me she thought it was wonderful to see the sisters, so students also could witness what it means to spend your whole life in service for others," she said.
Taking the vow
Administrators said laymen also are becoming spiritual role models for students.
Villanova teachers and board members attend the Institute for Values in Augustinian Education. Some attended a gathering in San Diego recently, where they met administrators and faculties from schools across the world that follow the Augustinian core values of education, unity, truth and love.
"One of the things that occurs when you become a Catholic educator is that you begin to realize your responsibility to not just communicate principles and values that are Catholic and Christian, but to live that in our daily lives," said Sabatino. "Although they don't take a religious vow or belong to an order, in reality they have taken a vow for Catholic education."
Villanova students said they see the value of both religious and lay faculties.
"I think it's a good mix, because it's good to get different point of views, not just from the sisters and brothers, but normal people who are interested in Catholicism," said student Christine Lee, 17, who is Presbyterian.
Some lay educators also decide to go through a yearlong orientation process to join the Associates of Notre Dame, making a commitment to live by the core spiritual values and philosophy of the Sisters of Notre Dame. La Reina has three staff members now going through the process, said Sister Lisa Megaffin.
"Although there are fewer sisters, there are lay people who have taken on a strong spiritual connection with the community," she said. "They celebrate and volunteer with us. They are very much an important part of the community."
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