Faith in the Future board chair H. Edward Hanway (left) and Chaput sign an extension of the Faith in the Future school management contract. MARIA S. YOUNG / TIMES PHOTO
As Catholic school educators across the national celebrated Catholic Schools Week, Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles Chaput visited Archbishop Ryan High School last Thursday to make a major announcement regarding the future of Catholic education in the city.
Chaput formally extended the archdiocese’s agreement with the independent Faith in the Future Foundation for the management of 17 Catholic high schools and four special education schools throughout the region, including Archbishop Ryan, Father Judge and St. Hubert high schools in the Northeast. Since taking over management of all 21 schools in 2012, Faith in the Future has helped reverse their declining enrollment and restore their financial stability.
“Some people were saying that Catholic education can’t continue. We were in danger of closing some of our schools,” Chaput said to hundreds of Ryan students who were assembled in the school’s auditorium. “And a group of very creative lay people came forward and said, ‘What about us? Can’t we take responsibility and make sure this really works?’ It has. That’s what we’re celebrating today, the relationship of the church and the people of the archdiocese of Philadelphia with Faith in the Future.”
Surrounded by student representatives from all 21 schools, Chaput and Faith in the Future’s board chairman, H. Edward Hanway, signed an agreement to extend the foundation’s management responsibilities through 2022. The parties launched their initial management agreement in April 2012. Total enrollment had declined from about 23,000 students to 14,200 over the previous decade, forcing the closure of Northeast Catholic and Cardinal Dougherty high schools. The archdiocese had also threatened to close four other schools, including St. Hubert.
“First and foremost, we have reversed a decline in enrollment in our schools. (We were losing) almost a thousand students per year when we first became involved,” Hanway said. “We anticipate modest growth in student enrollment going forward, and that’s a tremendous achievement for our high school system. We have eliminated projected operating deficits of the high school system and today we have a financially stable system of 17 high schools. We are now positioned to invest much more than we have in the past in our people and their development, in enhanced educational programming and very importantly in improved technology.”
Samuel Casey Carter, CEO of Faith in the Future, said that the new stability in the high schools has translated into improved student achievement.
“Ninety percent of the students who graduate from this high school and the high schools around the region go on to two- and four-year colleges,” Carter said. “Of those graduates, 60 percent of them receive scholarships to attend colleges and universities of their choice. These are tangible results. Together with our partners in the Office of Catholic Education, we can continue to build on this great record and create a new model for strengthening and growing Catholic education that we believe others can learn from.”
According to the foundation’s annual report issued last year, Faith in the Future had raised more than $14.1 million for Catholic schools from April 2012 through June 2015. Projected enrollment for the 2015–16 academic year was about 13,400, a decline of about 1.4 percent from the previous year. Enrollment had been declining between 6 and 8 percent annually from 2010 to 2013.
“When we began the Faith in the Future program, we weren’t sure it was going to work. Like every program, you’re never sure if it’s going to work,” Chaput said. “So we entered into a contract for a limited time in order to test it. Well we’ve tested it and it’s proven to be worthy. … I’m very grateful to the lay leaders, all of whom love Catholic education at every level and see it as a value for the larger community, who step up and support our schools in such a generous way.” ••
A bright future: Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles Chaput speaks about the success of Faith in the Future at Archbishop Ryan High School last Thursday. MARIA S. YOUNG / TIMES PHOTO
