CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOLS GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE
SEI’s BELIEFS
We believe that:
- The financial future of Catholic High Schools demands securing new and available resources.
- Catholic High Schools are essential to the life and future of the church in the United States and require the support of the entire Catholic community.
- The integrity of Catholic High Schools requires comprehensively applying the principles of social justice.
- Formation in the basic mission, principles and traditions of Catholic education is essential for all involved in Catholic High School Leadership.
- Effective Catholic High School governance requires the preparation, empowerment and collaboration of the community which it serves.
- Governance with the full participation of the laity is the key to the future of Catholic High Schools.
- Catholic High Schools should be available and financially accessible to Catholic families and to others in the community who support the mission.
- The Secondary Education Initiative is a diocesan campaign fulfilling the above beliefs by:
- Providing for building, furnishing, equipping and sustaining three new diocesan Catholic High Schools,
- Establishing a tuition assistance endowment fund to benefit our students at all Catholic High Schools in the diocese, and
- Promoting parish based tuition assistance, including “sponsor-a-student” programs and scholarships.
- SEI at Ascension Parish exists to support the diocesan program, and in doing so, contributes to the spirituality of our high school aged parishioners; passes on our distinctly Catholic traditions to our successors; equips our children with the best tools available to be good citizens, productive and caring employees and competent professionals; sustains our tradition of discipline in terms of proper respect and responsibility for their own actions, in a spirit of justice and charity; provides a nurturing and learning environment; and helps students assume a sense of civic responsibility while encouraging a thirst for justice and peace.
6 Secrets of Success
(Some considerations in faith development during the transition to becoming a Catholic/Christian adult)
Catholic Secondary Education is a prime factor in faith development and successful transition to an adult Catholic Christian. From the Catholic Update, September 2003 edition, here are some principal reasons for that success:
- Catholic schools develop positive Catholic identity; in our Catholic high schools there is a culture and identity that is distinctly religious. The atmosphere in these schools provides a sound spirituality for the students.
- Catholic families want to pass on their tradition; families have long had a tradition of passing on to subsequent generations, various ethnic or cultural celebrations. Catholic high schools help to ensure that the distinctly Catholic tradition is passed on to children.
- Catholic schools develop the whole person; today's Catholic high schools are not the schools of our predecessors. Today's schools meet the challenges of today's knowledge explosion and provide a focus and identity that is faith based education. Catholic high schools strive to equip their graduates with the best tools possible to fulfill the roles of good citizen, productive and caring employee and competent professional.
- Children learn best in a well-disciplined setting; The myths of the code of conduct in the "old Catholic schools" may well be gone, but the tradition of discipline in terms of proper respect and responsibility continue to be the mainstay of our Catholic high schools of today. Students are taught to be responsible for their own actions, in a spirit of justice and charity. Thus, our schools are a safe environment that promote learning and social justice.
- Local finance and governance make schools work; Today the stakeholders in our Catholic high schools are the families who send their children and the parish and benefactors that support them. Catholic schools provide the kind of nurturing and learning environment desired by parents and also by the students. Parish and lay involvement in supporting our schools is a key element in assuring the future and the prosperity of these schools.
- Catholic high schools are good for everyone's future; our schools contribute greatly to the well-being of our country and provide anchors to neighborhoods in cities, towns and suburbs. By encouraging service to others, they help students assume a sense of civic responsibility and encourage a thirst for justice and peace.
Catholic high schools' secrets of success aren't really secrets after all. They provide a practical and sensible approach to child development. They mainly help families to educate the whole child: mind, body and spirit. In conjunction with the available Catholic primary education, they provide the kind of academic and social environment parents want and expect for their children from pre-school through 12th grade.