One thing that was the topic of the last 3-4 sermons I heard at Sunday Service was that the school is in big financial trouble. This school and church are about 25 years old, give or take, so as far as buildings go they are “brand new.” The school is also at capacity as far as students go, so why is it failing? This blog will focus on several Catholic schools and the problems therein.
There are a couple reasons, first the diocese aka the church’s ruling body with all the money is bankrupt … literally. They can no longer afford to send large sums of money to help subsidize the education of children anymore. The bankruptcy, to remind you, is a result of the actions of many Catholic priests and the subsequent cover-up by bishops and lay people in the diocese. The money has basically dried up.
Both schools I am going to highlight have churches literally on the property! Saint Elizabeth Ann Seaton in Elk Grove, and Saint Patrick’s Academy in Sacramento.
Saint Patrick’s is a tough one. It’s in a very old building that is decaying somewhat. They have a ton of deferred maintenance issues that go along with a very old building. The church is also located in a disadvantaged part of town, so no doubt a lot of students here are likely on a scholarship (I have zero issue with this). This school used to get 800k a year from the diocese, that number dropped to 500k, it’s now below that. My understanding is the tuition money doesn’t even cover salaries payable anymore, and the diocese really cannot assist much due to the pending legal proceedings regarding their bankruptcy. With the school being in a disadvantage part of town, they likely cannot do much in the way of fundraising. Let’s be honest, this school will need proceeds of 10’s of thousands, not a few thousand from a fundraiser dinner. I do feel bad for this school, it’s on life support.
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seaton (SEAS) is in trouble because of its own doing. SEAS is located on the premises of Good Sheperd Catholic Church, where I used to attend. It’s a very large congregation. They have 7 masses each weekend! Most have about 4-5. They also claim to be “in partnership” with the church my folks attend (15 minutes away) and the church I now attend (25 minutes away). This partnership is a farce; it is nothing more than a way to guilt trip people into donating money to a school that doesn’t support us at all. We needed youth for our crab feed to serve the dinner … nope; SEAS didn’t even ask their students. Oh, but they do ask us for money! As mentioned earlier, it’s a newer building, and they drew almost all of the young families away from the other two “partner” churches. Why go to church somewhere else when you can go where your kids attend school and they can see their friends.
The Knights of Columbus council at that church is quite large, but they said they can no longer support the school or its needs. Yet, they have a fireworks booth that routinely nets 10k in profit and a crab feed netting in the 22k profit range. Again, no support. It’s up to the other 2 churches to pitch in. Ironic because the students, via their families, are likely buying large quantities of said fireworks and the parents are likely buying tickets to said crab feed. If they only knew!
The issue mostly lies with the administration and staff at this school. They are old school, money hungry, people who care little about anything but. I went there to deliver a check from my Knights group three years in a row for their 8th grade graduation reception. It usually totaled around $300. I was always greeted by both the principal and assistant with a “what do you want” attitude until I opened my wallet to reveal a check, then I was welcomed there. If you ask me, those two jokers are the captains steering the ship directly for the large iceberg. I guess they made a plea to my Knights council for fundraising help, we agreed to give them proceeds from our crab feed, this will total around $5k. But they need tens of thousands at least, this is merely putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot victim.
Recently it has come up, the teachers have to buy their own copy paper to use for the teaching. Not acceptable! I am no fan of teachers but forcing them to pay for their own copy paper is just sad. I am sure it’s a power play by the two office jokers trying to guilt trip, shame, and pressure the congregation to send more money. I can guarantee that no administrator has taken a pay cut or done any cutting to the budget of things they deem non-essential. They did what most who are bad stewards of company money do, spend the entire budget each year, allocating nothing for a rainy day and hoping the money from the diocese keeps rolling in. Things are bad at SEAS, really bad. If the teachers are paying for copy paper, the school may be shutting down soon. The plan appears to be based solely upon praying for large donations from parishioners/parents. I can guarantee that 85% or more of their operating budget is payroll and associated employee costs, this is what happens when you get fat and happy, you don’t spend money on maintenance and updating and you fall into financial trouble.
About that…
I was at the large fundraiser for the school the last 2 years in a row. The amount of money raised was literally bananas. A reserved parking spot went for over 2K. Sailboat tour in San Francisco donated, went for over $3,500. The live auction alone had to have brought in about 30K. Tickets were not cheap, and they had a silent auction as well. This front office group must have spent it all before it was even raised.
In closing, I will say this, it’s a tragedy these schools are headed for a likely shutdown or major changes in the very near future. But I feel like this was what the lawsuits against the Catholic Church were designed to do. I never felt it was about shutting down actual churches; Covid took care of that aspect by thinning the flock. The point was to suffocate any sort of Catholic education/tie to the church. They want these kids all going to public school. It allows them to be taught that there is no God and there are far more than 2 genders. I watch it every Sunday. There are quite a few older people, a large number of young families, but not many between ages 18-35. Coincidentally, that is when most go off to college and are taught religion is a cult. This is a way to strangle the even younger generation. The more people they take out of the pews at church on Sunday, the less money that goes into the diocese to fund things like schools. As a result, the schools close, and over time, churches will start shutting down when the older generation returns to dust. (It’s a biblical term for death.)
If you want more proof, Jesuit High School where I went to school, is in such bad financial shape they are now going to start enrolling girls … it’s historically been an all-boys school. There was no input from alumni, just one large donor. That sound you hear is a large number of donors like me who will be refusing to donate in the future. If a school like Jesuit is struggling, then the other schools are really screwed.
Blogger Note: Jesuit High School is not a Catholic School nor affiliated with the diocese of Northern California in any way. It’s affiliated with the religious order of Jesuit’s.