Catholic Schools in the U.S.

In this section, I am going to write about some of the important ideas on the Catholic School system expressed by Abp.Timothy Dolan of New York which were published in the magazine,"America"(Sept.13-20,2010.)
The followng are some of his important reflections:
'"By Jan.1939 nearly,10,000 German Catholic schools had been closed or taken over by the Nazi party.Tyrants know and fear the true strength of a Catholic education:what parents begin in the home, Catholic schools extend to a society at large."
"The reasons for the decline are familiar: the steady drop in vocations to the religious teaching orders who were the greatest single work force in the church's modern period;the drastic drift   in immigration,the rising cost of living...and the crumbling of an intact neigborhood-based Catholic culture..."
"The most crippling reason, howver, may rest in an enormous shift in the thinking of many American Catholics,namely,that the responsibility for Catholic schools belongs only to the parents of students who attend them, not to the entire Church.Catholics as a whole have disowned their school system, excusng themselves...from any further involvement simply because their own children are not enroled there..."
"The truth is that the entire parish, the whole diocese and the universal Church benefit from Catholic schools in ways that keep communities strong.Reawkening a sense of common ownership of Catholc schools may be the biggest challenge..
"Much of the research on Catholic education  conducted over the last five decades...has answered with a unanimous voice that Catholc schools are an unquestioned success  in every way:spiritually, academically and communally."
"The graduates of Cathoic schools show: 1) fidelity to sunday mass and a keener sense of prayer ; 2)mantaining pro-life attitudes;3)the personal consdieration of a religious vocation and 4) continued support for the local  church and the community."
"The Catholic Church is now confronted by a new secualrization asserting that a person of faith can hardly be expected to be a tolerant and enlightened American...Under this new scheme, to take one's faith serioulsy and bring it to the public square  somehow implies being unAmerican.To combat this notion, an equally energetic  evangelization ---is all the more necessary."
"The current hospice mentality--watching our schools slowly die---must give way to a renewd confidence.American Catholic schools need to  be unabashedly proud of their proven gritty ability to transmit faith and values to  all their  students..."
Catholic education is a communal,eccelesial duty, not just for parents of school children or for parishes blessed to have their own school."
"We cannot succumb to the petty turf wars that pit Catholic schools against relgious education programs and other parish ministries.Pope Benedict XVl  reminds us that the Church  is all about both/and , and not either/or.Strong Catholic schools strenthen all other programs of evangelization, service, catechesis and sanctification."