Monsignor Anthony Marchitelli, pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in the Bronx , shares his views on current church and school issues.
Q. Monsignor, how large is your school?
A. We have three hundred twenty-something kids in it.
Q. I know schools have been running into problems in terms of closings. I know the archdiocese has had to close a lot of schools. How is your school addressing the issue of enrollment and fundraising in terms of supporting Catholic education?
A. First of all, I'm brand new in the parish so I really couldn't answer what was done in the past. Insofar as we are a blue ribbon school, it's careful money management, enrollment and collection of tuition is the way we do it.
Q. Are you pursuing any type of special outreach program to try to increase enrollment in the schools?
A. Just offering a quality education, Catholic values, seems to be what's necessary in attracting people to the school.
Q. Some years back, when the city was pushing the “rainbow curriculum”, it created a backlash and a lot of people were looking for a more traditionalist approach to education. I know there had been an upsurge in Catholic school enrollment back then. Are you seeing that continuing today? As you said, are people looking for traditional values, Catholic values?
A. We're seeing it hold steady.
Q. Now I know Archbishop Dolan, especially on the heels of the good news of his being made into a cardinal, has been a very big supporter of Catholic schools. How much influence do you think he has in convincing families of their obligation to attend Catholic schools, to send their children to Catholic schools?
A. Well, there is no obligation to attend a Catholic school.
Q. I guess I'm thinking back to when my mother and her sisters were products of Catholic school education, and back then, we're talking back in the '30s, there was sort of a view that no matter what, the family, if they had to sacrifice – and of course back then it was probably easier because you had the St. Josephites who were teaching in the school, but of course costs are now higher because you're dealing with lay teachers.
A. Costs are higher, yes.
Q. What do you feel are the biggest costs that the Catholic schools are facing? Is it the cost of hiring qualified educators or is it or is it more the maintenance of the buildings and such?
A. It's a combination of all things. Everything costs more now. Not just salaries, but also the cost of cleaning supplies, educational material, I mean even the cost of chalk has gone up.
Q. I know, even in the public schools, the parent-teacher associations have been very helpful in raising classroom supplies and such. Do you have a comparable organization in your school for parents?
A. We do have fundraising, but again, mostly it's done through family associations, careful management of funds. The school's not a burden upon the parish but bringing people into an awareness of what we are, who we are, where we're going, what we should have, what we can do and can't do. We offer a very good education based upon the New York State
Q. There have been a number of studies done. With even a fraction of what the New York City
A. We do a better job, I think. We also have the support of parents. I was a school teacher for two years in the Catholic school system.
Q. What grades did you teach?
A. High school. You have to provide certainly parental support. You have to provide motivation. No Catholic school can simply, and I know what the myth is, that we just discard unruly students. That's just not true. Our student body is made up of the same students as any other schools in any other areas that they're in.
Q. Actually, that brings me to my next point. Catholic schools have had to adjust to the great diversity that is now part of New York City
A. Our student body is as diverse as any of the schools in their areas. I just came here from Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains White Plains High School
Q. Another interesting phenomenon I've come across in terms of talking to pastors, is that a large percentage of their student population is actually non-Catholic. Do you have that situation in your school?
A. That's not as true in some parishes as in others. For instance, the schools up here in the East Bronx are predominantly Roman Catholic. If you go down toward the South Bronx, Manhattan
Q. This past summer, there was some controversy up in the Bronx . There was a Bronx Catholic school principal, Frank Borzellieri, who was fired from the archdiocese because of past writings on racial matters. Mr. Borzellieri stated that “diversity is a weakness” and that increasing numbers of blacks and Hispanics will bring a “new dark age” to America
A. Yes, the Gospels said to go out and teach all nations. And that certainly is the foundation of the Catholic school system. And certainly the principles by which we operate.
Q. I've heard that there were actually some schools up in the Bronx , because of the large Albanian Muslim population, some of the schools had large numbers of Muslim students. How did the Catholic parents react to Protestants or Muslims attending? Has there been any type of problem with that?
A. Not to my knowledge. I can only say up at Stepinac, half of our Albanian students were Muslim, half of them were Catholic. Everybody still had to take religion as a subject and attend religious services when the school had them. There didn't seem to be any objection from either side.
Q. Do you think the prospects for your school, I know you said you're new there, but do you feel it's bright for the future of your school there in the Bronx?
A. I think so.
