St. Stephen of Hungary School

I sat across from a very fine man named Tom Downing at work a few years ago. He was very pleasant, straightforward and competent; everyone liked him. Unfortunately, he developed cancer and died within a year. I attended the funeral at his church, St. Stephen of Hungary R.C. Church on the Upper East Side, and was very impressed with everything I saw. It was a beautiful group of buildings, immaculately maintained.

Today I read in the newspaper about a 33 year old woman who is credited with saving the church's long-established school from closing. Like many Catholic schools today, budget shortfalls are forcing a steady number of Catholic schools to shut their doors. What this teacher did to salvage the situation was to make the school attractive to a wealthier demographic in the neighborhood. Catholic schools have historically provided a fine education and instilled good character traits in their students. I have worked with a number of their graduates, besides Tom Downing, throughout my life and seen first-hand the excellent results from these schools. One small tell-tale sign of many Catholic school grads, for example, is that their handwriting remains legible. According to my friend Joe Gallagher, in the old days you either wrote legibly or got severely punished by the nuns.

It's nice to see a good school survive, especially when so much is going wrong in many parts of our educational system. The wealthier parents could afford paying a higher tuition ($8000 per year), a bargain compared to elite private school tuitions in the City, and thereby make the school solvent again. Annual fund raising has also soared. Needless to say, St. Stephen is thrilled with their young educator.

Like many things, however, this story is not all good news. Catholic schools have historically been a haven and godsend for poor but very motivated students. It was a path for black, Hispanic, and other minorities out of poverty and onto good colleges. It was one of the great achievements of Catholic schools to educate disadvantaged youth at a bargain price; this was a task which the Church welcomed as part of its sacred mission. Now, through no fault of St. Stephen or others, that undertaking is endangered. Already, the percentage of its poor students has declined substantially. Similarly, modest tuition increases will probably be insufficient to provide the substantial pay and benefits which their fine teachers deserve.

Once again, money has reared its ugly head to undercut something truly great and inspiring.