CHARLOTTE — Maria Constante was desperate. Her son’s attendance at St. Gabriel School could suddenly come to an end after three years. A single mother on a limited income who also cares for a special needs daughter, Constante struggled to afford the school’s reduced tuition.
Constante did not know what to do. Her son was devastated when she told him he probably could not continue going to Catholic school. “He started crying. I felt guilty for not having the money,” she recalls.
However, this mother did not lose faith. She contacted the Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools office and explained her situation, and last week she received some good news: her application for tuition assistance was approved and her son’s tuition amount for the coming school year was lowered based on her income.
“This is part of the silent work that our administrators perform daily to facilitate the entry of minorities or less favored students in our schools,” notes Angelica Hurtado, the new coordinator of student recruitment and retention for the Diocese of Charlotte Catholic Schools.
This position in the diocesan schools office is new – and it’s intentional, notes Dr. Janice Ritter, diocesan superintendent of schools.
The percentage of non-white student enrollment, including Hispanics and African Americans, across the diocese’s 19 schools is in the single digits, although Hispanic representation is on the rise.
“Increasing student diversity in our 19 Catholic schools is very important to school and diocesan leadership,” Ritter emphasizes. “We are most pleased to welcome Angelica Hurtado to this position. Her main task is to attract and enroll students who reflect the diversity of the Catholic population in the Diocese of Charlotte.”
The diocese’s renewed focus on increasing racial and ethnic diversity in its schools comes in the wake of Pope Francis’ recent calls to stop “elitizing education” and excluding the poor from the education that they have a right to receive. Education that is open only to some people may result in selfishness, the pope noted, “and then the hands are closing more and more, the heart is closing more and more, and the mind closes us more and more. Then, we are unable to think, feel or work with the other.”
“Boys and girls who have no education are left out,” he added. “Educating is not knowing things but being able to use the three languages: the one with the heart, the hands and the head. To educate is to include.”
Increasing minority enrollment entails lots of community outreach, to inform families who are interested in providing a Catholic education to their children about the process and then help them to apply. Hurtado has already begun such outreach efforts in the Charlotte area with the nine MACS schools, and she will expand her work to assist the diocese’s 10 parish-based schools as well.
“The information sessions campaign has three purposes,” Hurtado says. First is to “provide the necessary information among the less represented communities in the schools of the Diocese of Charlotte. We want people to be informed about how the system works so they can make their request, and also to know that there is financial help to low-income families, so their children can have an open door to the Catholic schools.”
The second goal is to push up minority enrollment at all of the 19 schools, and that will achieve the campaign’s third goal, which is to diversify the schools and “make them more multicultural.”
The first session, held July 15 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Charlotte, attracted more than 40 people. They received information in Spanish from Hurtado, and from Jennifer Harris, MACS marketing director.
“We are happy because people showed great interest in enrolling their children in our schools,” Hurtado says. “The parents received applications for various schools and grade levels to which their children will attend, and parents asked questions regarding their concerns about the process.”
Particularly emphasized at the session were the diocesan schools’ rigorous academic standards, focus on imparting the Catholic faith, and goal of developing well-rounded students.
The mission of the diocesan Catholic school system “is to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel and to provide a religious and academic program that allows each student to develop spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, physically and socially, so that each is prepared to live and serve in a changing society as a self-respecting citizen.”
The diocese’s three high schools enjoy a 100 percent graduation rate, and nine out of 10 graduates continue their studies at universities, colleges or community colleges.
There was also general information presented about each of the nine schools which comprise MACS, as well as an explanation of how to apply and the importance of families registering at the parish where they attend Mass regularly.
“Everyone can study in our schools, everyone can take advantage of its benefits, whether they are Catholic or not,” presenters said, “but being a registered parishioner who receives donation envelopes and regularly attends Mass gives them an immediate benefit,” since the applicant family is given a voucher that must be signed by their parish priest and, without further processing, gives them a significant discount on tuition.
“This discount does not invalidate the possibility of obtaining additional financial assistance in case of need,” Hurtado points out.
More information sessions are planned in the coming weeks, including two at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte. Those two sessions will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, July 27, and 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 10, in the parish’s Administrative Building, located at 3016 Providence Road.
Ritter encourages everyone to attend. “I invite all families interested in our schools to attend one of these workshops and learn how to provide a Catholic education to your child.”
Details about enrollment, tuition assistance and much more information can also be found online at www.discovermacs.org (for the MACS schools) and at www.charlottediocese.org/schools-office (for all diocesan schools).
Editor’s note: Hispanic reporter César Hurtado is married to Angelica Hurtado, the new diocesan schools recruitment and retention coordinator.
— César Hurtado, Hispanic Reporter