One thing’s for sure: Interest in Catholic education is growing in the archdiocese.

According to the 2023-2024 Annual Report on Catholic Education in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, for the 2023-2024 academic year, archdiocesan schools saw another K-12 systemwide enrollment increase. According to the report, 42% of the 79 elementary and 16 high schools are serving more students than the year before while achieving a 90% average retention rate.

Four years ago, in the 2019-2020 school year, 25,010 students were enrolled in Catholic schools. Currently, there are 27,304, an increase of 9.2%, school officials said.

Catholic schools not only give students the academic, technical and social skills needed to be successful, but they also help students see that their lives are endowed with unfathomable importance, said Emily Dahdah, director educational quality and excellence in the archdiocese’s Office for the Mission of Catholic Education.

“The more children who come to know their identity in God, extraordinary worth, and value of their life, the more we can look toward a world grounded in truth and goodness,” Dahdah said. “Our Catholic schools exist to help students and their families come to know and experience the transformational love of Jesus Christ. Against the isolation, alienation and loss of identity so prevalent in our communities, our Catholic schools are places where children and families discover the meaning of their lives and are inspired to reach their fullest potential. More and more families are desiring this for their children, and they are finding it in Catholic schools.”

The archdiocese has been blessed to experience growth in K-12 enrollment over the last four years, Dahdah said. As more families sought out Catholic schools, perhaps initially for in-person learning during the pandemic, they experienced excellent academics and faithful communities, she said.

“The majority of these families have stayed in our schools, and they’re sharing the great news of Catholic education with their friends and family,” Dahdah said. “At the heart of this growth is more people coming to know Jesus Christ and his Church through their Catholic school. They benefit from the transformational witnesses to the faith who inspire them to embrace God’s love for them.”

In addition to increased enrollment, the report shows that Catholic schools in the archdiocese are out-performing other schools in the state. For example, in 2023 the average composite ACT score was 25 with 82% of 11th grade students taking the ACT exam in archdiocesan schools.

According to the Minnesota Department of Education, 60% of the 2023 graduating class took the ACT last year. “Compared to a state average ACT score of 20, these results point to how our schools’ rigorous academics are helping to prepare students to be college and career ready. What’s more, our students also respond generously to God’s call to serve him in a particular vocation that builds up the Body of Christ and contributes to the good of society,” Dahdah said.

Catholic schools in the archdiocese continue to be strengthened under a single vision for Catholic education through the 2019 Roadmap for Excellence in Catholic Education, the Archdiocesan Synod and other initiatives, Dahdah said.

It’s bearing fruit, including at St. John the Baptist Catholic School in New Brighton and St. Raphael Catholic School in Crystal.

“We have grown almost 70% in five years, from 238 to 403 (students) in K-8. We have also grown 60% in preschool in five years, from 53 to 85 (students),” Father Paul Shovelain, pastor of St. John the Baptist, said of the parish school.

Father Shovelain said the increasingly secular culture is pushing families to look for options that align with their values.

“Our excellent and faith-filled school is drawing families in. We have a great staff and dedicated teachers that help our students grow into the saints that God is calling them to become,” Father Shovelain said. “Our church also organizes several family events each year that bring families in and help them to be introduced to our community.” These events include an annual Easter Egg Hunt, All Saints Party and Journey to the Inn with a live Nativity.

“We are able to both evangelize our current school families through the events and draw more families in,” Father Shovelain said. Seven school parents came into full communion with the Church last year and six school parents and a teacher are preparing to do the same at this year’s Easter Vigil, he said. There are also multiple small groups with school parents and those have served as a leaven that strengthens the Catholic culture within the school, he said.

“There is goodness and hope that is fully found in the Catholic Church that people are searching for,” Father Shovelain said. “Catholic schools lift up each and every child as a gift and they’ll encounter the love of a God that fulfills their deepest longings. We need to form more Catholic school educators and provide resources that help the Catholic faith to be seen in its full beauty.”Over a two-year period, St. Raphael Catholic School in Crystal has experienced a more than 50% increase in enrollment, officials there said. In May 2022, the school had 105 students registered for the 2022 school year. Currently, they have 179 students enrolled.

“We expect to be over 200 students next school year,” said Jason Finne, the principal. “We already have over 17 students interested in kindergarten for next school year and more and more inquiries are coming in for preschool every day.”

Finne said a major source of the growth comes from parents seeking an alternative to public policies in public schools.

“I have had many parents enrolling that are dissatisfied with public schooling. They are clamoring to find the better option, something that’s stable and teaches truth,” Finne said.

Catholic schools are simply different, Finne said. They focus on the formation of virtue in each child. They provide family-centered attention, the curriculum is classically formed and the teaching is faithfully Catholic.

“Plus, St. Raphael is a place of great happiness,” Finne said. “We are building joy while we build character. Once families join our community, they do find a sense of belonging and we have experienced a growth in school age students receiving baptism and even conversion to the Catholic faith. In a three-year period, we have had over 30 school-age students become baptized into the faith. We are expecting that to reach 50 in the near future.”

When Finne was hired as principal, he and Father Nick Hagen, the pastor of St. Raphael, decided they needed to have a growth mindset approach to enrollment. They hired a director of mission, Joan Wieland, to market to the community, usher new families through the front door, offer assistance through the enrollment process and make each student and family feel welcomed.

“My advice to all Catholic parishes with schools is they have to invest in marketing. You have to take a 21st century approach to grabbing attention from families, and that’s an investment,” Finne said. “Advertising on Google, Facebook, Instagram and keeping a clean website are essential to speak to modern parents. The potential of sharing the community is impossible unless prospective families hear about us first.”

FULL-SPEED AHEAD

The Office for the Mission of Catholic Education (OMCE) in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is working to build up the Catholic school experience through the Lumen Accreditation process offered through The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. This partnership propels a common vision of quality and excellence across all the Catholic schools.

“Because Catholic schools have a distinctive and essential mission, it’s important that we have an accreditation process that’s aligned with our mission,” said Emily Dahdah, OMCE’s director of the educational quality and excellence. “We want to be excellent Catholic schools in every sense of the word.”

Looking ahead, Catholic school enrollment in the archdiocese remains strong thanks to the coordinated efforts of a local Catholic community that is committed to seeing Catholic education continue to flourish.

“While we are proud of four consecutive years of enrollment growth in our K-12 Catholic schools, we know enrollment alone doesn’t reflect the success of schools,” Dahdah said. “However, positive enrollment trends do indicate the presence of steadfast leaders, zealous educators and the continued desire of families to provide their children with the best education possible.”

Dahdah stressed that Catholic schools teach children that life is more than just asking, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” or taking a strengths-finder survey. These things can be helpful, but it’s not the full picture.

“In a Catholic school, our students are inspired to seek and find the will of God. We are preparing to send them out to the world to do something that God has asked them to do and which no one else can do,” Dahdah said. “In responding to this call, our students are following in a long tradition of apostles, martyrs, and saints who chose to embark on life’s most interesting, adventurous, and fulfilling work, the only work actually worth doing.”

The archdiocese will continue to invest in faculty and staff, market their Catholic schools and work with Catholic education partners to help Catholic education continue to thrive, Dahdah said.

Catholic school news

More than 7,000 students, teachers and staff from 76 Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will gather Jan. 29 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul for a Mass of the Holy Spirit organized by Minneapolis-based Catholic Schools Center of Excellence (CSCOE). Held during Catholic Schools Week, the Mass will include Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Auxiliary Bishop Michael Izen and nearly 50 archdiocesan priests and deacons. A student representative from each school will carry a banner as part of the procession into the 11 a.m. Mass. The gathering will start at about 10 a.m. as buses of students arrive to the performances of a school choir and Twin Cities Christian rock band Sonar. CSCOE held its first Mass of the Holy Spirit in 2016 with plans to hold them every two years. The Mass was celebrated in 2018 but was suspended until this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Applications are open for families to apply for a need-based, $1,000 scholarship for their child to attend a Catholic elementary school through St. Paul-based Aim Higher Foundation. The window closes Feb. 23 for the 2024-2025 school year. The foundation is supporting 2,330 students this school year, more than 12% of all kindergarten through eighth grade students in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Aim Higher scholars are attending 100% of the 81 Catholic elementary schools in the archdiocese. The foundation is hosting a $2,000 giveaway during Catholic Schools Week. A $1,000 scholarship will go to two lucky winners.

A visual arts exhibition for seventh through 12th grade Catholic school students, hosted by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office for the Mission of Catholic Education (OMCE), will take place this spring. The deadline for student artwork submissions will be in April. Finalists will then be selected to participate in the exhibition and reception with archdiocesan leaders in May. Awards will be presented at that time and artwork may also be selected for display at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul. The exhibition’s theme is connected to the Eucharist, as National Eucharistic Revival efforts are underway, according to OMCE. “With Jesus Christ at the center of our Catholic schools, we thought promoting a Eucharistic theme for our first arts exhibition would be fitting and inspiring,” said Jason Slattery, director of Catholic education and superintendent of Catholic schools for the archdiocese. “We’re excited to host this event to encourage and showcase the artistic talents of our upper-level Catholic school students.” Additional information will be shared online at spmcatholicschools.org.