UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

Date: April 27, 2004

I, Paul William Davis , hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: Doctor of Education in: Educational Foundations It is entitled: A Historical Study of American Catholic Education and the Oral Histories of Archbishop Elder High School Teachers.

This work and its defense approved by:

Chair: Vanessa Allen-Brown Leo Krzywkowski Howard Leftwich Florence M. Newell

A Historical Study of American Catholic Education

And

The Oral Histories of Archbishop Elder High School Teachers

A dissertation submitted to the

Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.)

In the Department of Educational Foundations Of the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services

2004

by

Paul W. Davis

B.A., University of Cincinnati, 1975 M.A., University of Cincinnati, 1994

Committee Chair: Dr. Vanessa Allen-Brown

Abstract

This research was intended to study the changes that have taken place in

Catholic schools since The Second Vatican Council through the professional lives of veteran Catholic secondary teachers. The objective was to put a human face on all of the significant changes that have reshaped Catholic schools over the last forty years.

The research was gathered through the oral histories of fifteen Catholic educators from a central Catholic neighborhood high school in the Archdiocese of

Cincinnati. The themes that developed from the interviews were 1) Career choice issues, 2) Compensation and benefit issues, 3) Differences, this category concerned the modifications that have taken place concerning students, parents and faculty, 4) Catholicism, this theme covered issues surrounding the changes that have occurred to the Catholic religion and its schools since Vatican II, 5)

Diversity, and 6) the future of Catholic schools and Catholic school teachers.

Acknowledgements

There is no possible way that a project such as this one could be

accomplished without support, and that support begins with my wife

Maggie Davis. Throughout the whole process she stood by me, encouraged me, inspired me, and helped me to reach my goals. This would not have happened without her. I want to thank my committee, Dr.

Krzywkowski, Dr. Leftwich, and Dr. Newell, but I want to especially thank

Dr. Vanessa Allen-Brown. It was under her leadership, guidance, and friendship that I completed this doctorate.

I want to thank Tom Otten, all of the oral history participants, and

the rest of the faculty and staff from Elder High School for allowing me to

this research. The passion you have for the profession is stirring.

I also want to thank all of the people at Cincinnati State Technical

and Community College who encouraged me along the way.

Finally, I want to acknowledge three other individuals; my late

mother, Mary Catherine Weimer, she taught me the appreciation of a good

story, and the importance of remembering where you came from. My

Uncle Paul Weimer, a 1938 graduate of Elder High School, who gave up

his life during World War II, and Aunt Betty Odley, my mother’s sister,

like my mother a great story teller, who had the wisdom to recently write

her own oral history so the next generation could understand the

significance of the family members that came before us.

1

Contents

Abstract ii

Acknowledgements iii

Contents 1

1 Introduction 6

Historical Context 6

Purpose of the Study: Why Research Catholic Neighborhood

Schools 9

Why is this Research Important? 11

Why Elder High School? 11

2 Methodology 14

Introduction 14

Literature Review 14

Guidelines 19

Method 20

Sample 21

Insider/Outsider 22

3 The History of American Catholic Schools 26

Introduction 26

The Early Years 27

Literature Review 27

Catholicism in Early America 30

The Growth of Catholic schools 39 2

The Twentieth Century 49

Literature Review 49

Pre-World War II 52

American Schools after the Second World War 57

Catholic School Enrollments 61

The Loss of Religious Educators 63

Catholic School Tuition Costs 69

Thoughts Regarding Modern Catholic Schools 71

Race and Ethnic Tensions 73

The Sex Scandals 81

4 Catholic Education in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati

Until 1921 83

Introduction 83

Literature Review 83

The Beginning 84

Anti-Catholicism in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati 88

Cincinnati and the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore 92

The Catholic School System 94

Archbishop Elder 98

The Modern Era 100

5 The History of Elder High School 106

Introduction 106

Literature Review 106 3

The Missing Piece and the Beginning of the Tradition 108

The Women of Elder High School 112

The Era of Darkness 114

Elder Changes with the Rest of Society 117

The Current Condition 123

Sex scandals 126

The Elder Tradition 128

6 The Oral History of Elder High School 131

Introduction 131

Tom Bushman 132

Craig James 141

Joe Acito 148

Chuck Knepfle 160

Toby Heile 169

Ken Laake 179

Ed Menkhaus 186

John Ploehs 196

Roger Auer 208

Ray Bachus 219

Roger Nohle 226

Katie Umberg 239

Father Don Rettig 247

Paul Stryker 256 4

Tom Otten 266

7 Discussion and Conclusions 283

Catholicism 285

The rituals and traditions 285

The current sex scandals 295

The Differences 297

The students 297

The parents 302

The faculty 303

Final Thoughts, Observations, and Recommendations 307

References 311

Appendix A: Interview Questions 317

Appendix B: Consent to Participate in a Research

Project Form 319

Appendix C: Usage Permission Form 321

Appendix D: Approval from the Institutional Review Board 322

Appendix E: Guidelines for an Oral History Study 323

Appendix F: Elder Tuition and Enrollment Scale 329

Appendix G: Enrollments in Catholic Secondary Schools City

of Cincinnati 1907-1908 330

Appendix H: Elder Graduates Who Their Lives 331

During World War II 331

During the Korean War 332 5

During the Vietnam War 332

Appendix I: Elder State Champions 333

Appendix J: Elder High School Principals 334

Appendix K: The Participants of the Project 335

Glossary of Religious Terms: 338

6

Chapter 1

Introduction

Historical Context

Society has many institutions, people and circumstances that create opportunities for success. Educational institutions many times are the springboard that is the catalyst for success for less-privileged members of a society. Over the last thirty-five years, the institution of parochial education has experienced changes that are causing it to re-evaluate the role it plays in the

American Catholic organization, including the framework of faith for those who are under-privileged or taught the beliefs and traditions of this religious establishment.

This oral history is an attempt to tell the story of the development of

Catholic education by studying a secondary school in the Archdiocese of

Cincinnati, and how this evolution eventually resulted in changing thousands of individual lives. In order to understand the research it is necessary to examine the organization sequentially. The first part, chapter three, is the history of the

American parochial schools, the reasons behind the development of a separate school system, and the issues that laid the foundation of Catholic education for over a hundred years. This particular chapter will also look at the changes in society and the Catholic religion that fundamentally changed these schools. 7

The fourth chapter will study the Archdiocese of Cincinnati; a diocese whose early leaders played a significant role in the formation of the Catholic school system in the United States; a structure that has lasted for more than one hundred years. The last historical research chapter will focus on the first central

Catholic high school in the city of Cincinnati. Archbishop Elder High School is a microcosm of all of the changes that have shaped Catholic education since World

War II. Changes that included the passage of the G.I. Bill, which allowed many

Catholics an opportunity to move up through the economic classes for the first time, the relocation of Catholic families to the suburbs, and the influence the era of the “baby boom” had on parochial schools. This relocation and population explosion put enormous stress on the infrastructure of the Catholic school systems across this nation; the results of this strain were felt in neighborhood schools like

Elder High School.

But all of those events are overshadowed by the influence the Second

Vatican Council had on the Catholic faith, its institutions, and schools such as

Elder High School. The policies and cultural shift that came out of this historic

Vatican council caused an enormous exodus of priests and nuns; a loss that would have a particularly lasting effect on Catholic schools by changing the culture of

Catholic education, and generating a financial crisis that still hangs over the institution. At Elder alone over a thirty year period the number of priests associated with the school has gone from thirty-one to two. The cost of tuition to attend this particular high school has gone from $100 a year in 1963 to almost 8

$6,000 in 2003, and the student enrollment, which at one time approached almost

2,000 now stays in the vicinity of 1,000 students (Appendix F).

In addition to the theological changes which have transformed Catholic schools there have been other events that have taken a toll. Elder High School has not been immune from the sex-scandals that are rippling through the Catholic faith in the United States. Priests that have taught, and even served as the schools principal have been implicated.

Ending the dissertation there would leave the human face off the history.

The most significant chapter of this work will be centered on the oral history of fifteen educators associated with Elder High School. These individuals, thirteen of whom have more than twenty years of Catholic education experience at Elder

High School, have been part of the transformation of Catholic education. They have seen how these changes and conflicts have affected students and a community.

Tom Brokaw put it this way in his 1999 book The Greatest Generation

Speaks:

If we are to heed the past to prepare for the future, we should listen

to these voices of a generation that speaks to us of duty and honor,

sacrifice and accomplishment. I hope more of their stories will be

preserved and cherished as reminders of all that we owe them and all that

we can learn from them (XXII).

This can be accomplished by taking this generation of Catholic teacher’s oral history. In order to understand the evolution of the Catholic education 9 system one must comprehend the history of the community of the individual neighborhood Catholic school. This type of account will not be found in an archive, and is seldom found in a book, but it is found in the heart and minds of individuals, and the sacrifices that were made to enrich and to preserve Catholic education.

This oral history study of Archbishop Elder High School in the Cincinnati

Archdiocese will contribute to understanding the role of Catholic education in

America. It provides a roadmap to the future of parochial education; a future that can only be predicted if the past is clearly understood.

Purpose of the Study: Why Research Catholic Neighborhood Schools

There are a number of distinct research questions in this dissertation.

These questions are:

1. What effect did the social and theological changes in Catholic education have on the philosophy of individual, neighborhood Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati?

- Do neighborhood Catholic schools still follow their

intended mission?

- If Catholic schools are not following their intended

mission, what then is the purpose of sending a child to

Catholic schools?

- Have Catholic schools adjusted to changing populations in

the neighborhood? 10

2. What effect did the social and theological changes have on the infrastructure and financial well-being of individual schools in the

Archdiocese of Cincinnati?

- What has been the effect of huge tuition increases on

Catholic schools, their students, the student’s families, and

the community?

- What has been the effect on Catholic education of the

replacement of teaching priests and nuns by lay teachers,

specifically studying the financial ramifications of this

switch?

3. What effect did the social and theological changes have on individual educators in neighborhood Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of

Cincinnati?

- How do educators adjust to lower compensation and benefit

packages than their peers in the public school systems in

Greater Cincinnati?

- Is collective bargaining in Catholic schools an alternative?

- Can the neighborhood Catholic schools attract qualified

young teachers to this type of system?

4. What effect did the social and theological changes have on individual neighborhoods, Catholic families, and the students enrolled in these particular schools?

- Do families consider other educational alternatives? 11

- What sacrifices do parents and students make in order to

pay the tuition?

- Is there a point when Catholics can no longer afford to send

their children to Catholic schools?

Why is this research important?

Catholic schools have served their communities for decades. They have educated thousands of students. They have been an important foundation for maintaining the traditions and rituals of the Catholic Church. With the enormous amount of change that has occurred to neighborhood Catholic schools in the

Archdiocese of Cincinnati can they continue to exist in the future, as they have in the past? Using educators in an individual Catholic high school as the basis for answering the above research questions, scholars interested in researching

Catholic education and individual Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of

Cincinnati in the future will have a benchmark to begin their work.

Why Elder High School?

In order to study what effects these changes to Catholic education have had on individuals it is important to select a Catholic School which meets certain criteria. The norms used for this historical study and oral history are: a neighborhood school from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati that has existed for over eight decades, that has straight line organizational ties directly to the office of the archbishop, and has no other Catholic religious orders influencing its decision 12 making. The people associated with the school have been connected to the school for generations, so their experiences occurred in a common organization. The

Elder High School faculty has taught in the same school for a significant period of time. This creates an opportunity to look at how history has directly affected individual Catholics. Elder is located in a neighborhood which has conservative traditions, and changes tend to happen over a longer period of time. Elder High

School is over eighty years old, and it is the original Catholic Central High School in Cincinnati. The high school has been around before, during, and after all of the historical events examined. The high school is and has always been a neighborhood school, and operated directly by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

There are no outside Catholic religious orders, such as the Jesuit order, that influence the philosophy of the school. The school answers only to the archbishop and his appointed liaisons.

The boundaries of the school have a unique geographical location. The community has a history, and still has a reputation, for being somewhat isolated.

Most of the Catholics associated with this neighborhood school have been living in the community for generations. Students of Elder High School often come from families with generational ties to the school. The longevity of the individuals associated with Elder also span the same time periods as the school itself. Elder High School has a justifiable reputation for being conservative in their Catholic beliefs. In the fall of 2003, a Parents Satisfaction Survey prepared for Elder High School by the Department of Education at Xavier University in

Cincinnati, Ohio showed that parents of Elder High School students chose 13 morality and values as one of the main reasons they send their sons to that particular school. They have respect and love for the traditional rituals of their religion. Catholics that live in this neighborhood will do their best to follow the decrees handed down by the Vatican. Also, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati has a reputation and a tradition dating back to the mid-nineteenth century for its conservative German approach to Catholic education; a reputation that will be explained in the historical chapters of this study.

As a graduate and active alumni member of Elder, I am familiar with the school and many of the faculty members. This relationship gave me access to the school, and to the faculty I wanted to interview.

The majority of the participants in this oral history project have had an association with the school for over twenty-five years. To balance their experiences newer faculty members were also interviewed. These specific teachers from this Catholic high school have had a unique vantage point of observing and participating in the huge transformations which have occurred to

Catholic schools since the 1960s. They have been individual witnesses and participants to the changes that revolutionized Catholic education. It is through their stories and experiences that the direction of Catholic education over the last thirty-five years can be discerned, and the framework of its future can be built.

14

Chapter 2

Methodology

Introduction

The importance that the role of historical papers, manuscripts and other historical documents play in understanding and reporting history should not be underestimated. In order to really understand the past and its significance in forming a direction for the future it is important to explore the effect that history had on everyday life. Because oral histories are so personal by nature it is important that the interviewer conducts the research in a proper fashion, and incorporates the principles and obligations established by the experts in the field of oral history. These obligations include: the purpose, value, theory, method and achievement of oral history, and how oral history can be applied to community and institutional projects. The purpose and the value of this study were stated in the first chapter. This particular chapter is dedicated to discussing the theory, and the method of this research project.

Literature Review

To establish the theory behind oral history Peter Friedlander’s 1975 work on the history of the United Auto Worker’s Local is an appropriate reference.

In this research Friedlander is focusing on the emergence of a United Auto

Worker local. One of the problems he has in conducting this study is that there is very little historical documentation available to him; a difficulty which parallels 15 the issues faced researching the history of the Catholic Church, the individual dioceses and their school systems. Friedlander felt that the documentation available for his study was either very limited or was of such a generalization that it was relatively meaningless for the type of study he was conducting

(Friedlander, 1975). Because of this problem Friedlander was forced to use oral history in order to write about the development of this local union. Thus he relies on the memory of Edmund Kord who was President of Local 229 of the United

Auto Workers during most of the first 18 years of its existence. This brings up an interesting question about the reliability of a story teller’s memory. Friedlander feels that often the intensity of the interviewee’s involvement allows remembrances to be detailed and vivid (Friedlander, 1975).

Friedlander’s view of why oral history is important is supported by the research of Anthony Seldon and Joanna Pappworth (1983). They believe the importance of oral history depends on whether full historical documentary evidence is available or if the evidence is in poor condition or non-existent. Often writers of contemporary or modern history will find few documentary sources to guide them. Without oral history these modern historians are often left to regurgitating secondary evidence.

The view of these authors is significant and important to the work done on this research. The history of neighborhood Catholic schools is important to many people in the Cincinnati area, but finding records about Catholic schools was somewhat difficult. In doing the research, the information that would be appropriate for the subject matter was not always available. There was virtually 16 nothing in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s archives; there were only two books that contained vital information, and both of those were written over fifty years ago. On the subject of Elder High School, the information was again incomplete.

A book written commemorating the school’s eightieth anniversary was helpful, but newspaper articles were needed to fill in the missing information, and none of these sources tell the human side of the story.

Thus the oral history of Catholic educators may be the best way to research and tell the complete story of these Catholic schools. According to Paul

Thompson (2000), for many centuries the focus of history was political; a record of events about the struggle for power. The lives of ordinary people were often not considered relevant in that record. However historians and societies views of that relevance are changing, and the record of individual experiences surrounding historical events are becoming more valued.

Thompson (2000) says this about the role of oral history in his book, The

Voice of the Past:

Oral history is a history built around people. It thrusts life into

history itself and it widens it scope. It allows heroes not just from the

leaders, but from the unknown majority of the people. It encourages

teachers and students to become fellow-workers. It brings history into,

and out of, the community. It helps the less privileged, and especially the

old, towards dignity and self-confidence. It makes for contact-and thence

understanding-between social classes, and between generations. And to

individual historians and others, with shared meanings, it can give a sense 17

of belonging to a place or in time. In short, it makes for fuller human

beings. Equally, oral history offers a challenge to the accepted myths of

history, to the authoritarian judgment inherent in its tradition. It provides

a means of radical transformation of the social meaning of history (pp.23-

24).

An example of the value of this type of historical research can be found in a quote from Tom Brokaw’s (1999) oral history The Greatest Generation Speaks; a book which used oral histories of people whose lives were affected by the

Second World War. He writes:

Children and grandchildren of the Greatest Generation are telling

me they now understand the values reflected in the lives of the people they

know from the World War II era, values that to many may have seemed a

little tiresome in these more permissive times (p. XXI).

This is the type of study attempted in this research about Elder High

School. It is important to understand the real historical significance of central

Catholic high schools, and the impact these schools had on ordinary people. The stories of the educators involved with this type of school are not only important in understanding the history of these schools, but their oral history may be that roadmap to the future, and this is important to the broader society, because of the educational role Catholic education still plays for thousands of students in

Cincinnati and across America.

But in order to make the oral history credible the methodology and design must receive the acceptance of professional and academic associations. To 18 illustrate the design of an oral history project the works of David Lance (1978) and Valerie Yow (1994) are examples that experts in the field would accept.

David Lance (1978), an archivist, recommends steps in putting together an oral history project. The first step is preparation, under this step the researcher sets the chronological scope of the research project, obtains a clear understanding of the subject field, making sure the information that the researcher is basing their project on is reliable, and picking the appropriate interviewees. The next step is specification, which means breaking down the topics that will be covered in the main categories. The third step is application. This means carefully defining the purpose of the oral history study. Monitoring is the fourth section of Lance’s recommendations; this involves coding, indexing, and transcribing the interviews, which helps to organize the information obtained in the interviews. The last step is documentation, which requires the researcher to constantly record the methodology.

To accomplish an oral history study using Lance’s suggestions a researcher would need to find the best sources for their study. Valerie Yow (1994) in her book suggests that initially finding a person who can answer the following questions can be very helpful in putting together a solid oral history, especially one that concerns a community (Yow, 1994).

The following suggested questions are found on page 146 in Yow’s 1994 book:

Who knows a lot about the subject?

Who would you interview? 19

What do you think such a history would do?

What would you like to learn from this study?

Who has kept a scrapbook or file on this?

Where would I find the records I need?

Finally, one of the best sources on oral history is the Oral History

Association. This association, through its website, gives a person interested on the subject of oral histories an extensive list of policies and procedures required to do a professional and ethical oral history. These standards help to make the oral history research project acceptable to the academic community.

Guidelines

In order to conduct a study such as this one it was important to maintain a high degree of professionalism. To achieve this objective I consulted the web-site of The Oral History Association; this association provided a complete list of oral history guidelines. These procedures were established over a period of time as research in oral history changed over the years. They include responsibility to interviewees, and responsibilities to the public and to the profession.

The Oral History Association Guidelines (Appendix E) also gives a list of the following program and project guidelines: purpose and objectives, selection of recording equipment, selection of interviewers and interviewees, records and provenance, availability of materials, finding aids, and management, qualifications and training. Also, contained on their web-site are ethical and legal 20 guidelines.

(http://omega.dickinson.edu/orgaizations/oha/EvaluationGuidelines.html).

In conducting the oral history of the Elder High School teachers I selected the participants based on their experience and roles at Elder. I wanted teachers who could not only provide a depth of information, but a breath of experiences from their particular positions at the school. The questions were predetermined before the interview began. All interviews were recorded; then later transcribed.

The purpose of the study was explained to each participant before the interview began. None of the educators were rewarded for their participation, nor was there any funding provided for this research project.

A person working on a research study also has a responsibility to the educational institution they are associated with; in my case that institution is the

University of Cincinnati. This responsibility to the University of Cincinnati is to uphold their high standards for academic research. A copy of the approval letter from the University of Cincinnati Institutional Review Board is contained in

Appendix D. Contained in Appendix B is a copy of the approval letter each participant signed granting permission to be used in this research project, and in

Appendix C is a copy of the letter participants signed allowing the use of their name and interview in this project.

Method

As stated in chapter one, the data for this dissertation was collected by completing historical research, and also by conducting oral histories. 21

Oral history provides a method of data collection that allows the use of an unstructured interview approach. The unstructured interview fosters the capacity to have in-depth discussions, and the questions were designed to take advantage of exploring the experiences of the interviewees in more depth. Not all oral histories can be put in a cookie-cutter format. To get the necessary information to answer the questions posed it was important to use a structure that would allow a comfort level and intimacy between the interviewer and the interviewee. A more free-form structure to the interview accomplished the goal of establishing a higher trust in the relationship, and allowed for more sharing of information. It is sometimes better to understand what you are learning than to explain the particular research that you are collecting (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000).

Despite the fact that these oral history interviews were unstructured; a list of questions were prepared for each interview to provide a road map and allow the interviewer the freedom of listening to the interview intently. This allowed the researcher to plan their research and to make sure that they obtained the information that they wanted from each interview. The questions were modified for each interviewee and were continuously tailored during the dialogue. A sample of the type of questions that were asked is contained in Appendix A.

Sample

The oral histories were collected from fifteen Catholic educators. Most of the participants have a long association with Elder High School; ten of them have more than thirty years of experience, and two of them have been at Elder for over 22

twenty-five years. I also interviewed two new faculty members, both of whom

were connected to Elder High School when they were students, in order to put the

experiences of the veteran faculty members in perspective. Finally, I conducted

an interview with a gentleman who graduated from Elder in 1928, and taught at

Elder for over forty-five years.

The experienced faculty members came from different departments inside

of the high school, and even though many of their individual experiences were the

same, much of what they told me was different, because of the uniqueness of what

they do, and their own distinctive backgrounds and personalities.

These individuals were chosen because of their positions at Elder High

School, and their willingness to participate in this study. Each interview lasted

between forty-five minutes to an hour. Approximately 20 questions were asked

of each participant

Insider/Outsider

Elder High School has been a part of my life for almost 40 years. I can

not recall the exact moment when I decided to go to Elder. Despite the fact that I

was an only child it seemed important to my mother that I should do the same

thing as the rest of my male cousins and attend St. Xavier High School. This was

rather interesting since mom had told me many times that she was sorry that she

couldn’t attend Elder, and that in fact her brother attended and graduated from

Elder. The problem I was facing with my decision of what high school to attend

was that I wanted to follow my friends to the local Catholic central all-boy’s high 23 school. My father reminded my mother that I was the one going to school, and that my wishes needed to prevail. I started at Elder High School in the fall of

1967.

The four year experience was everything I hoped it would be. I was involved in a number of activities. I did pretty well academically, and I grew as a person and as a Catholic. I graduated from Elder, and I did what most of my fellow classmates did and went off to college, but I didn’t leave Elder. I lived in the same neighborhood; where most of the alumni reside. I continued to attend the schools sporting events, took an active interest in events concerning the school, contributed to their annual alumni fund, and eventually I became a member of their Alumni Board which I became president of in 1991.

In a number of ways despite having graduated from Elder High School over thirty years ago my allegiance to Elder High School remains as strong as ever. I still love Elder High School. In fact, my son is a 1995 graduate of the school. I believe that the students who attend Elder receive a first-rate education.

I think the Price Hill neighborhood would be devastated if Elder would ever have to close it doors, and I still firmly feel that young people are better off with the strong discipline and access to a high school that provides not only an academic experience, but a spiritual one as well.

Although my love for Elder is intact; my situation has changed. I no longer live in the Elder neighborhood. I have left the Catholic Church because of personal and philosophical differences, and I don’t take the future of Elder High

School for granted any more. Because I have the distinction of serving on the 24

Elder Alumni Board for several years, served as a chairperson of one of the feeder school’s education boards, sent two children through Catholic education, and witnessed the enormous change the Catholic Church as gone through since the

1960s I believe without changes to the structure of the Catholic school system itself it will be hard to maintain Catholic education; at least for the middle and lower class children. If Catholic education fails I believe it would be a tragedy; especially in a community like Cincinnati where Catholicism is so important.

Because I loved my experience at Elder High School, and I would like to see other students have that opportunity, I embarked upon this mission to learn what it is about Elder in particular, and Catholic education in general, that is so endearing and enriching. I also wanted to preserve the rich memories of the school that was the original Catholic central high school in Cincinnati. This school still serves the same type of boy that I was in 1967. I felt the best way to ultimately accomplish these goals was to go directly to the source of my enthusiasm for the school. A school is not just brick and mortar; it is the combination of the spirit and the knowledge that one acquires while attending any educational institution. The vehicles that give us these things are the faculty, staff and administration of any school. That is so very true at Elder High School.

The current faculty, staff and administration of Elder High School is still made up of many of the same teachers I had when I attended. These individuals have seen great transformations in not only their faith, but in society in general.

They are not only rich in experiences, but have incredible insight of the future of neighborhood Catholic schools. Because of my connection to Elder I was able to 25 have access to these educators, and I was entrusted to tell their stories. At the same time since I believe the future of these types of schools are in jeopardy and certain issues need to be addressed, I felt I could ask the hard questions.

26

Chapter 3

The History of American Catholic Schools

Introduction

In order to understand the historical significance of Elder High School, it is imperative to understand the reasons behind the original establishment of

Catholic education. Catholics did not come to America in huge numbers at the beginning of the American immigration. Often they came to this country because of religious persecution. Even after their arrival they often found themselves concealing their faith, or at least struggling to find a way to freely practice

Catholicism. As a group they were feared and suspected, and often they had to face oppressive laws. The story of Catholics in North America and their relationship with other members of the general population can be told in many ways, but one of the best ways might be by studying the reasons behind the development of Catholic education, the structure of their schools, and the significance these schools have played in the history of American education. This chapter is about why Catholics in America, a country supposedly dedicated to the principle of freedom of religion, thought it was necessary to form their own parochial school system.

27

The Early Years

Literature review

To understand American Catholic education it is necessary to research hundreds of years of history. The researcher must be able to rationalize the reasons for the need for parochial schools, both politically and spiritually. These reasons include: the development of the Catholic school system, the changes to the schools and the system over time, and their present condition. In order for this process to be orderly and coherent, it must be laid out one brick at a time and the available literature allows for this progression.

John Burns (1912, 1937), an author of a number of books on Catholicism, is a researcher that builds the foundation for the necessity for Catholics to seek isolation from other more prominent religious beliefs. He builds the foundation of many of the adversities that many of the members of the Catholic faith faced during the early days of American history. In a book co-authored with Bernard

Kohlbrenner and John Peterson in 1937, they wrote about the reasons for the hostility that Catholics faced in this country; an antagonism that often forced members of this religion to seek refuge inside of their own institutions.

The reasons for some of these conflicts are illustrated in works done by other authors. Joel Spring (2001), a leading researcher on the American school experience, points out in his book, The American School: 1642-2000, that early, leading American educators such as Noah Webster were not only interested in establishing a common school system, but also imposing a moral catechism, based on Protestant Christianity on its students. Spring (2001) also suggests that 28

Horace Mann, the leading educator of his time, believed all children should receive a common moral education. The problem posed for Catholics in this philosophy was the meaning of a moral education (Spring, 2001). Mann believed that public education could remain non-denominational, as did other educational leaders of their time. Many of these influential educators felt that general principles of Christianity could be incorporated into the common school structure

(Lannie, 1968); but by the middle of the nineteenth century other historical events would prevent any chance of this happening.

In order to comprehend the reasons for the expansion of parochial schools, especially in the minds of Catholics during this era, it is important to understand the consequences of the large immigration to the United States in the mid- nineteenth century. This migration was comprised of large numbers of Catholics, particularly Irish Catholics.

This period of history is illustrated in books written by such authors as

Mary Grant and Thomas Hunt (1992), Harold Buetow (1985, 1988) and John

McGreevy (1996, 2003). These researchers write about the cause and the effect of this new group of people coming to America. Their books focus on the stress this cultural experience had on the nation, the negative response much of the

Protestant community had on this wave of new immigrants, and the Catholic reaction. This literature suggests that many leaders of the Protestant community wanted to establish their position of dominance in this culture by any means possible, and that the Catholic hierarchy realized very quickly that in order to maintain their faith and their rituals the growth of their Catholic school system 29 needed to be a priority. To the Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United

States, Catholicism was under attack.

The literature suggests there were valid reasons for the bishops to have this fear. During the latter part of the 1800s it was not uncommon for anti-

Catholic feelings to be voiced by American historical figures. These famous

Americans included such individuals as Ulysses Grant, Grover Cleveland,

Rutherford Hayes, and Elizabeth Cody Staten (McGreevy, 2003). It could be seen by the dismissal of Catholic students from class and even striking them for refusing to recite verses from the Protestant version of the bible (McGreevy,

2003). Finally this assault could be verified by the incorporating of state laws which made it more difficult for Catholic schools to flourish (McGreevy, 2003).

Research shows that in order to thwart these attacks the American

Catholic Church bishops believed they had to formalize the parochial school system and this was accomplished by a series of Plenary Council meetings held over a thirty-year period in Baltimore. By the Third Plenary Council in 1884, a series of goals and rules were in place that would define the American Catholic school system for almost one hundred years. These goals were contained in two decrees and were to be carried out within two years (Grant and Hunt, 1992). The first decree called for all Catholic parishes to build their own school (Grant and

Hunt, 1992). The second decree mandated that all Catholic parents, with but few exceptions, send their children to Catholic school (Burns, Kohlbrenner, and

Peterson, 1937). 30

History tells us that these aspirations of the Catholic hierarchy were never entirely fulfilled, but they went a long way in building a strong foundation for the future of parochial schools (Burns, Kohlbrenner, and Peterson, 1937).

Catholicism in Early America

Almost from the beginning Catholics finding their way to America were viewed with skepticism and suspicion. In Maryland in 1704 a law was enacted called, “An Act to Prevent the Growth of Popery.” This act threatened deportation to anyone who would keep schools, board students, or instruct children as a Catholic (McCluskey, 1964). To Anglicans, Congregationalists, and members of other of religions, the Pope was a threat to free-born Englishmen, and most of the early colonists were from these populations.

With the exception of Pennsylvania, Catholics were deprived of most civil and political rights. Charles Carroll was the only Catholic name on the

Declaration of Independence, and Thomas Fitz Simons and Daniel Carroll were the only Catholics who signed the Constitution. “No Popery” was a cry all the way to the Revolution (Burns, Kohlbrenner, and Peterson, 1937).

Why the hostility toward Catholicism in this country? One of the reasons occurred in 1688 when James II, King of England (Catholic) was overthrown and

William of Orange (Protestant) ascended to the throne. This event had consequences throughout the colonies and fueled anti-Popery feelings in America.

A tax was levied to support Episcopal churches and ministers. A Catholic father 31 could be fined forty shillings if anyone but a Protestant taught his child (Burns,

Kohlbrenner, and Peterson, 1937).

Only in Pennsylvania did religious freedom exist in the English colonies.

In 1704 the Reverend Thomas Mansell, a Jesuit priest, arrived and established a form of Catholic education. In 1738 Father Thomas Poulton took over and remained there until 1745. Catholics from Maryland sent their sons to

Pennsylvania for Catholic education (Burns, Kohlbrenner, and Peterson, 1937).

This concept of the role religion played in education, and how religion and education interacted in the forming of this new republic, became a controversial issue during the formation of this country. Around 1790 two events came together to officially formalize the Catholic Church in the United States. The ratification of the constitution in 1787 officially gave this nation religious freedom, and in 1790 the permanency of the Catholic Church in the United States became official with the consecration of the Rev. John Carroll as the first Bishop of Baltimore. Bishop Carroll became the founder of the American Catholic hierarchy, and Baltimore the first see. A see is the authority and the jurisdiction of a Catholic bishop. The diocese of Baltimore consisted in 1790 of the whole present United States east of the Mississippi, with the exception of Florida, which was under the direction of the bishop of Havana. Until this moment the Catholics in America were under the jurisdiction of the Pope’s representative in London.

With the world political situation regarding religion being what it was, this situation was anything but satisfactory (Burns, Kohlbrenner, and Peterson, 1937). 32

Early during Bishop Carroll’s role as head of the hierarchy he hoped that

Catholics could join together with other religious denominations in establishing schools that would be acceptable to all, but this was taking for granted that all religions would be equal. Bishop Carroll would soon find out this was not going to be the case. In 1792 a pastoral letter was issued making known the regulations endorsed at the First National Synod that was held in November, 1791. At this synod the importance of educating the youth to insure their growing up in the faith was established (Burns, Kohlbrenner, and Peterson, 1937). While Bishop

Carroll believed by 1792 that the function of education for Catholics was to ensure the future of the Catholic faith in the United States, others felt education was for establishing the foundation of the republic.

Noah Webster, often called the “Schoolmaster of America,” was one of the leading advocates of creating a dominant Protestant Anglo-American culture.

Webster believed it was important to foster patriotism in the schools. He believed that this could be accomplished by studying national literature and language, singing nationalistic songs, honoring the flag, and participating in national exercises. Webster’s spelling book replaced The New England Primer as the major school text in the post-Revolutionary period. In early versions of this spelling book Webster inserted a Federal Catechism which contained questions such as, what are the defects of a Democracy. He also created a Moral Catechism where he asked for the definition of moral virtue. Like most Americans during this period the answers were equated to a representative institution and a strong

Protestant Christian morality. Webster served in the Massachusetts State 33

Legislature between 1815 and 1819 and worked diligently for a state school fund.

One historian claims that his work while in the Massachusetts legislature eventually led to the movement for common schools that eventually came about under the leadership of Horace Mann in the 1830s (Spring, 2001).

Many religious issues began to seriously emerge by the 1830s with the immigration of Irish Catholics to the United States and the establishment of the common school by Horace Mann.

To the people who believed in the theories of Noah Webster at this time, the immigration of Irish to this country was a serious threat. “No Irish Need

Apply” was a well-known folk song around this period of time. The English colonists stereotyped the Irish as savages and drunkards, and feared these new immigrants landing in New York and Boston would destroy their dream of an

Anglo-American culture. But beyond the stereotypes the Irish posed another problem to these colonists. They were Catholic (Spring, 2001).

Catholics comprised one percent of the population in the United States in

1800. But between 1821 and 1850 almost 2 ½ million Europeans immigrated to this country. More than a million of the total was Irish with 780,719 arriving during the 1840s (Grant and Hunt, 1992).

With the huge influx of immigrants coming to America, anti-Catholic and anti-Irish feelings flourished. The foundation of this strong sentiment could be found in the fear that the ideologically-united Irish were dooming decency, order, justice and sound social principles. The Irish and the Catholics were interfering with the predominant culture of the majority, but these feelings went beyond 34 culture. Besides the cultural clashes that were forming between the groups; there were also economic pressures building. Many feared they would lose their jobs to the new immigrants, because cheap labor was landing at the docks every day.

These forces were leading the way to a strong “Protestant Crusade” (Buetow,

1985).

This campaign not only led to anti-Catholic publications, but to overt actions as well. Around 1842 Catholic Bishop John Hughes demanded that the state of New York give funds to the Catholic Schools. He felt that since Catholics were paying taxes for education that some of the educational money should be sent back to the Catholic schools. The Catholic schools, including the school connected to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, were filled to capacity and more funds were needed to give a proper education to the children; providing public money to

Catholic schools was not an unusual practice in other locations, but the state of

New York denied the request. Instead the New York state legislature passed the

Maclay Bill which stated that any common school that was teaching a religious sectarian doctrine would not receive state funds. Also, in New York in 1849

Charles B. Allen formed a secret society called the Order of the Star-Spangled

Banner which would be infamously called the ‘Know-Nothing party’. This group was founded on prejudice against Catholics, Blacks, and Jews. They opposed minorities on the grounds they were un-American. In May, 1844 two Roman

Catholic churches and thirteen Irish homes were burnt. A cannon was pointed at

St. Phillip Neri church, and during the violence thirteen people were killed

(Buetow, 1985). 35

At almost the same time as this wave of Irish immigration and anti-

Catholic sentiment began sweeping this country the idea of the common school was being formed by Horace Mann. Horace Mann was the most effectual educational leader in his time. He was dedicated to eliminating sectarian religion from government schools. He was also convinced that the schools must instill the historic Protestant virtues (Buetow, 1988).

In Joel Springs’ book The American School historian Carl Kaestle is quoted as saying this about common schools:

Most of the common school reformers called for government

action to provide schooling that would be more common, more equal,

more dedicated to public policy, and therefore more effective in creating

cultural and political values centering on Protestantism, republicanism,

and capitalism (pp. 86-87).

Mann believed that education was to be based on a nonsectarian use of the

Bible with the teaching of broad religious principles common to all Christian denominations (Spring, 2001). At times the Bible was still made use of, but usually it was read without comment by the teacher (Burns, Kohlbrenner and

Peterson, 1937).

Horace Mann believed there were four damaging alternatives to the common school’s method of education. The first alternative was to exclude all religious teachings, but the schools would receive no support from the general population. The second was for the government to suggest what type of religion should be taught, but this would allow the government to establish a religion. The 36 third alternative was for the majority of the citizens in the community to decide what religion should be taught in the government school, but this would lead to the rivalry of the different denominations. The last option was for the government not to be involved in the education of the young, but this was against everything

Horace Mann stood for when it came to schooling. Horace Mann believed children should receive a common moral education (Spring, 2001).

Horace Mann believed his educational approach was a compromise. A give and take that was necessary because of the fragmentation of beliefs of the

Protestants, the strong dogma of the Catholic faith, and the increasingly loud voice of the new Catholic immigrants. The common ground and common foundations of the Unitarians, Methodists, Congregationalists, Catholics, Jews and all other faiths of believers and non-believers that had built this young nation were disappearing. The doctrinal elements taught in schools had to be weeded out to avoid offending dissenters (McCluskey, 1964).

According to author Vincent Lannie (1968), in a book he wrote on the subject of public money and the role it played in parochial education, Mann was strongly influenced by his own Unitarianism. He believed the spirit of religion should be an ethical Christianity devoid of the theological differences that separated the different sects. The “Religion of Heaven” alone belonged in the classroom while the creeds of men were to be deferred to the adults. In Mann’s mind Christianity, by all accounts, was essentially ethical. So Mann had no difficulty in compiling a list of truths which could be accepted by all Christians.

They were: “love God, follow the Golden Rule, live justly, love mercy, and walk 37 humbly; assist widows and orphans; honor one’s parents; keep holy the Sabbath, and neither bear false witness nor covet: and finally, act honestly, with respect for the dignity of mankind (Lannie, 1968, p. 2).

Mann was not the only educational leader that felt this way. In 1937

Samuel Lewis, the first state superintendent of the common schools in the state of

Ohio, wrote in his first report to the state legislature that he supported the non- denominational solution to the problem of religion and public education. Lewis felt that schools should “inculcate sound principles of Christian morality” which did not impinge upon sectarian differences (Lannie, 1968, p. 3).

If Mann and Lewis thought this approach to education was a compromise then the actions of certain educators proved otherwise. On March 7, 1859 Sophia

Shepard, an instructor at Boston’s Eliot School, asked Thomas Whall, a ten year old student, to recite the Ten Commandments. The practice of reciting scripture readings and the Ten Commandments was the law in all Massachusetts common schools. What was not customary was Miss Shepard’s insistence that Whall recite the Protestant version. The student refused his teacher’s request. Despite the effort by the principal, school board members and Whall’s own father, one of the members of the school board members insisted that the letter of the law be followed.

The Whall family attended St. Mary’s Church where Father Bernardine

Wiget insisted that all of the boys who attended Elliot School refuse to recite

Protestant prayers, and he threatened to read from the altar the name of any boy who agreed to declaim the Protestant version. At school, one week after the 38 incident, Thomas Whall again refused his teacher’s request, but this time there were immediate consequences for his actions. Assistant Principal McLaurin whipped the boy’s hands for half an hour until they were cut. As the beating went on other boys yelled at Thomas Whall not to give in. Over the next few days hundreds of boys were dismissed from the Eliot School for not reciting the Ten

Commandments.

The Whall family sued Cooke for excessive force, but the judge vindicated

Cooke stating that Bible reading “is no interference with religious liberty,” and that Whall’s action threatened the stability of the public school (McGreevy,

2003).

It was not only the overt acts, such as the incident at Eliot School, which made Catholics feel uncomfortable about what was happening in common schools, it was also the subtle things that were causing distress. Catholic leaders, including Bishop Hughes contended that public school books were either patently anti-Catholic or subtly Protestant. Often even the Protestant community agreed with this contention, but unless the books were openly disrespectful of

Catholicism nothing was done to stop this Protestant trend which was permeated in public schools during this period (Lannie, 1968).

Thus there appears to be nothing on record to indicate this public educational policy was comforting to Catholics. Despite the attempt of the common school movement to be non-sectarian, the policy was actually a kind of non-sectarian Protestantism, and this did not sit well with the Catholics. They felt their rights as citizens were being ignored, and they were politically weak and 39 economically disadvantaged. They had no voice and no political clout. Catholic leaders felt the only way to protect their children and their faith was to create their own Catholic parochial school system (Power, 1996).

If Catholics in general and the new immigrants in particular could not achieve religious neutrality in the public schools, these impoverished immigrants would follow the lead of their bishops and erect and support parish elementary schools for their children (Grant and Hunt, 1992).

As the Catholic population grew in size the Church expected a Catholic parent to fulfill their obligation and follow the teachings of the Catholic Church, and part of that responsibility was to send their children to Catholic schools. The

Church also expected the state to provide the funds for that education. It was the responsibility of the state to assist the parents in meeting this responsibility (Grant and Hunt, 1992). If Catholic children were not to be made to feel welcome in public schools, and funds were not to be provided by the state to help educate

Catholics in their own schools, then the Catholics had to come up with a solution on their own, and their solution would develop over time.

The growth of Catholic schools

In 1808 the diocese of Baltimore was divided up into four new sees; New

York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bardstown. This division was followed up by other partitions of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in America. Louisiana and Florida were separated into a diocese in 1815, and dioceses were formed in

Richmond (1820), Charleston (1820), Cincinnati (1821), St. Louis (1827), Detroit 40

(1833), Vincennes (1834), and Nashville (1838). The Catholic Church and the

United States were growing and spreading out, and issues such as education were becoming critical (Burns, 1908).

In 1829, The First Provincial Council of Baltimore was held. This council was made up of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the United States. The question and answer of what was to be done about Catholic schools was made clear. The canon declared: “We judge it absolutely necessary that schools should be established, in which the young may be taught the principles of faith and morality, while being instructed in letters” (Burns, 1908, p.249).

A standard catechism was to be published and non-Catholic textbooks being used in the classroom were to be revised. At the Second Provincial Council held in 1833, the presidents of the three Catholic educational institutions,

Georgetown College, St. Mary’s Seminary, Baltimore, and Mt. St. Mary’s

Emmittsburg, were appointed to prepare suitable text books for Catholic schools and colleges. A text book which did not have the approval of the majority of the committee could not be used in a Catholic educational institution (Burns, 1908).

There were seven Provincial Councils held in Baltimore between 1829 and

1852, but in the great scheme of things there was little legislation from these councils about Catholic schools beyond what was written in 1829 and 1833. By

1852 things changed, especially with the flood of new immigrants coming to

America (Burns, Kohlbrenner, and Peterson, 1937). 41

In the year 1852 the First Plenary Council was held in Baltimore and a more serious approach at providing education for Catholic children was considered. The decree of the First Plenary Council read as follows:

We exhort the bishops, and, in view of the very grave evils which

usually result from the defective education of youth, we beseech them

through the bowels of the mercy of God, to see that schools be established

in connection with all of the churches of their diocese; and, if it be

necessary and circumstances permit, to provide, from the revenues of the

church to which the school is attached, for the support of competent

teachers (Burns, Kohlbrenner, and Peterson, 1937, p. 138).

The decree of the First Plenary Council was strong, but conservative leaders of the Catholic hierarchy wanted the legislation and the voice of the

Catholic Church in regard to Catholic schools to be stronger. This desire was expressed by clergy attending a council held in Cincinnati. These Fathers, including Archbishop Purcell of Cincinnati held up German parishes of Cincinnati as role models. They stated:

Our excellent German congregations leave us nothing to desire on

this subject. The children attend Mass every morning, they sing with one

accord the praises of God, and they go from the church to the school.

They are accustomed to cleanliness and neatness of dress, to diligent and

affectionate respect for their parents, the Reverend clergy, and their

teachers. We have nothing more at heart than that the pupils of our 42

English schools should imitate these examples (Burns, Kohlbrenner, and

Peterson, 1937, p. 138).

This council went on to pass a decree exhorting clergy and parents to aid and sustain parochial schools. At this time, the Cincinnati Archdiocese extended from Alleghenies to the Mississippi and it was in this section of the country where one could find the most loyal and dedicated Catholics (Burns, Kohlbrenner, and

Peterson , 1937).

Between the First Plenary Council held in 1852 and the Second Plenary

Council which would meet in 1866 the United States and its citizens were preoccupied with the events leading up to the Civil War and the war itself.

In 1866 the Second Plenary met again in Baltimore, Maryland. This was the largest Catholic assembly that had ever been held in this country, and it enacted legislation on many subjects, but added to the little on the debate about education except to reaffirm what had happened at the First Plenary Council

(Burns, Kohlbrenner, and Peterson, 1937).

During the 1860s and early 1870s individual Catholic bishops spoke up and supported Catholic education, but not all bishops joined in this campaign. In

1875, the debate heated up again when some bishops in this country called for a formal document of support from the Vatican. This call was enhanced by a report from the Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith. This group was the wing of the Catholic Church in charge of worldwide missionary activity. The Catholic

Church in America still had missionary status at this time. The Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith considered public schools as “evils of the greatest 43 kind,” and called the Catholic hierarchy to build Catholic schools, the laity to support this endeavor, and for parents to send their children to these schools. This was considered a victory for those bishops who were advocates of parochial schools. This call also meant a shift in exactly what Catholics were opposing when it came to public school education. No longer was the opposition in regards to Protestant orientation in public schools, but to the whole concept of the secular nature of these schools. Public schools were now considered “godless” and influenced by the ideas of Darwin and Spencer (Grant and Hunt, 1992).

Also, during the period following the Civil War, other happenings were occurring in this country which were adding to the concern of Catholics that a new wave of anti-Catholicism was about to begin. Near the end of the war in

Natchez, Mississippi Bishop William Elder was arrested for treasonable acts because he refused to have prayers in support of Abraham Lincoln read in

Catholic Churches under his leadership (McGreevy, 2003).

In Missouri in January, 1865, the state constitution, under the control of

Radical Republicans and former members of the anti-Catholic Know-Nothing

Party passed a law taxing church property and making it a crime for ministers to conduct marriages or preach unless they swore that they had never supported the rebellion of the southern states. While many Protestant ministers refused to take the oath, it was the arrest of a Catholic priest which brought the debate to a head and led a bitterly divided United States Supreme Court to overturn the Missouri law (McGreevy, 2003). 44

These were not isolated cases. In 1869 one of the leaders of the women’s suffrage movement, Elizabeth Cody Stanton stated,

It is not possible for a foreigner and a Catholic to take in the

grandeur of the American idea of individual rights, as more sacred than

any civil or ecclesiastical organizations. The human mind is ever

oscillating between the extreme of authority and individualism; and if the

former-the Catholic idea- finds lodgment in the minds of this people, we

ring the death-knell of American liberties (McGreevy, 2003, p. 95).

Even one of the heroes of the Civil War spoke about a need to guard against the role Catholicism played in the future of the United States. On October

29, 1875 in Des Moines, Iowa before a reunion of veterans of the Union Army,

Grant urged his former comrades not to allow a single dollar to be appropriated for sectarian education, because it might destroy the public schools. He went on to add, “If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason’s and Dixon’s, but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition, and ignorance on the other” (McGreevy, 2003, p. 91).

The audience understood what the word superstition meant, because it was widely believed that Grant thought the Catholic Church was becoming increasingly aggressive. Grant, an active member of the Republican Party, knew that the Catholic Church had become a huge issue in the Governor’s race in Ohio.

The Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, and other Ohio Republicans, 45 including another future President, James Garfield, had made Catholicism and the role that priests played in social matters a political issue (McGreevy, 2003).

Cincinnati was not immune from the debate. In 1869-70 the Cincinnati

School Board ended the use of the King James Bible in their public school classrooms. A leading Unitarian minister and later the editor of the National

Journal of Education, Amory Dwight Mayo organized resistance to the decision and described Catholic priests as an “aristocracy eager for the ignorance of their people (McGreevy, 2003, p. 116).

It was in this atmosphere the Third Plenary Council was called in 1884.

The report from the Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith was the force behind the calling for this council. The Congregation of the Propagation of the

Faith was part of the Vatican, and the Vatican sought to control the growing

Church in the United States (Grant and Hunt, 1992).

Education was regarded as the most important issue during this council.

The bishops believed that survival depended on morality, and religion played a major role in mankind’s continued existence, and home, church, and school were the three institutions which played a part in developing mankind. Without religion in schools part of this development was stymied (Grant and Hunt, 1992).

Approximately a quarter of the documents produced by this council dealt with the subject of Catholic education and Catholic schools. These documents dealt with all aspects of this topic, elementary schools, high schools, colleges, and seminaries. Catholic University in Washington, D.C. was established as a result of the Third Plenary Council. Interestingly the committee 46 on education consisted of the Archbishop of Chicago, Illinois, the Bishop of

Peoria, Illinois, the Bishop of Davenport, Iowa, one secretary, and nine theologians. All of the members were from the Midwest, the section of the country which supported parochial schools the most fervently (Burns,

Kohlbrenner, and Peterson, 1937).

The bishops wrote two decrees which would guide Catholic parochial education for decades. The first decree established that a parish school would be built where one does not exist, and it would be maintained forever. This was to be done within two years of the council unless a bishop stated otherwise. The second decree declared that Catholic parents are bound to send their children to the parish school or prove their children were receiving Catholic instruction some other way (Grant and Hunt, 1992).

There were only two causes which allowed parents to send their children to public schools, the absence of a parish school, or if the Catholic school was academically inferior. Thus the two main goals of the Third Plenary Council were to increase the number of parochial schools, and to improve their efficiency

(Burns, Kohlbrenner, and Peterson, 1937).

What were the effects of the decrees from the Third Plenary Council? In

1883, the year before the council, James Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore (the only

United States Cardinal at the time) wrote: “It may safely be asserted that the future status of Catholicity in the United States is to be determined by the success or failure of our day-schools” (Grant and Hunt, 1992, p. 47). 47

In 1883, the year Cardinal Gibbons wrote this prediction, there were 6,241

Catholic Churches in the United States and 2,491 of them had parish schools. In

1887 the year these decrees were to go into effect, there were 6,910 churches and

2,697 of them had a school. In 1913 there 9,500 Catholic parishes in this country and 5,250 had schools. Finally, by 1933 there were 12,537 Catholic Churches in the United States, and there were 7,462 Catholic schools. In the fifty years between the Third Plenary Council and 1933 there had been a twenty percent increase in the number of parishes with schools (Burns, Kohlbrenner, and

Peterson, 1937).

The Catholic Church had not reached its goal of having every Catholic parish have a parish school, but in 1964 Mary Perkins Ryan, a lay critic of contemporary Catholic schooling wrote:

…in the midst of a predominately Protestant society, hostile both

to Catholicism as such and to the traditionally Catholic immigrant groups,

the Church established a school system of her own and attempted to

establish a parochial life which would keep Catholics away from harmful

influences, enabling them to preserve their faith and some semblance of a

Catholic pattern of life (Grant and Hunt, 1992, p. 47).

The Catholic Church in the United States was not going to fulfill its goals of every parish having a Catholic school and thus having every Catholic child educated in a Catholic School. Many laity were uncertain about this edict, as well as were Catholic clergy. A suspended liberal priest in New York, Edward

McGlynn, appealed to the nation to “Show no favor to any rival system”. The 48

Archbishop of St. Paul, John Ireland speaking to the National Education

Association in 1890 told the gathering that the right to make instruction compulsory was the domain of the civil authorities, and called for the cooperation between church and state in education for the good of the people. Ireland felt this was the opportunity for the Church in this country to dispel the notion that it was opposed to “the education of the people,” and to advance the concept of a

Christian school supported by the state. Archbishop Ireland called this the

“Faribault Plan.” The opposition was so great to Archbishop Ireland’s speech that

Cardinal Gibbons wrote Pope Leo XIII a letter explaining to him that Americans were proud of their public schools and to contribute to the controversy by sanctioning Ireland would have a disastrous effect on the Church in this country.

This would not end the debate (Grant and Hunt, 1992).

In May 1892 Pope Leo XIII sent Archbishop Francis Satolli to the United

States as a personal legate. The Vatican ruled that the concepts such as the ones

Archbishop Ireland suggested were acceptable and attending public schools were acceptable if “the danger of loss of faith was remote in the eyes of the local bishop”. This message brought by the papal legate ignited the controversy again regarding Catholic parents sending their children to public schools, but in May of

1893 Pope Leo XIII put the debate to rest when he wrote this in a letter to

Cardinal Gibbons that Catholic schools were to be “most sedulously promoted,” leaving to the local bishop’s judgment “when it is lawful, and when it is unlawful to attend public schools (Grant and Hunt, 1992).

49

The Twentieth Century

Literature review

In reviewing the literature it is clear that the first half of the twentieth century was a time of Catholic education growth. In the early 1900s two United

States Supreme Court decisions gave parochial education legal legitimacy. The

Vatican, under the leadership of Pope Pius XI, reminded Catholics of their duty to provide parochial education for their children (Grant and Hunt, 1992). Research suggests that the focus then was on the debate between progressive and conservative Catholics on the main purpose of Catholic education. The conservatives felt the function was to prepare young children to serve the Church.

The progressives believed that education was not only to get children ready for heaven, but to allow them to function better in the secular world (Veverka, 1993).

But as the 1900s progressed other issues would take prominence.

Following the Second World War many American Catholics would find themselves for the first time in American history in a better position. Studies have shown that the GI Bill alone created a higher economic standard for many

Catholics (Youniss and Convey, 2000). This opportunity would be enhanced by the election of John Kennedy, a Catholic, to the office of President of the United

States (Youniss and Convey, 2000).

It is at this point in history that the research suggests that an event which would bring about a huge transformation to Catholic education in America began to take place in Rome; this occasion was The Second Vatican Council. According to a number of researchers including Michael J. Guerra (1991) the decisions 50 reached during this conclave would eventually result in a huge drop off in

Catholic school enrollments. Peter Steinfels (2003) writes about the dramatic loss of Catholic clergy between 1965 and 2002, and finally in Harold Buetow’s 1988 book he declares that Vatican II essentially watered down all of the work which the Third Plenary Council put in place regarding Catholic education. The reason for these cataclysmic changes, according to Youniss and Convey (2000), was that the Catholic Church now encouraged a greater connection to the secular world and a rejection of many of its traditional beliefs; an alteration that would cause many Catholics to reassess their religious values.

The result of this reassessment would only be the beginning of the spiral that Catholic education in the United States would find itself in henceforth.

Literature dealing with Catholic schools would now tell the tale of what would continue to be a domino effect. Researchers such as Harold Buetow (1988) felt the Catholic Church became less unyielding and absolute. Kenneth J. Becker

(1992) and Youniss and Convey (2000) believed this new openness led thousands of priests and nuns to become disenchanted with their religious calling which ultimately caused them to return to laity. According to numerous journal articles, this departure then launched the necessity to hire thousands of lay teachers to fill the void left by the exodus of teaching clergy. Catholic clergy, because of their religious vows and lifestyle necessities were inexpensive help, lay teachers needed higher salaries and benefits to provide for their families; a requirement that drove up tuition costs, and put the mission of the Catholic schools, a mission which was to teach all of its faithful, in jeopardy. 51

There were other ramifications of the loss of clergy. According to a book written by Frances Prude (1974) and in articles written in Momentum (1987) and

School Business Affairs (1999) many of the laity hired as teachers in parochial schools became militants and demanded collective bargaining for their Catholic school systems. This militancy eventually faded away because of the lack of a legal foundation.

The literature on all of these topics concerning Catholic education would in itself be enough reason to pursue a project about the effects this transformation had on local Catholic schools and its teachers, but it would not be complete. In order to understand the position these schools have in modern America, it is necessary to study the relationship Catholics and their school system have with the rest of society in the United States.

In order to accomplish this goal it is important to look at the available literature on race and ethnic tensions in the American Catholic Church, and there is one leading author who has devoted much of his work studying this topic; the author is Cyprian Davis. Davis (1990) points out that the relationship between

African-Americans and the Catholic Church has always been tenuous at best. He writes about the distrust that developed almost from the beginning between the

Catholic faith and the black population. This mistrust was caused by Catholic clergy owning and selling slaves, the Catholic hierarchy failing to serve the needs of their black parishioners, and the role the Church played in keeping neighborhoods segregated after World War II. 52

Cyprian Davis is not the only author who writes on this subject. John

McGreevy in his 1996 book on parish boundaries discusses the neighborhood battles between the descendents of the nineteenth century immigrants and the black population. In Phillip Gleason’s (1969) research he stresses the difficulty in the “Americanization” of different groups. He believes this process which causes minority groups to remain inside their own groups, and causes tensions between the cultures; a tension which apparently still exists today.

Finally, in doing a literature review on the history of Catholic education in the United States there is a need to examine an issue that is coming to light at this very moment. The recent sex scandals that have plagued the American Catholic

Church over the last few years are so new that the research available is very limited, but not non-existent. Many newspapers and magazines have written numerous exposes on this topic, but Peter Steinfels in a book written in 2003 writes about the failure of Catholic hierarchy to deal competently with this crisis.

These failures which like the decisions of Vatican II could have a long-term effect on American Catholic schools.

Pre-World War II

After the end of World War I, the Catholic system was well established all across the country; World War II was inconceivable, and the country had entered an economic era known as the “Roaring Twenties”. Despite the national optimism, Catholic schools and in particular Catholic immigrants once again came under attack. Immediately after World War I the United States entered a 53 period where a climate of anti-foreign, protectionism began to dominate society.

An anti-Catholic Ku Klux Klan signed up approximately two million members, and controlled several state legislatures (McGreevy, 2003).

In Nebraska, the legislature passed a law which prohibited the teaching of subjects in any language other than English. A foreign language could not be taught until the ninth grade. In Oregon, with the support of the Ku Klux Klan, a law was passed which required children between the ages of eight and sixteen to attend public schools. The legislature felt private schools were divisive and public schools promoted good citizenship (Grant and Hunt, 1992).

Both of these laws were upheld by the individual state supreme courts, but in each case these pieces of legislation would find their way to the United States

Supreme Court where the courts decision overturning these laws would have a far reaching and long lasting effect on Catholic schools in the United States.

In Meyer v Nebraska Supreme Court Justice James C. McReynolds wrote:

The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this

Union repose excludes any general power of the state to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only. The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nourish him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations” (Buetow, 1985, p. 40).

In Pierce v. Society of Sisters, also referred to as the Oregon School Case, the state of Oregon argued that there was no longer any need for non-government schools. It was contended that non-government school was a fatal menace to 54 government schools. The state argued that religious schools were divisive and undemocratic, and created a cultural ghetto for their students, isolating them from every day living with their fellow Americans. The United States Supreme Court ruled otherwise. This case has been called the Magna Carta of parochial schools for defending their right to exist (Buetow, 1985).

In each of these cases the Supreme Court used the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In the Oregon School Case the Court stated that parents had the right to send their children to private and church-related schools, providing those schools offer secular as well as religious education. The Court declared the “child is not the mere creature of the state.” These two Supreme

Court decisions gave Catholic schools legal legitimacy; at least for the foreseeable future (Grant and Hunt, 1992).

The momentum of Catholic education was in full force, but Catholics were constantly reminded that the ultimate purpose of Catholic schools was to prepare children to keep up and pass on their religious faith. On the last day of 1929, this calling was further put forth by Pope Pius XI. In his encyclical “The Christian

Education of Youth” Pope Pius XI stated his views on the meaning of Catholic education. In this encyclical, he stated his belief that education belonged to three societies, the family, the state, and the Church. He believed that the Church was the most important member of this group, since its purpose was God-given, and no one had the right to interfere. He felt it was important to work in harmony with the family and the state in educating youth, but it is the Church which elevates and perfects family and state. He went on to state in this letter that there 55 can be no contradiction or conflict among the three societies, because God cannot contradict Himself. Thus, the family holds the mission and the right to educate its children directly from God, a sacred mission and right. Finally, Pope Pius XI went on to state that the Church had a duty to protect this right and to provide the schools and educators to maintain this calling (Grant and Hunt, 1992).

All the pieces were now in place. The encyclical, “The Christian

Education of Youth” written by Pope Pius XI laid out the official position of the

Vatican on the purpose Catholic education. The United States Supreme Court had legally legitimatized Catholic schools with its decision in the two cases concerning Catholic schools in the 1920s. These actions would set the stage for

Catholic education until after World War II. The only debate left during the years between the two World Wars was the debate waged inside American Catholic groups between the conservative and progressive factions.

To make sure the schools would survive, many Catholic educators developed a strategy of accommodation. These influential Catholic educators wanted to prove that their schools were not only academically equivalent to the public schools, but just as American. They hoped this strategy would stop all attempts by state legislatures and even radical groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, to disrupt Catholic schools, but other members of the Catholic hierarchy thought this approach went too far.

In 1928, the Reverend George Johnson assumed leadership of the education department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference. He expressed the following concern: 56

The pressure of the moment had often led us into compromises

which, though they may not have injured us fundamentally, have,

nonetheless, impaired our destined effectiveness. We have been forced by

circumstances to follow when we should have led, to imitate when we

should have provided the model. We have accepted curricula, methods

and devices born of a secular philosophy of education and trusted the

atmosphere of our schools to “Catholicize” them. We have been a bit too

prone to emphasize the points wherein we resemble secular education

when we should have been proclaiming the elements of difference. Or,

perhaps at a time when we have raised our voices in condemnation of

educational trends, we have offered nothing positive and, as a

consequence, have failed to wield an influence commensurate with our

importance (Veverka, 1993, p. 524).

The conservatives felt the mission, laid out by Pope Pius XI, needed to be strictly interpreted. It was their belief the sole undertaking of Catholic schools was to constantly keep focusing on the faith. Edward P. Jordan, a professor at

Catholic University put it this way, “although the conditions of social, civic, and industrial life may change, human nature is everywhere and always the same, hence there will be certain features of man’s education that remain the same until the end of time” (Veverka, 1993, p. 528).

Progressives felt Catholic education was large enough and strong enough to not only stress the Catholic faith, but to also incorporate secular insights and 57 practices without damaging Catholicism. This struggle between progressives and conservatives would continue right through the twentieth century.

American Catholic Schools after the Second World War

With the conclusion of World War II, the United States and its citizens were faced with the challenge of returning to some sort of normalcy. The troops were coming home. Women were being encouraged to return to their role in the home. Young men, some who have been away from home for years, were trying to put their lives together. Couples were being married at a rate never before seen in history, and soon after babies were being born at such a rate the term “baby boomers” would be coined. Many of these new, growing families were moving away from the city into a new concept called the suburbs. With the conclusion of the war the economy of the United States would grow at an enormous pace. With the combination of putting the war behind them, new technology and ideas, and the revitalization of the so-called American dream enormous change would come to many individuals and their families.

But with these changes huge pressure would be put on all of the institutions necessary for a society to be successful; organizations such as governments, financial institutions, businesses, schools, and even religious groups. This country and its citizens were not the same as they were before the war, and they would never return to a pre-war life style. Many individuals who had been left out of the “American Dream” prior to the depression and World War

II would begin to demand inclusion. Included in this group were women, 58

African-Americans, immigrants, and those who may practice religious beliefs outside of the sociably accepted religions. These people had fought, sacrificed, and lost family and friends during the war, and many of these same people felt it was time to reap the rewards.

This was true of Catholics all across the United States. The Catholic

Church and its schools in the United States would be profoundly changed by all of this. Churches and schools would have to be built where the faithful were moving. These parishes and their schools would have to be financed, and staffed with new faculty, preferably clergy or members of religious orders. Curriculums would have to be developed that not only met the needs of Catholicism, but also the needs of a country with new ideas and new demands. This set of courses would have to be able to educate students to be successful in new fields and modern enterprises that were swiftly being invented during the last half of the twentieth century.

If these changes were not enough to cause problems for institutions such as the Catholic Church, the prospect of trying to serve the needs of the baby boomers would elevate the urgency of the challenge. The Catholic Church and the institutions connected to the Church would have to adjust, and these adjustments would have an impact on the Catholic religion even to this day.

Events which were occurring in Rome would also profoundly change

Catholic schools. The long reigning Pope Pius XII would die and the new Pope

John XXIII would call for a Vatican Council. The results of this council would bring enormous transformations to the Catholic religion. 59

All of these events, proceedings that would occur in a span of less than fifty years, would make Catholic schools much different than what they were like prior to World War II.

Like other members of the population in the United States, Catholics were looking to share equally the benefits offered to others citizens of America. One of the new rewards was the GI Bill. This historic piece of legislation, which provided educational funds for the returning servicemen, would open up doors never opened for many Americans. It would allow people from outside established groups to leap ahead of their ancestors in areas previously unattainable.

The GI Bill would allow Catholics to achieve a status they had never before experienced. Ancestors of Catholic immigrants that came to America in the nineteenth and early twentieth century were able to attend institutes of higher education previously denied to them. By achieving college degrees many

Catholics were able to move themselves up to a higher economic standing, and enter areas in society that prior to World War II were out of reach (Youniss and

Convey, 2000).

In 1960 the voters of the United States elected for the first time a member of the Catholic faith to the office of President. The election of John F. Kennedy, of Irish descent, proved it was now possible for Catholics, even Catholics from an immigrant population, to be anything they could imagine (Youniss and Convey,

2000). These experiences alone would have had a huge impact on Catholics in

America, but what was happening and would continue to happen hundreds of 60 miles away in the Vatican would eclipse for the Catholics the political actions occurring in the United States. The Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) was convened on October 11, 1962 by Pope John XXIII, and would span three years and two Popes. The purpose of Vatican II was the spiritual renewal of the

Catholic Church and reconsideration of the position of the Catholic Church in the modern world. Part of these announced purposes was the aim to consider reforming the clergy and allow lay people closer participation in church services http://infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0850544.html.

The results that came about because of Vatican II structurally changed the

Catholic Church in America. Author Peter Steinfels (2003) graphically shows the dramatic effect this council had on the American Catholic Church.

- In 1965, there were 46.6 million Catholics in the United States or

24 percent of the population. In 2002, there are 65.3 million

Catholics or 23 percent of the population.

- In 1965, there 58,132 priests; in 2002 there were 45,713.

- In 1965, there one priest for approximately every 800 Catholics; in

2002, there was one priest for approximately every 1,400

Catholics. Because priests are aging, there is one non-retired priest

for approximately every 1,900 Catholics.

- In 1965 there were 994 ordinations; in 2002 there 479 ordinations.

- In 1965 the average age of diocesan priests in active ministry was

46; in 2002 the average age is 60. 61

- In 1965 there were 179,954 sisters in religious orders and 12,271

brothers. In 2002 there were 75,000 sisters and 5,690 brothers

- In 1965, there were 17,637 parishes; in 2002 there were 19,496. In

1965, there were 15,000 Catholic parish elementary schools, with

4.5 million students, who constituted almost 50 percent of the

Catholic school-age population. In 2002, there were 7,000

schools, with 2 million students, constituting less than 25 percent

of the school age population.

- In 1965, Catholics gave an estimated 2.2 percent of their income to

the Church; in 2002, they most likely gave less than half of that

(Steinfels, 2003, pp.29-30).

To clearly understand what these statistics mean you need to put a human spin on the numbers.

Catholic school enrollments.

The decisions reached during Vatican II caused the enrollment in Catholic schools to drop off. Statistics show that Catholic school enrollments have a smaller share of the non-government school sector than they had in the 1960’s, the heyday of Catholic education. From 1960-1965 Catholic school enrollments were 87 percent of that sector, by 1980-1981 the figure was at 63 percent

(Buetow, 1985).

In 1965 10,879 Catholic elementary schools served 4.5 million students, and 2,413 Catholic secondary schools served 1.1 million students. In 1990, 62 twenty-five years after the Second Vatican Council 7,395 Catholic elementary schools served 2.0 million students, and 1,324 Catholic secondary schools served

606,000 students (Guerra, 1991).

Part of the decline in the enrollment obviously can be attributed to the ending of the era of the “baby boom” in the United States, but that explanation falls short of what was occurring in Catholic schools. It appears another reason for the decline in Catholic school enrollments was the fact that Catholic parents were not as committed to seeing that their children received a Catholic education.

This new philosophy was outside of what was intended for Catholics after the decrees of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in the nineteenth century.

The work of Vatican II in a sense diluted the work of the Third Plenary

Council. The new doctrine of the Catholic Church felt it was vital to development that parents, no matter what their status in life or where they came from, have access to all different kinds of schools no matter what group was in charge of the schools. It was up to the parents to decide what kind of school fit their children needs (Buetow, 1988).

It encouraged Catholics to be connected to the secular world, but frame it in Catholic beliefs. This new concept handed down from the Vatican rejected the traditional principle of suspicion and separatism of American Catholics and the world around them (Youniss & Convey, 2000).

Vatican II changed the work of the Third Plenary Council. The parish elementary school and the neighborhood secondary school would no longer be the focal point of American Catholicism. 63

The loss of religious educators.

This council and the results that came from its decisions deeply affected

Catholic education in the United States. The hierarchy of the Catholic Church and its role in Catholic schools was very clear prior to Vatican II. The Catholic

Church and its schools were run, often with an iron fist, by the teacher. This teacher almost always was a priest, nun, or brother with full authority in their school and their classroom. In the classroom the nun was to be given full respect and attention. When the sister spoke everyone listened. They taught all of the subjects, there was no specialization. The classroom nun was to instill knowledge to prepare students for everyday life and to prepare them to serve God. They commanded reverence and respect by their very appearance (Becker, 1992).

After Vatican II the Catholic schools became less unyielding and absolute.

The environment inside of Catholic schools became more students oriented.

Student lives played a more central role. There was a dialogue between the culture inside of the school and the one that existed outside of the Catholic school.

There was a mingling of the outside world and the world of the Catholic Church

(Buetow, 1988).

Vatican II redefined the role of the clergy and gave a much higher status to its lay members. For its entire existence the Catholic Church placed the emphasis on the pope and the bishops. Vatican II changed the importance to the “People of

God” and with that particular change the idea that the governance involved the governed was born; all Catholics theoretically would share in the responsibility and the decision making for the Catholic Church (Buetow, 1988). 64

The new openness of the Catholic Church and the position lay Catholics could now have in their Church caused thousands of priests, nuns and brothers to leave their religious callings and return to the laity (Youniss and Convey, 2000).

Men and women who at some point had decided to spend their lives in service to their church were now caught in the middle of a great transformation, and because of this revolution many of them were left disenchanted. The approach to religious life went from complete obedience to adapting to the changes. In other words, the choice for those in Catholic religious life was either complete resistance to this whole new revolutionary approach, or continuing the past by using Vatican II decrees as the base (Becker, 1992).

An example of the clergy exodus can be seen by the fact that in less than quarter of century after the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church in the

United States lost 40,000 nuns. The reasons for this abandonment of a spiritual calling were given as disillusionment, quests for self-fulfillment, and misinterpretation of the Vatican II decrees (Becker, 1992).

Many of these losses, whether they were priests, nuns, or brothers, came from the ranks of the classroom teacher. A lot of these departures were from the religious teaching orders, groups of dedicated men and women whose special purpose in life was to educate Catholic children. This disappearance of teaching clergy caused a domino effect that continues to cripple and ripple through the

Catholic school system in the United States. Not only did this create a void in how Catholic schools were run and how students would be taught. It created an enormous financial stress on Catholic elementary and secondary schools. The 65 priests, nuns and brothers would need to be replaced by lay teachers who would demand higher salaries and better benefits. It would come at a time when all of the schools, no matter what kind of schools they were, would be filled to capacity by “baby boomers.”

In 1969 the salary of a teaching sister might be around $2,200. If this nun left and was replaced by a lay teacher the new teacher’s salary might be five to seven times higher. In middle and lower class parishes and high schools the loss of only a few priests or nuns would be economically devastating (Plude, 1974).

An example of what was going on inside a large archdiocese occurred in

Cincinnati, Ohio. The Catholic school teachers in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati were not immune from these changes. In 1967, according to a local newspaper, the archdiocese under the leadership of Archbishop Karl Alter negotiated a contract that contained a 12 percent pay increase for the lay teachers and the sisters. This increase was going to cause the archdiocese to raise the tuition of its high schools from $200 to $260 a year, and require a 12 percent increase in regular parish contributions. This pay increase would raise the average salary for male and female teachers in the elementary schools to $3,700, and raise the average salary for high school female teachers to $4,200 and to $4,950 for the male high school teachers. The priest’s salaries, which ranged from $900 to

$1,300 a year, would stay the same (The Cincinnati Post and Times-Star, 1967,

January 18).

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati was just an example of the financial turmoil occurring. By 1970 for the first time in the history of Catholic education 66 in the United States there were more lay teachers than religious teaching in the

Catholic school system (50.8%). The percentage of lay teachers in Catholic schools in 1950 was 16.6%. By 1980 that number had climbed to 73%, and in

1987 the number had further climbed to 81.2%. These lay teachers had families and financial responsibilities that increased pressure for them to seek redress for their issues. This was probably the reason for the rise of teacher militancy in

Catholic schools (McGrath and Lunenburg, 1987).

Salaries were not the only problems enveloping Catholic schools. Usually the priests, nuns and brothers were taken care of by the religious orders in which they were members. This care included health benefits, retirement, and other non-compensation matters, but this was not true of the lay teacher. These things had to be taken care of by individual schools, parishes or the archdiocese, and because these teachers often had families the benefits offered were very important.

In a survey that was reported on in a 1987 Momentum article teachers showed an interest in collective bargaining issues such as grievance disputes, lay teacher’s salaries versus religious teacher’s stipends, strike and picket line issues, job protection in case of strikes, arbitration issues, leave of absence issues, teacher evaluations, curriculum changes, and extracurricular assignments (McGrath and

Lunenburg, 1987).

Another influence that would come into play because of the loss of religious educators would be the rise of union movements among the lay teachers. 67

At almost precisely the same time that complete turmoil was hitting

Catholic schools because of Vatican II other social events were unfolding. It was during this era that laws regarding collective bargaining and public school teachers were changing in the United States.

The National Education Association and the American Federation of

Teachers have been around for many decades but their ability to represent teachers in collective bargaining had only been obtainable since the late 1950s. In

1962 President Kennedy issued Executive Order 10988, which established a policy granting recognition to unions of government employees. This order increased the momentum for collective bargaining between teachers and their school districts, which was created when New York City allowed their public employees to bargain in 1958, and Wisconsin became the first state to mandate bargaining with their employees in 1959. These events caused rapid growth for teacher unions. At the same time Catholic teachers were beginning to press for representation of their own. Catholic school teacher’s associations were springing up in urban centers in the Northeast and the Midwest most notably in Brooklyn,

Philadelphia and Chicago (Russo and Gregory, 1999).

The first formal union representation for Catholic teachers took place in

Philadelphia in 1967. The Organization of Catholic School Teachers affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers as Local 1776. This local also became the first system of Catholic school teachers to go on strike that very same year

(McGrath and Lunenburg, 1987). 68

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati was not exempt from this movement.

Around 1964 the lay teachers employed by the archdiocese formed the

Archdiocesan Lay Teachers Association (ALTA) (The Cincinnati Enquirer,

November 21, 1969).

But by 1971 this association all but disappeared, according to a local teacher. Sometime during the 1971-1972 school year the Archdiocese of

Cincinnati decided to make every parish school and high school an entity. The archdiocese would no longer set pay scales as they did in 1967. This new policy would effectively shut down the lay teacher movement in the Archdiocese of

Cincinnati. The irony of this decision is it went against the spirit of many of the decrees from Vatican II. In 1971, while the Archdiocese of Cincinnati was systematically shutting down the union movement in its archdiocese, the synod of bishops was doing the exact opposite.

According to author Harold Buetow (1988) this synod added new updates and adding new specifics to the council’s decrees. In a declaration on justice in the Church they wrote:

Those who serve their Church by their labor, including priests and

religious, should receive a sufficient livelihood and enjoy their social

security which is customary in their region. Lay people should be given

fair wages and a system for promotion (p.231).

Buetow (1988) goes on to say that in 1982 the Vatican’s education department sent out a letter of commitment to Catholic schools which contained comments on the rights of Catholic school teachers. It stated: 69

If the directors of the schools and the lay people who work in the

schools are to live according to the same ideals, two things are essential.

First, lay people must receive an adequate salary, guaranteed by a well

defined contract, for the work they do in the school; a salary which will

permit them to live in dignity, without excessive work or a need for

additional employment that will interfere with the duties of the educator.

This may not be immediately possible without putting an enormous

financial burden on the families, or making the school so expensive that it

becomes a small elite group (p.231).

But that in itself was going to become the problem. The costs of sending students to Catholic schools became a burden to many families and to this day the cost of tuition lends itself to more of a system that caters to the middle and upper classes than a system open to all Catholic families. This is apparent by the increase of Catholic school tuitions since the 1970s (Appendix F).

Catholic school tuition costs.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s the tuition for an Archdiocese of

Cincinnati neighborhood secondary school was under $300. In 2004 the tuition will be almost $6,000 a child (Appendix F).

This significant increase during the past thirty years clearly points toward a school system which is becoming more elite in its operation. A function which is the exact opposite of what Vatican II intended. For most of the history of the

Catholic school systems in the United States the primary function of these schools 70 was to serve lower and lower middle class children, the children of immigrants.

The social classes of most of the children now being educated in Catholic schools are middle to upper class children. There seem to be two reasons for this change.

First, many Catholics have climbed the ladder into upper classes. This has occurred because of changing opportunities in America. The second reason is affordability, many lower income parents can no longer afford to send their children to Catholic schools (Youniss and Convey, 2000).

The objective of Vatican II was to serve disadvantaged students, and in the ecumenical spirit of Vatican II these students could be Catholic or non-Catholic.

Most schools show evidence of trying to keep this character (Youniss and

Convey, 2000).

According to Francis Plude (1974) there are three types of Catholic schools, the first type is the parish school which is operated by each individual parish, usually grade schools. Next is the diocesan school which is financed and operated by the diocese, most likely a high school. Finally there are academies which are managed and financed by religious orders with the permission of the local bishop. With the financial crises the identity of these schools are blurring.

Often parish schools are shutting down, diocesan high schools are merging, or academies are losing the support of their sponsoring religious orders.

Using the Archdiocese of Cincinnati as an example during the last twenty years a number of parish schools have closed and have been incorporated into other parishes, secondary schools have merged with one another and old 71 established academies shut their doors. These closings often have been in the inner-city with students that Vatican II intended to serve.

But with the continuing sky-rocketing costs can this mission be maintained? It is becoming more important to look at the cost analysis of each

Catholic school and to determine if there are enough students with the tuitions they provide for the school to remain open.

Thoughts regarding modern Catholic schools

The story of Vatican II and how it affected Catholic education in the

United States is not a tale concerning the demographics of teachers and financial crises. It goes much deeper than those subjects. Vatican II changed Catholicism and how it interacted with the rest of the world. For a century Catholic students learned the fundamentals of their religion out of a standard catechism, The

Baltimore Catechism. Catholic children were taught Catholicism as if no other religion or theology mattered. It was the beginning and the end of everything.

After Vatican II the Catholic faith was the center of the curriculum, but it was no longer the only subject that mattered in the curriculum. Also there is now supposed to be dialogue with other faiths, even atheism. The Catholic religion now could be used for practical purposes such as fighting racism and hunger

(Buetow, 1988).

Vatican II changed the liturgy of the Catholic Mass. Children attended

Mass everyday and heard the priest speak Latin and had no concept of what was happening. After Vatican II the Mass could be spoken in the appropriate native 72 tongue, and the words meant something. But with this change the liturgy may have lost its mystery.

Catholic schools have traditionally served the disadvantaged. Early on

Catholic schools were the only choice poor Catholic immigrants had for their education, and these schools often were famous for strong academic achievements. Vatican II reemphasized this mission. In fact, Vatican II encouraged Catholic schools to open their doors to everyone regardless of religious faith, socioeconomic status, race, or ethnicity. Yet tuition costs keep many poor children from entering Catholic schools. Thus will Catholic schools, with a continuing strong reputation for its academic tradition, financially be able to serve the disadvantaged, or will it become a school system for the privileged

(Youniss and Convey, 2000).

Keeping this in mind, what role will school vouchers play in helping the poor and disadvantage afford Catholic education?

On June 27, 2002 the United States Supreme Court ruled in Zelman v.

Simmons-Harris that the school voucher plan used in Cleveland, Ohio was constitutional. School vouchers consist of public money that can be used by inner-city and disadvantaged children living in school districts that are considered at-risk. These vouchers can be used to cross public school district boundaries or conceivably to pay for tuition at private schools. In many ways this Supreme

Court decision was somewhat surprising because it went against the traditional separation of church and state. It was also controversial because vouchers would 73 enable the state to pay for parochial education, which often was discouraged by citizens of this country (Proefriedt, 2002).

It should be pointed out that many Catholic educators are leery of voucher programs for two reasons. First, they feel that a program in which the state provides significant funds to help operate a Catholic school may result in government interference. The other reason is that these types of programs could change the mission of Catholic schools. By saving Catholic education with public funds, Catholic schools would ultimately provide quality education for many disadvantaged non- Catholic children, but this could lead to Catholic schools being detached from the Catholic faith, undermine support for the schools and sacrifice a valuable resource of the Catholic Church in America (Steinfels, 2003).

Race and Ethnic Tensions

In studying Catholic education in America there are other matters that must be scrutinized. It is these issues that often define attitudes that permeate

Catholic neighborhoods. One such issue is the Catholic Church and race relations. Conflict around Catholicism in this country was not limited to tensions between Catholics and non-Catholics; often the struggle was inside of the

American Catholic Church between Catholics of different races.

The history of the relationship between the American Catholic Church and its African American members has frequently been an association not unlike the history between African Americans and the white community outside of the

Catholic Church. 74

Cyprian Davis (1990) a leading scholar on the history of African-

American Catholics writes in The History of Black Catholics in the United States:

The story of African American Catholicism is a story of the people

who obstinately clung to a faith that gave them sustenance, even when it

did not always make them welcome. Like many others, blacks had to fight

for their faith; but their fight was often with members of their own

household. Too long black Catholics have been anonymous (p.259).

Unfortunately the story of Black Catholics would be a much simpler and kinder story if the problem of the relationship was just anonymity, but it is also a story of slavery and oppression.

During the seventeenth century Catholicism was allowed to be practiced in the Maryland colony, and historical records show that prominent Catholic families, such as the Carroll family, were slaveholders. Sadly the account of

Catholics in Maryland gets worse. The Catholic order called the Jesuits, an order famous for their missionary work, owned not only land in Maryland but owned slaves to make the land more profitable. Due to financial difficulties the Jesuits eventually sold some of the slaves. Altogether the records indicate that 272 slaves were sold to buyers from Louisiana; often splitting up the slaves from other members of their families (Davis, 1990).

In 1851 a black woman from New York wrote a series of letters to

Pope Pius IX. In the first letter she implores the Pope to do something about the plight of Black Catholics in America. She feels the hierarchy of the American

Church is predominately Irish and have not done enough to save Black souls. Her 75 main complaint is that the Catholic Church in New York had set up schools for white children to attend in order to avoid Protestant teachings in mandatory state schools. At the same time Black Catholic children were forced to attend these state schools and listen to the heresy. In another letter Harriet Thompson contends that Bishop Hughes of New York does not consider Black Catholics as members of his flock. Bishop Hughes’ hatred of Blacks was well known; apparently he had voiced opposition to the abolition of slavery at some point.

Eventually after the posting of Harriet Thompson’s letters, in the midst of economic social unrest between the African Americans and Irish Americans, a riot broke out when a group of whites attacked and killed blacks. Harriet

Thompson’s and the other signers of her letters were the first time Black

American Catholics had spoken out in support of themselves; it would not be the last (Davis, 1990).

In January, 1904, Archbishop Diomede Falconio, O.F.M., the apostolic delegate of the newly elected Pope Pius X, received a letter from the Cardinal

Prefect, Girolamo Maria Gotti, O.D.C., which marked a renewal of interest on the part of the Vatican about Black Catholics in the United States. Cardinal Gotti was very concerned about the humiliating conditions of the Black Catholics in the

United States, and he demanded that these conditions be corrected. Part of Gotti’s displeasure stemmed from the lack of response to complaints made eleven years earlier to the Committee of Grievances. These complaints were contained in a booklet entitled The Miserable Conditions of Black Catholics in America.

Written by Joseph Anciaux, ironically a Jesuit, it included these charges: 76 segregation of Blacks in Catholic Churches, the refusal to admit Black children to

Catholic schools, and specific cases of racism amongst American prelates.

Anciaux made these suggestions to help solve the deplorable situation. They included sending the priests, brothers, and sisters who had been expelled from

France because of their missionary zeal to America to convert African Americans, and sponsoring an apostolic delegation to America with the pastoral responsibility of evangelization and ministry to Black Americans.

By 1904, Cardinal Gotti, the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation of the

Propaganda, was growing impatient with the lack of results; Cardinal Gotti did not create a wave of help for Black Catholics in America. His letter only resulted in the American bishops creating a new agency called the Catholic Board of

Negro Missions (Davis, 1990).

After World War II the United States again confronted the issue of racial segregation. Even though the Catholic hierarchy in the United States preached against segregation this rhetoric did not always translate into local action. Many

Catholic schools remained segregated, though some bishops did take action. In

1947 Archbishop Joseph Ritter of St. Louis desegregated the St. Louis Catholic schools despite loud protests from the city’s white Catholics (Davis, 1990).

John McGreevy (1996) writes in his book, Parish Boundaries, about this period of time:

Into the 1940s, church officials, like scholars and politicians,

assumed that the pace of African American migration, and thus of

neighborhood change, would remain steady or even diminish. The 77

northern cities still seemed driven by conflicts between Catholic

immigrant groups-a 1939 scholarly account of Boston’s Irish and Italians

described their relations as a “race war.” African Americans-dwarfed in

population by European immigrants and their descendents-continued to

live on the periphery of this Catholic world. No more than a handful of

Chicago’s over 400 parishes were located in heavily African American

neighborhoods (p. 37).

According to Davis (1990) there have been momentous periods of change for Black Catholics over the last three decades. Yet there still seems to be a need for more Black inclusion into the Catholic mainstream here in the United States.

Cyprian Davis (1990) wrote this about the American Church in his book

For American Catholicism the period between the two wars was

also a period of transition and development. The immigrant church

became an American church as Catholics consolidated their resources with

the building of new churches, parochial schools, colleges, and universities.

Ecclesiastical leaders, Roman educated and Roman trained, arrived on the

scene and wielded power, influence, and authority. The number of priests

and religious grew steadily; Catholic laymen of immigrant backgrounds

achieved prestige and political power (p. 238).

This absorption did not come without a struggle. During the nineteenth century huge numbers of white Catholic immigrants came to the United States.

Despite the commonality of religious beliefs, many of these immigrants of 78 different cultural backgrounds could not get along nor share their common spirituality.

The “Americanization” of immigrants is not an easy matter. This assimilation process where immigrants rid themselves of their individual cultural heritage and become part of a larger group, by taking on the norms of American life is a long process. It also can be a difficult process because of language barriers, and cultural differences, such as being a member of a minority religion, forcing these new immigrants to remain inside of their own group, thus, forming a their own ghetto. For Catholic German Americans and members of other

Catholic ethnic groups this ghetto or community had the Catholic Church as its social organization (Gleason, 1969).

This cultural segregation often led immigrant Catholics to form their own individualized parishes, with no tolerance for inclusion.

Cyprian Davis (1990) is right. The period of time and the dedication and sacrifice Americans made during the World Wars in a common fight allowed the immigrant populations to find a way to come together. This unification is not always completely perfect, but at least some form of tolerance has taken place.

This was not true for the different races. In fact often the amalgamation of the immigrant groups came about because of their common beliefs in racial segregation, despite the common goals of hate groups, like the Ku Klux Klan, who despised not only the African American population, but Catholics as well.

John McGreevy (1996) writes in his book: 79

Integration of the various groups within the Church mirrored the

integration of Catholics into the broader society. By the end of the 1940s,

the anti-Catholicism that once helped fuel the Ku Klux Klan had largely

disappeared from public view. As early as 1948-twenty years after Al

Smith’s presidential campaign, {Al Smith was Catholic and his

Catholicism was a major campaign issue}, respected commentators could

observe that “religion by itself was not of crucial importance in provoking

the tensions and cleavages manifested in the everyday relationships of

American society.” Intellectuals still warned of “Catholic power” but

ordinary Catholics rarely encountered hostility. Public images were

largely favorable-the Pope giving daily blessings to American troops

during the war, Bishop Sheen preaching on television, Bing Crosby in The

Bells of Saint Mary (P. 89).

During this time Catholics, as well as members from other religious groups, were leaving the inner city and jointly moving into the suburbs

(McGreevy, 1996). This exodus of the inner cities may have brought the immigrant, ethnic and immigrant groups together, but it did nothing to bring the races together. In fact, the ethnic groups used their common bigotry against

African Americans as a further method of unification.

In South Bend, Indiana a local priest led the efforts to prevent public housing from being built in the city’s heavily Polish West Side. Ultimately his bishop supported his efforts because it would create a big problem to have houses devalued in the neighborhood (McGreevy, 1996). 80

In Chicago, during the 1940s, the African American Press criticized a local priest for opposing the inclusion of African Americans in the Cabrini homes on Chicago’s North Side. The priest’s rationale, “Separation of the two groups while not the ideal theoretical situation is the only practical road to community brotherhood” (McGreevy, 1996).

Finally, in another example of the support of segregation by members of the Catholic Church, McGreevy (1996) again writes:

The situation in Buffalo was unusually instructive. As late as

1927, researchers had commented that the city’s Poles merely expressed

“indifference” to the city’s tiny African American population. By the

early 1940s, however, Poles on the city’s east side, led by Monsignor

Alexandra Pitass, president of the Polish clergy association, had organized

successful crusades against a proposed housing project for African

Americans. One newspaper account indirectly highlighted the

contribution of parish groups by observing that while most letters came

from “individual citizens,” protest telegrams from SS. Peter and Paul

Church, the Mothers’ Club of SS. Peter and Paul, and the Polish-American

Clergy Association were treated as representatives of the larger

community (p.73).

Is this attitude still true today? The answer lies in the fact that despite the

Civil Rights movement in this country and how the Catholic Church was transformed because of the doctrines that came out of the Second Vatican Council 81 most Catholic parishes are still not very integrated. Most Catholic churches are still either predominately white or predominately African American.

The Sex Scandals

It is too early to tell what history will say about the current crises that is affecting the Catholic Church, but it is clear that Catholic education will not be the same because of the sex scandals that are rocking the American Catholic

Church. Catholics in this country no matter whether they are liberal or conservative are shocked by the magnitude of these allegations. According to an article printed on February 26, 2004 in the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati alone reported that between 1950 and 2003 forty-nine priests were accused of sexual abuse. This is 5.9% of the priests who served the archdiocese during this period. This scandal is not new. What is happening now can be traced back to decisions made years ago. It was during the 1970s that child sexual abuse became a public concern, not only in the Catholic Church, but in institutions all across America. It appears that American bishops became aware of what was happening inside of their own diocese. Often they felt they could handle the problem inside of their own structure through prayer, counseling and reassignments. But by early 2002 when the Boston Globe began doing a series of stories on Catholic priest preying on minors it became very clear that the bishops had failed their faithful (Steinfels, 2003).

Peter Steinfels (2003) in his book A People Adrift puts it this way: 82

The American Catholic Church scandal of 2002 occurred because

terrible things had been done to thousands of children and young people.

It occurred because many church officials-different ones at different

times-failed to prevent those crimes and do everything in their power to

repair the harm, whether acting out of ignorance, naïve piety, misplaced

trust, indifference to children, clerical clubbiness, fear of scandal,

subservience to lawyers, concern for church assets, diocesan prerogatives,

sheer administrative incapacity, or downright complicity (p. 42).

Whatever the reason for the hierarchy of the Catholic Church to fail its children the fact remains that it happened, and often these crimes occurred within the scope of Catholic schools. This scandal appears to have caused many

Catholics to question not only their leaders, but also their faith. The level of giving by Catholics to their parishes appears to be dwindling, and only time will tell whether this distrust will translate into more problems for Catholic education.

This is the story of Catholic schools in America. To clearly understand how this educational system was established, and the role it plays in the lives of

American Catholics a closer look should be taken at its development and growth through the history of a particular diocese. The Archdiocese of Cincinnati is a perfect diocese to examine. It has a long history and the early leaders of the

Catholic Church in Cincinnati helped to set the standards by which the success of other Catholic school systems was measured.

83

Chapter 4

Catholic Education in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Until 1921

Introduction

The history of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati plays an important role in the development of the Catholic educational system in the

United States. The educational foundation that was laid by the early bishops of this archdiocese was often utilized by other members of the Catholic hierarchy in this country. Many of the nineteenth century bishops admired the solid structure and the conservative nature of the Cincinnati Catholic school system. They felt that the structure and the standards were a perfect answer to the anti-Catholicism of many Americans, and that the makeup of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s school system would help Catholics maintain their rituals and traditions.

Eventually another result of the growing and successful educational system in this country would be the development of secondary schools. Again

Catholics would answer this challenge with their own central Catholic high schools, and the Cincinnati Archdiocese would be no exception. This would lead to the establishment of Elder High School.

Literature review

There is very little primary research available concerning the history of

Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. When researching this particular diocese there are two books that tell the tale of the early history of 84

Catholicism in this region. The first book written by the Reverend John Lamott

(1921) commemorated the one hundredth anniversary of the Archdiocese of

Cincinnati, and had the support of the archdiocese. The other book by Edward

Connaughton (1946) is a thesis dealing with the history of the Catholic educational system in Cincinnati until the middle of the 1940s. This thesis was available not only in the archives of the archdiocese, but also in the University of

Cincinnati’s library. The information contained in each of these books is substantiated by other research contained herein on history of Catholic education.

An example of this corroboration is contained in other books dealing with the early Catholic school system, and the influence Bishop Purcell of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati had on building the foundation for Catholic education.

Finally both of these studies, especially Edward Connaughton’s (1946) book, set the historical stage for what this study is ultimately about, the role of the

Catholic central high school and the transformations these schools, their educators, and their students have gone through during the last thirty years.

Before going any further it should be noted for the reader that the words diocese and archdiocese are often interchangeable. An archdiocese is a diocese with an archbishop as its leader. The difference between an archbishop and a bishop is that an archbishop is a bishop of high rank.

The Beginning

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati had a very simple beginning, as a small part of the huge diocese of Quebec. Prior to the American Revolution the Quebec 85 diocese encompassed all of the Dominion of Canada, all of the territory west of the Allegheny Mountains, and north of the Ohio River, as well as the limitless expanse of the Mississippi River to New Orleans, and extending indefinitely westward (Connaughton, 1946).

The present Archdiocese of Cincinnati became part of the Prefecture

Apostolic of the new republic in 1785. In 1789, the first American diocese was officially established by the Vatican under the See of Baltimore; this diocese included all of the territory of the United States. As the country moved westward the Vatican began to break up the Diocese of Baltimore; in 1808 it became part of the new Diocese of Bardstown. Finally, in the year 1821 the Diocese of

Cincinnati was created (Connaughton, 1946).

The Cincinnati diocese, which originally included all of the state of Ohio, was officially made a diocese by Pope Pius VII on June 19, 1821 with Edward

Fenwick as its first Bishop. Bishop Fenwick knew the area well because he had spent a considerable amount of time in Kentucky and Ohio doing missionary work. Cincinnati and the southwestern part of the state was the most thriving part of the diocese. Other cities which were beginning to prosper were Marietta,

Zanesville, Lancaster, Chillicothe, and Columbus. The northern part of the state was still developing (Lamott, 1921). In 1821 Ohio had a population of a half a million people, with 6,000 of them being Catholic (Connaughton, 1946).

From the beginning, Bishop Fenwick knew that it was important to establish some form of Catholic education in the Cincinnati diocese. As early as

1829 he opened the first Catholic college in the region, St. Francis Xavier 86

Theological Seminary, with ten students. That same year the First Provincial

Council was held in Baltimore. It was at this council that the first important legislation on Catholic education in America was adopted. Since Cincinnati was a part of the Province of Baltimore these decrees applied to this diocese.

Decree thirty-four adopted at this Provincial council read:

Since it is evident that very many of the young, the children of

Catholic parents, especially the poor, have been exposed and are still

exposed, in many places of this Province, to great danger of the loss of

faith or the corruptions of morals, on account of the lack of such teachers

as could safely be entrusted with so great an office, we judge it absolutely

necessary that schools should be established, in which the young may be

taught the principles of faith and morality, while being instructed in letters

(Connaughton, 1946, p. 12).

It was now the official policy that Catholic schools were to be an important part of the Catholic Church in America. It was during this trip to

Baltimore that Bishop Fenwick would travel to Emmitsburg, Maryland to visit the

Mother House of the Sisters of Charity (Connaughton, 1946). One of the duties of bishops during the early days of the Catholic Church in the United States was to convince Catholic Orders, such as the Sisters of Charity, to come to their diocese to do special work. It was often these types of orders that provided the people that would teach in Catholic schools, begin Catholic hospitals, or do other tasks that were necessary to spread the Catholic faith. 87

Bishop Fenwick was successful at convincing orders to come to Ohio, but he would not live very long to see the fruits of his labor. Bishop Fenwick died in the fall of 1832, and was replaced by Bishop John Purcell in May, 1833

(Connaughton, 1946).

Bishop Purcell would oversee the Cincinnati Diocese for over fifty years, and during this period the growth of the region and the importance of Catholic education would take shape. It was in this era that the German heritage, which would play an incredible role in forming the cultural foundation of Cincinnati, would begin to emerge, because it was in 1833 that Bishop Purcell decided to build Holy Trinity parish, a German speaking church, for the 5,000 German speaking Catholics now residing in the city of Cincinnati. Holy Trinity was the second Catholic Church built inside of the city of Cincinnati, St. Peter in Chains

Cathedral being the first (Connaughton, 1946).

Between 1833 and 1840 Bishop Purcell was called to Baltimore for

Provincial Councils. It was at the fourth Provincial Council that the bishops in attendance again stressed the importance of protecting the faith through the establishment of Catholic schools (Connaughton, 1946).

The importance of this concept was not foreign to Bishop Purcell. Purcell was already hard at work trying to convince Catholic orders to send nuns to the diocese to help him with this task. In 1840 he succeeded in convincing the Sister of Notre Dame de Namur to send nuns to Cincinnati. On January 18, 1841 the

Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur opened up a Young Ladies Literary Institute and

Boarding School which would begin an extensive system of schools throughout 88 the Midwest. This was only the beginning of the success that Purcell would have in bringing religious orders to his diocese (Connaughton, 1946).

The Catholic Church itself was growing in the diocese. In 1833 the year

Purcell was installed as bishop there were only sixteen parishes in the whole state of Ohio. By 1850 there were seventy churches, seventy priests, and seventy-five thousand Catholics. In 1848 in the city of Cincinnati alone there were nine

Catholic churches and nine free-schools with the total student population of

2,607. Only three years later that number had grown to thirteen schools with

4,494 pupils (Connaughton, 1946).

During the early years of Catholic education in Cincinnati there were more facilities for girls than there were for boys. Part of the reason was that the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur would only teach boys up to the third grade

(Connaughton, 1946).

At the time that the Catholic school system in the Archdiocese of

Cincinnati was growing, so was the controversy surrounding parochial schools in general and Bishop Purcell would become influential in this discussion.

Anti-Catholicism and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati

In 1837 the State Superintendent of common schools was established in the state of Ohio, and by 1848 under the Akron Act, school systems were set up across the state by town and city schools. This created dual systems; the common schools and the Catholic educational system were developing together.

Between the success of the parochial schools and the conversion of new members 89 to the Catholic Church, enemies of Catholicism were quickly forming. Catholics were being denounced from Protestant pulpits, anti-Catholic literature was being distributed, and even the public press, led by the Cincinnati Journal, was carrying articles denouncing Catholics (Connaughton, 1946).

An example of this anti-Catholic sentiment regarding Cincinnati can be found in an article that appeared in the Western Christian Advocate. The article states:

What, I ask, means the annual influx of the degraded adherents of

the Papal See to this great valley? What means the “gathering of her

forces” to the most eligible places in the great west? What means the

yearly erection of so many gorgeous temples, colleges, nunneries, and free

schools? What, I ask, is meant by the sound of martial music, the military

parade, the tramp of the footmen with the display of banners, at the laying

of the cornerstone of each new Papish Church on God’s holy Sabbath, in

our own Queen City? I answer it speaks in a language not to be

misunderstood by every intelligent Christian, that Papal Rome is

attempting to lay her foundations broad and strong in this great valley,

with the ultimate hope and design of the overthrow of all our free

institutions (Connaughton, 1946, p. 36-37).

It was this type of diatribe that was helping to drive Cincinnati Catholics, under the leadership of Bishop Purcell, to build their own school system, although not all Catholics sent their children to public schools. Many Catholic parents still enrolled their off-springs in common schools, and Purcell was putting pressure on 90 the Cincinnati School Board to end the practice of making their students read from the King James Version of the bible. The bishop also complained about all of the anti-Catholic material that was located in the school district libraries. On

August 29, 1842 the School Board adopted a resolution that allowed school children in their common schools to refrain from having to read from the bible if their parents objected. Also, children could not take books from the library unless parents and guardians requested the privilege. Despite the objections of sectarian papers and the Protestant community the school board resolution was upheld in

1852 (Connaughton, 1946).

This did not end the uproar. In 1853 a new front was opened up in the parochial school controversy. A resolution was introduced in the Ohio state legislature that would fine parents twenty dollars for every violation if they did not send their children to one of the common schools for at least three months a year. This law aroused a great cry from Archbishop Purcell, Catholics in general, and even some non-Catholics, and because of this din the resolution was defeated

(Connaughton, 1946).

In May, 1852 the First Plenary Council of Baltimore was convened.

Archbishop Purcell not only attended this council, but was Chairman of the

Committee of the Catholic Education of Youth and Allied Matters. During this gathering there were twenty-five decrees enacted, the thirteenth decree concerned

Catholic education. This particular decree called for the bishops to build parochial schools in conjunction with all of the churches in their diocese, and to provide funds for competent teachers. Three years after this First Plenary Council 91 the first of a series of Provincial Councils of Cincinnati was assembled. It was from these types of meetings; particularly those held in the Cincinnati Province, that parochial schools received their greatest momentum. The reasons for this were twofold. First, they had great historical value because of issues inside of the

Cincinnati Archdiocese. Second, and most importantly, the work the Provincial

Councils of Cincinnati did in regard to Catholic education had a strong influence on future Plenary Councils in Baltimore (Connaughton, 1946).

It is clear from the available resources, and from the fact that he played such a pivotal role during the First Plenary Council, that Archbishop Purcell was a strong advocate for Catholic education. This was reiterated again by some of the documents and pastoral letters that came from his diocese Provincial Council. In the Reverend John Lamott’s 1921 book, concerning the history of the

Archdiocese of Cincinnati, he quotes from a particular letter that was made available to the clergy and the laity. It states:

Earnestly do we desire to see a parochial school in connection

with every Catholic Church in this province; and we hope the day is not

distant when this wish nearest our hearts shall be fully realized. With all

of the influences constantly at work to unsettle the faith of our children,

and to pervert their tender minds from the religion of their fathers, and

with all the lamentable results of these influences constantly before our

eyes, we cannot too strongly exhort you to contribute generously of your

means to enable your pastor to carry out this great work (p. 275) 92

The letter also stressed the importance of religion in education. According to the 1946 Connaughton book, the letter which was quoted previously also stated: “Religion is an essential element-nay the very foundation-of all sound education” (p. 50).

On Shrove Tuesday in 1858 Archbishop Purcell wrote another pastoral letter with particular instructions to the pastors and the laity. He told them good pastors would not neglect their duty in regard to building Catholic schools. He knew there would be difficulties, but “where there was a will there was a way”.

He informed them he was aware that Catholics are few and poor, but that zealous priests like Saint Paul could teach the school himself if need be (Connaughton,

1946).

Cincinnati and the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore

Between 1860 and 1882 the United States and the Archdiocese of

Cincinnati were focused on the events surrounding the Civil War and its aftermath. Anti-Catholicism was again rearing its ugly head; in 1873 another effort was made to disrupt the parochial school system. John Gerke, treasurer, and Walker Yeatman auditor of Hamilton County, the county where Cincinnati is located, attempted to levy a tax on Catholic school property. An injunction was granted to stop this action, but the defendants answered the injunction by claiming the Catholic schools were not public or common schools so these pieces of property should not be exempted from taxation. In June, 1873 the Superior Court 93 of Cincinnati ruled in favor of the Catholic Church. This was the last attempt to publicly hinder the parochial schools during this century (Lamott, 1921).

By 1882 the time was ripe to call another series of councils. On March 5,

1882 the fourth Provincial Council of Cincinnati was opened. This gathering lasted two weeks and during the seventh and eighth public session the issue of

Catholic education was discussed. From these public sessions an important and influential decree was enacted, which would play a pivotal role for the future of

Catholic education in the United States. It was from this piece of legislation titled

“De Scholis Catholicis et Publicis” that the foundation of Catholic education would be set until the Second Vatican Council. This particular work, adopted by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, would frame the Catholic school decrees that would be passed at the upcoming Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. This document stated:

- Each pastor had an obligation to build a Catholic school, that this

school should be a greater concern than the size of the parish church,

and if the pastor failed this obligation it could be grounds for his

removal.

- Each diocese should have a board to look over everything that

pertains to the parochial schools.

- If possible, particularly in populous areas, a secondary school should

be built.

- Lay teachers, both men and women, were to be examined by the

diocesan examiners. 94

- If there was an adequate Catholic school, Catholic parents would be

committing a sin, often a serious sin, if they sent their children to

public schools. It would be left to the bishop to determine if there

were circumstances to allow public school attendance.

- Pastors were instructed to visit the schools, and teach catechism to the

children, especially those who were about to receive their first Holy

Communion (Connaughton, 1946 pp. 70-71).

The Cincinnati plan was adopted by the Third Plenary Council of

Baltimore in 1884. It was also decided at this Baltimore Council that parishes that did not already have parish schools would have two years to erect a school unless it had the permission of their bishop to delay the project. The decrees of the fourth Provincial Council of Cincinnati were approved by Pope Leo XIII on

June 22, 1886 (Connaughton, 1946).

The Catholic School System

Archbishop Purcell knew that as the Catholic school system grew in his archdiocese that for it to be successful it needed to have structure. He created this system in 1863 with the establishment of the first school board. The June 17,

1863 edition of the Catholic Telegraph, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati newspaper, announced a school board meeting had been held and the Right Reverend Bishop

Rosecrans was elected President of the school board. The newspaper also proclaimed the following: that all parishes must send the school board a list of the text books they were using in their schools, on the first Sunday of every month the 95

Board of Examiners would meet in the Cathedral to examine the teachers and issue them certificates, and all teachers seeking appointments must present themselves to the examiners in order to obtain a certificate. The Catholic

Telegraph did clarify that the pastor was still the prominent figure inside their own Catholic schools; the job of the school board was to aid the pastor

(Connaughton, 1946).

Another duty of the school board was to elevate the status of the Catholic school teachers, and to find a way to elevate their salaries. The archdiocese wanted the Catholic school teachers to be paid in a way that would make them independent and free them from distracting themselves with other occupations.

Connaughton (1946) writes:

Now, salaries are so low that capable teachers seek some other

means of livelihood, and their places are filled by men physically and

mentally unfitted for every other business… The salary should be such as

to enable a capable and well instructed teacher to hold up his head in the

polished company for which his education fits him.

In short, everything should be done to make the teacher be what he

ought, the chief assistant of the pastor in the training up for Heaven the

tender souls entrusted to him by Almighty God. For such he is if he

fulfills his duty. He must instruct unto justice; and we ought to make his

position in the world honorable, as it is estimable in the sight of God (p.

87). 96

Despite this pronouncement there appears to be nothing on record that indicates anything was specifically done to achieve this goal, but there are indications that much was done to regulate the textbooks that were to be used in the Catholic school classroom.

On October 10, 1867 Archbishop Purcell issued a regulation that catechisms, whether written in German or English, could only be used in schools if they were approved by the archdiocese. Four years later at a meeting of the

German Catholics of Cincinnati the issue of textbooks was discussed. This association recognized the need that all of the textbooks used in German schools should be from a uniform series. The reasons for this necessity were: first, the constant effect of continuously changing textbooks were harmful to learning, and second, it was expensive for families, especially poor families, to buy new books when moving from one parish to another. Because of this meeting Archbishop

Purcell appointed a committee of German clergy and laity to recommend textbooks. In March, 1873 this committee suggested seven books, and the diocese approved their suggestion (Connaughton, 1946).

Not only did Purcell want to regulate the textbooks and control the process of hiring teachers, he also spent time lecturing Catholic parents on the importance of parochial education. In 1872, even before the legislation was passed at the

Third Plenary Council dealing with the subject of mandatory Catholic education, the archbishop was expressing his views on the seriousness of the obligation he felt Catholic parents had to send their children to parish schools. Connaughton

(1946) writes: 97

The Catholic school is the nursery of the Catholic congregation.

The one should stand under the protecting shadow of the other. This duty

they do not discharge who send not the children under their care to a

Catholic school when in their power. We see not how they, who willfully

and deliberately neglect this duty, can worthily approach, or be

conscientiously admitted to, the sacraments (p. 91).

Archbishop Purcell followed this pastoral letter the following year with a regulation that made it mandatory for a child to have two years of Catholic education in order for that child to make their First Holy Communion

(Connaughton, 1946).

There is no question that Archbishop Purcell had a dramatic effect on the rise of Catholicism not only in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, but throughout the whole region. In 1833 the Archdiocese of Cincinnati encompassed the whole state of Ohio; there were sixteen Catholic churches, fourteen priests with seven thousand Catholics. In 1883, the year of his death, there were five hundred churches, 480 priests and a Catholic population of five hundred thousand, but these statistics tell only a part of the story. The most important legacy

Archbishop Purcell left behind was the importance that Catholic schools would play in developing of the Catholic faith, and the development of the school system itself. At the time of his death the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, which by 1868 had been divided into what is now its present form, had 157 churches, all with resident pastors, one hundred and fifty thousand Catholics, and eighty-eight parishes with parochial schools, serving twenty thousand pupils (Connaughton, 1946). 98

Archbishop Purcell’s Catholic schools and the structure of these schools would be an important part of what Catholicism would be for over the next one hundred years in Cincinnati. This heritage would be impressive enough, but what

Purcell left behind would stretch far beyond his archdiocese borders. It would stretch all across America.

Archbishop Elder

In 1879 Archbishop Purcell took up residence in Brown County, Ohio, and turned over his official duties to Bishop William Henry Elder. Elder would be given the title coadjutor of Cincinnati with the right of succession, Bishop

Elder had been bishop of Natchez, Mississippi during the Civil War. He would immediately take over where Purcell left off on the issue of Catholic education. It would be Bishop Elder who would take the foundations that Purcell had implemented in building the Catholic school system in Cincinnati and push them through the Third Plenary Council in Baltimore. It would become clear over time that this new bishop would be just as passionate regarding Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, especially in the area of structure and efficiency.

Like Purcell, he often lectured his priests and Catholic parents on the importance of parochial schools and the consequences of what would happen if they did not live up to their obligations. He told his priests:

Never cease, therefore, striving for the perfection of your schools,

so that parents, “seeking first the Kingdom of Heaven” for their children

shall have added to them also secular learning equally or surpassing that of 99

their neighbors in all things that will serve the children practically to work

their way through the world.

Instruct parents, both in public and in private, that if they deprive

their children of the benefits of Catholic schools, when they can be had,

they wrong their children grievously.

And this is the most important part of parent’s obligation to

Almighty God; they are bound to listen to the teaching of their pastors. If

they think they have reason sufficient to hinder them from sending their

children to the Catholic school, it is for their pastors to judge whether the

reasons are truly sufficient before God.

While no reservation is made of the power of absolving in such

cases, yet priests ought not to give absolution to parents who deprive their

children of Catholic schooling, unless the reasons are truly sufficient

before God (Connaughton, 1946, p. 99).

In 1881, he named a committee of clergy to foster, promote, and coordinate the work of Catholic education in the archdiocese. The next year Elder sent a questionnaire to his pastors asking them to detail the status of their schools, including the reasons why a school had not been established if one was not already in place. By 1904, Archbishop Elder was reinforcing and setting new rules which were intended to strengthen and improve the Catholic school system.

He again mandated that teachers be examined and certified each year by the diocese, and it was up to the bishop to determine whether there were sufficient reasons why a parish did not have a school. He told parents that if they decided 100 not to send their children to parochial school without an adequate reason they would suffer the pain of a mortal sin, and confessors could not absolve parents for this sin without the permission of the archbishop. Finally, Elder reiterated the order of Archbishop Purcell that children must have two years of Catholic education in order to receive their First Holy Communion. If there were good reasons for children not to be attending parochial schools then other provisions must be made (Connaughton, 1946).

This would be the last regulation issued by Archbishop Elder. On October

31, 1904 Elder passed away. Archbishop Purcell had laid the foundation for a strong Catholic school system, but Archbishop Elder had built a structure upon that foundation that would last for the next one hundred years.

At the time of Elder’s death there were 105 parochial schools and 27,600 students (Connaughton, 1946).

The Modern Era

The modern era of Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati begins with Archbishop Henry Moeller. Moeller was very familiar with

Cincinnati. He was born in Cincinnati on December 11, 1849, and served as a priest in the archdiocese. Between 1880 and 1900 he served as secretary and chancellor of the archdiocese under Archbishop Elder. In 1900 he became bishop of the Columbus diocese, but returned to Cincinnati as a titular archbishop and coadjutor with right of succession to Elder in June, 1903 (Lamott, 1921). 101

In September, 1905 Moeller, in a pastoral letter, reinforced the regulations that Archbishop Elder had issued regarding Catholic education prior to his death.

The only modifications of Elder’s policies pertained to the issue of what constituted exceptions to the obligation that Catholic parents send their children to parochial schools. Under Moeller the exceptions were clearly stated. They were: if the child was under the age of seven and the family lived more than a mile and half from school, if the family lived more than three miles from the closest school, and if the child had already made their first communion. He also directed that all of the pastors and their assistants must spend at least a half an hour a week in the classroom teaching catechism (Connaughton, 1946).

In 1906, Archbishop Moeller would make a decision that would have far reaching effects on the future of the Catholic school system. In June of that year

Moeller appointed Reverend Otto Auer as superintendent of schools. This office would represent the archbishop in the government of Catholic schools. The

Catholic Telegraph wrote the following about this decision in an editorial dated

September 3, 1908.

The Cincinnati Archdiocese, in regard to parish school affairs, is in

the lead. It has established these features: (1) a diocesan superintendent,

(2) a diocesan school board, (3) a uniformity of school books, and (4) a

system of teacher’s examinations. It is quite natural that this Diocese,

which has always been foremost from the very beginning in proclaiming

the necessity of parochial schools, should exhibit the greatest development

in the parish school system. Many of the schools are becoming free 102

schools; old buildings are being replaced by new ones; a parish without a

school is a decided rarity; and best of all, Archbishops, priests, teachers

and the people are enthusiastic over their schools. Let the good work go

on (Connaughton, 1946, p. 113).

Father Auer’s first report in 1908 stated there were 45 parishes in the city of Cincinnati and that 41 of them had parish schools, and by the following year 43 out of the 45 parishes had schools. In his initial report he acknowledged that these schools needed principals. These principals would be under the authority of the pastors, but they would add to the competence of the administration of the schools. Under the leadership of Father Auer the parochial schools in the archdiocese would flourish and grow.

In 1910, Father Auer would be reassigned as pastor of a parish in Dayton,

Ohio, and the office of superintendent would be vacant for seven years. During those years it appears that the administration of the schools would wane. There are no records during this period, and even the school board ceased to exist for all practical purposes. In 1917, Archbishop Moeller would reestablish the office of superintendent, and appoint Father William Schmitt to the position. The reason for the revival of the office was according to Connaughton (1946) “to bring about greater unity and still higher perfection” (p. 119).

Father Schmitt, like Father Auer before him, wrote annual reports. In his opening report he wrote about the lack of sufficient high schools for Catholic children. This is not to say that there were no Catholic secondary schools. A number of religious orders, such as the Sisters of Charity and the Sisters of Notre 103

Dame had opened academies. The problem was these schools often were just for girls or were too expensive. Fr. Schmitt recognized that Catholic high school education was out of the reach of many families, especially poor families. This problem was not unique to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, nor was it distinctive to

Catholic school systems. By 1900, the concept of high school education for the masses was taking shape all across America. To answer this need in Catholic dioceses like Cincinnati, parish schools were beginning to offer secondary education to its students (Appendix G), but this solution was not very satisfactory.

The number of students was often too small and the expense too great to offer a complete curriculum (Connaughton, 1946).

At first, because of the lack of funds and students most of these parochial high schools would be considered commercial high schools. Over time, especially with the growth of public high schools that featured general high school curriculums, the archdiocese realized a need for a modern diocesan high school system. According to Connaughton (1946) Fr. Schmitt in 1918 wrote the following:

We have perhaps over emphasized the value of commercial

schools as finishing schools for our parochial school students, and have

not insisted enough on the value of high school education. We would be

failing in our duty were we not to insist on higher education, for we are

keeping our boys and girls from the higher positions of life and thereby

rendering a serious handicap to the Catholic position at large in this

country. Responsible positions that lead to social or political leadership 104

require high school education. Because we as Catholics have not made

use of this opportunity of higher education as we should, we are not

strongly represented in business and professional life, although we are

numerically strong (p. 131).

As stated earlier, this was not just a problem in Cincinnati; it was a problem in all of the Catholic dioceses. In 1882, the Diocese of Cleveland through its Committee on Schools envisioned the idea of establishing a central high school in cities with two or more parishes, but action on this report was deferred. It was the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that put into practice this solution by establishing a central Catholic high school. At the meeting of the

Catholic Education Association in Philadelphia in 1903 a committee was appointed to study the Catholic central high school concept. The following year the committee made its report and recommended that cities with several parishes should institute this policy. With this endorsement central Catholic high schools began to spring up in many cities. In the Archdiocese of Cincinnati the city of

Hamilton was the first to open a central Catholic high school in 1909 with an enrollment of 63 pupils (Connaughton, 1946).

Archbishop Moeller understood the necessity for central Catholic high schools in his archdiocese, and on November 14, 1920 he made his views public in an address at St. Xavier University. Part of his speech read:

There is still a missing link in the Catholic educational system in

the Archdiocese of Cincinnati,-Central High Schools. Our people have an

intimate sense of such schools. It has long been my desire and it is now 105

my fixed purpose to start these in the near future (Connaughton, 1946, p.

134).

One year later on November 15, 1921 the pastors from the western side of

Cincinnati met at in the St. Lawrence Parish rectory, with the Reverend Louis J,

Nau pastor of St. Lawrence presiding. At that meeting the pastors decided that they would begin the undertaking of opening a central Catholic high school for all of the parishes of the Price Hill area. By spring of the following year a site was selected, and as a tribute to one of the former Archbishops of Cincinnati it was given the name of Elder High School (Connaughton, 1946)

106

Chapter 5

The History of Elder High School

Introduction

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati was not an innovator of the central

Catholic high school as you will see in this chapter, but Elder High School is the oldest Central Catholic high school in the city of Cincinnati. This Catholic secondary school has a rich tradition, and it has maintained its roots and its mission for over eighty years. The school occupies its original location; with the campus growing as the Catholic population grew. This all-boy’s school still serves the same population; with many of its current students having generational ties to the institution. Elder High School, as you will see, mirrors societal and religious changes that have occurred over the decades.

Literature review

Edward Connaughton’s 1946 book begins the review of the historical foundation of the emergence of Archbishop Elder High School. To supplement

Connaughton’s work there are a number of different sources. Kim Plagge (2002) wrote a historical piece to celebrate Elder’s eightieth anniversary in 2002. Also, there are a number of magazine and newspaper articles that have been written regarding events surrounding Elder High School. An example of this research is the numerous articles that have been recently written in the local newspapers 107 about the events concerning Elder High School and the Catholic Church sex scandals.

From all of the supporting literature it is safe to assume that Elder is the first central Catholic high school in the city of Cincinnati, and that over the last eighty years the school has mirrored many of the events that have been part of the landscape of not only Cincinnati, but of the United States. According to

Connaughton’s (1946) book and supported by both Plagge (2002) and the local newspapers, Elder started because of the need and the desire for an affordable high school education for Catholic children. All of the research suggests that

Elder suffered with the rest of the nation during the dark days of the Great

Depression and the Second World War. It experienced enormous growth during the era of the “baby boomers,” and finally Elder has gone through enormous changes because of the fallout from the Second Vatican Council. Elder High

School has also been a center of the recent sex scandals that have befallen the

Catholic Church in America

Whether the researchers are Connaughton (1946), Plagge (2002), or the authors of the newspaper and magazine articles it is clear the literature demonstrates that this particular high school reflects the mission and the transformations of not only secondary Catholic education, but all segments of

Catholic education in the United States.

108

The Missing Piece and the Beginning of the Tradition

By the 1920s, the educational structure conceived and implemented by the

Archdiocese of Cincinnati was firmly in place. The vast majority of Catholic parishes in the archdiocese had parochial schools connected to them. The one missing piece, as Archbishop Moeller described it, was a central Catholic high school system in the city of Cincinnati. With the decision of Father Nau and his fellow west-side pastors, the process was in place to build the first of those secondary schools.

Elder High School was originally conceived in the fall of 1920 when

Father Nau wrote Archbishop Moeller the following letter:

Your Grace…I opened the ninth grade for girls, which was

formerly held in Cedar Grove Academy…twenty-eight girls are enrolled.

I refused some fifteen girls from outside the parish because I had promised

the Sisters that I would do nothing that might hurt the Academy. In the

boys’ department, fifty-two students are enrolled in one ninth grade,

twenty-nine from St. Lawrence and twenty-three from outside the parish.

In the sixth grade, twenty-one boys are enrolled. Thirteen of these boys

asked whether I would teach them Latin, nine expressed an ambition to

become priests. I granted their wish. I will teach them Latin… I feel

confident that if we had a four course for boys and girls thrown open to all

the parishes on the ‘Hill’ we would have at least 200 students. In view of

this, allow me to make the following offer: St. Lawrence will deed over its

property opposite the Church to the diocese. This is a lot 250 feet on 109

Warsaw and 250 feet on St. Lawrence with an average depth of 130 feet.

On the lot is a building containing two school rooms 30x30 and a hall

30x65 feet. An addition to this of a six room school building would give

us eight rooms and a hall. Our new school building on Laclede is fully

equipped for a two-year commercial course, six school rooms, laboratory

for scientific studies, and a library of 500 volumes… To my mind only

one objection could be made. The outside parish might claim that it is a

St. Lawrence affair. However, as the school will be called ‘Elder High

School’ and the management would be entirely in your Graces’ hands

(Plagge, 2002, p.26).

The eleven founding parishes of Elder High School were: St. Lawrence,

St. William, Holy Family, St. Michael, St. Teresa, Blessed Sacrament,

Resurrection, St. Vincent, St. Aloysius (Delhi), Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and

Our Lady of Victory. Despite the offer of Father Nau to use the land across the street from St. Lawrence, the archdiocese decided to buy land further west from that particular piece of property. Elder would be located just south of Glenway

Avenue at Iliff Avenue (Plagge, 2002).

A local newspaper reported the purchase of the property on January 24,

1922. It said: Reports current in Cincinnati several weeks ago that a Catholic

high school was to be erected on Price Hill were confirmed yesterday

when it was announced that a tract of land, 250 x 1,100 feet, next to Cedar

Grove Academy, and extending from St. Lawrence avenue to the south

end Iliff avenue, between Gilsey and Regina avenues, was sold to Vincent 110

H. Beckman, attorney, representing the Elder High School, by William

Reehl and Alvin Krets of the Reality Associated Company for

approximately $10,000.

The sale is epochal in the history of the local diocese of the

Catholic Church, as the Elder High School, to be constructed on the tract,

will be the initial Diocesan Catholic Free High School in Cincinnati. The

school, according to plans drawn by Kunz & Beck, architects, will be of

the Gothic Type of architecture….

The cost of the Elder High School, including the ground, is

estimated at $200,000. Construction is to be started on it in March, 1922

(The Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, January, 24, 1922).

In 1922 the cornerstone of the first Catholic Archdiocesan high school was placed at Vincent and Regina Avenues in Price Hill, and the school officially opened on September 13, 1922 in St. Lawrence Church, with Reverend William

Schmitt as its principal (Appendix J). Even though the building was not complete the gymnasium was ready in the fall of 1922. It was divided into eight classrooms and was used as the high school for the boys; originally Elder was co-educational.

The new school building was complete in time for the 1923 school year. The cost of the building and the gymnasium was $217,000. There were 552 pupils, 311 boys and 241 girls (Plagge, 2002).

Elder High School’s curriculum met the requirements of the Ohio State

Department of Instruction, North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary

Schools, and the Catholic University of America. Students upon entering Elder 111

High School could choose one of four tracks of study. They could be in the

General Course which was for students who did not know what they wanted to do after graduation. The second track was the Classical Course this was adapted for students who wanted to pursue higher studies in the Liberal Arts, or wanted to become priests. The third option was the Scientific Course; this area was offered for students interested in a scientific or mechanical careers, such as chemists, engineers, or architects. The last option was the Commercial Course; this alternative prepared students for commercial work. It covered subjects like stenography, typewriting, and bookkeeping. It also required them to take academic subjects. This Commercial Course was the only area that students could arrange a two year curriculum. All of the rest obligated the students to four years (Plagge, 2002).

Archbishop Moeller had what he wanted; a central Catholic high school in the city of Cincinnati. The missing piece that had eluded him was now in place.

This left the archbishop with one last announcement on education. After the completion of Elder High School, followed by the construction of Purcell High

School in Walnut Hills, Archbishop Moeller appointed a committee of nine priests and four laymen to oversee high schools in Cincinnati and to apportion the assessments to be paid by various parishes to maintain the central high schools. It was Archbishop Moeller’s wish that the high schools were to be free; no tuition was to be collected from students. This was the last announcement Archbishop

Moeller would publicly make concerning education, he died on January 5, 1925. 112

John McNicholas would follow him as the leader of the Catholic Church in the

Archdiocese of Cincinnati (Connaughton, 1946).

The women of Elder High School

The first five years of its existence the school was co-educational, but this would be a very temporary arrangement. Archbishop McNicholas realized by

1927 that the concept of Archbishop Moeller of two central Catholic high schools would be inadequate. To effectively provide a secondary education for all of the

Catholic students, an entire parochial high school system was needed. On July

11, 1927 the archbishop unveiled a whole new program. In the city of Cincinnati there were to be four high schools for boys. St Xavier’s Classical High School would remain an all-boy school. Elder High School would become an all-boy school, which would be operated by the Brothers of Mary until there were a sufficient number of diocesan priests in place to take over control. Upon completion, the Society of Mary would manage Purcell High School, and Roger

Bacon High School would be erected in St. Bernard, a north-central suburb of the city of Cincinnati, and it would be staffed and run by the Franciscans. Along with the four all-boy high schools there would be six all-girl high schools. One of these would be Seton High School, where many of the girls that were attending

Elder High School would enroll. Seton was to be operated by the Sisters of

Charity. It should also be noted that in September of the same year, Archbishop

McNicholas announced that a downtown high school for African-Americans 113 would be opened as part the archdiocesan school system. It would be called

Madonna High School (Connaughton, 1946).

Also contained in this announcement was Archbishop McNicholas’s decision to assess parishes a $100 fee per pupil for each scholastic year.

According to Connaughton (1946) the letter stated:

It is the glory of the Church of Cincinnati that for many years the

great Shepherd of souls, our beloved predecessor, made provision for the

free education of pupils in our Catholic high schools. Accepting this as a

principle which must guide us, parishes, regardless of the number of

students attending high school, will be taxed not on a per capita basis, but

rather according to their ability to pay for the free education of our high

school pupils (145).

The tradition of parishes paying a portion of the tuition is still in place today, but unlike back then tuition is not free for the students and the percentage the parishes pay for the education of the Catholic high school student is very minute.

With the decision of Archbishop McNicholas to segregate diocesan high schools by gender Elder began its status as an all-male school. The girls were moved next door to Seton High School and were taught by the Sisters of Charity.

Reasons for the decision by Archbishop McNicholas to segregate the high schools are not entirely clear, but an article in the November, 1997 Cincinnati

Magazine may give us a hint as to his motivation, which appears to be to separate the genders in order to have more control of possible youthful indiscretions. 114

Margie Rauen’s high school yearbook entry describes her as

“useful, amiable, and serviceable in an honest unpretending way.” Maybe

the yearbook painted such a saintly picture of Rauen because, as it goes on

to note, she served on its staff. But 73 years after she graduated from

Elder High School in Price Hill, Rauen remembers her high school days as

less than saintly. She and her friends had “wild’ times. They used to hide

on the school roof where they could watch what was going on below and

meet up with boys who climbed up to join them. Apparently their

youthful frolics didn’t fool the archbishop (p. 22).

A few last notes about the “Women of Elder;” in 1969 the girls came back to Elder on a limited basis. The principals of Elder and Seton decided that it was inefficient to be teaching separate upper level classes at both schools, and to alleviate overcrowding it was more practical to merge certain classes. They decided to combine the boys and the girls into one class for such courses as calculus or fourth year Spanish. This practice continues today.

The Era of Darkness

The fall of 1927 started a new era at Elder High School; the girls were gone, as were the Brothers of Mary, because with the beginning of that school year the archdiocesan priests took over complete control of the education of the students (Plagge, 2002). From the fall of 1927 until after the Second Vatican

Council archdiocesan priests were the dominant force behind the faculty of Elder

High School. 115

The structure of Elder was now firmly in place. During the 1930s and

1940s the focus of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and Elder High School would be on the Great Depression and the Second World War. Both of these events would have an effect on the school and its students. In the spring of 1932 the Archbishop canceled the Junior Prom until times were better, and in 1936 the enrollment dropped for the very first time to 586 students, down from 610 the previous year.

Many parents could not afford even the small fees that Elder charged. This was even more disconcerting because the number of feeder parishes sending their boys to Elder had grown to twenty-three; over time new parishes such as: St. Martin,

St. Catherine, St. Leo, St. Aloysius (Bridgetown), Our Lady of Lourdes, St.

Joseph, Our Lady of Grace, St. Peter Cathedral, St. Dominic, St. Antonio di

Padua, St. Edward, and St. Anthony had been established and were now sending students to this all-boy school. This dip in the student population was brief; by the end of the decade the enrollment stood at 640 students (Plagge, 2002).

The 1940s brought new and more dangerous concerns to the Price Hill campus. The world was at war, and it was a matter of time before this country would be involved. On December 7, 1941 the future of many of the Elder students would drastically change with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. According to Kim Plagge (2002), author of a book on the history of Elder, the dedication of the senior section of their 1942 annual read:

This year of nineteen hundred and forty-two is one of intensified

strife and tumult. Brought on through the depredatory greed of ambitious

nations, a war has intervened, making difficult the task of the Young Man 116

seeking his normal way of human existence. The Elder graduate is a unit

of a generation which is vitally important to the retention and further

development of our democratic ideals; a generation which is needed to

keep the torch of Catholicity burning brightly through another era of

Darkness. The Elder graduate knows that the future will be difficult no

matter what the outcome of the present conflict. But he is also vividly

conscious of another outstanding fact: he is prepared-ready to meet the

future on even terms and to conquer its problems (pp. 73-74).

Over the “War Years” Elder, like all other institutions in this country, participated in patriotic undertakings such as buying war bonds and stamps. Also like other high schools, Elder sent graduates and even mere students off to fight for the country, some of whom never came back. There were forty-four Elder graduates who gave up their lives during World War II (Appendix H).

With the war over, the last half of the 1940s began a period of building and growth. During the 1946-47 school year, with the student population exceeding 500, two temporary buildings called the “barracks” were put in place.

Also that year, a large portion of the concrete stands surrounding the football field was completed, and in March of 1947 final approval was given to install lights at the stadium. This facility, which is now called “The Pit,” has become a huge part of the tradition of Elder athletics, and was named by USA Today as one of the best places to watch a high school football in the country (Plagge, 2002).

The era of darkness had ended, but enormous changes for Elder High

School were on the horizon. 117

Elder Changes with the Rest of Society

The 1950s would be a decade of relative peace at Elder High School.

Elder would lose three more alumni during the Korean conflict (Appendix H), but the decade would be marked by increasing enrollments and projections of huge growth by the middle of the next decade. During the 1956-57 academic year there were about 9,000 students attending Catholic high schools in the Cincinnati

Archdiocese, but that number was projected to grow to nearly 17,000 students by

1964. Elder was already bursting at the seams with an enrollment of 1,232 in

1957, and with these types of forecasts Elder needed to expand. An extensive building project was started on the campus. In 1957 construction began on a wing which would include classrooms, labs, a cafeteria, an auditorium and a gym

(Plagge, 2002).

But this new addition would be only part of the plan to help with the onslaught of new pupils arriving at parochial schools in the archdiocese. In

September 1960 LaSalle High School was opened on North Bend Road with 300 students. A new grade was added every year until all four high school grades were in place in 1963. This was one of the new high schools that were built in the

Archdiocese of Cincinnati to help with the pending baby boom, and the exodus of the population to the suburbs (Giglierano, Overmyer, and Propas, 1988).

In order to balance the enrollments of parochial high school students in the archdiocese, six feeder schools were taken away from Elder and given to LaSalle.

The era of the “Baby Boomer” was beginning to be felt in parochial schools. 118

In 1962 Elder reached an enrollment of 1,470 and the numbers would only continue to go up (Appendix F). In order to properly educate their students Elder needed to build again, and plans were started on the two-story west-wing. This addition would accommodate 450 students (Plagge, 2002).

But the baby boom era would not be the only change that would affect

Elder High School. By the end of the decade Elder High School, like the rest of the Catholic Church, would begin to feel the effects of the Second Vatican

Council. For the first forty years the bulk of the faculty at Elder High School was diocesan priests. With the tremendous growth in the student population during the 1950s and 1960s a number of young lay faculty members were hired to fill in the large gaps that were left because of the record enrollments, but priests were still the dominant members of the teaching faculty. There was still no doubt of who was in charge of setting the culture and the tone of the Elder experience; it was the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the priests who were assigned to the school, but that was about to change.

According to Elder’s annual, Elderado, there were thirty-one priests assigned to Elder’s faculty during the 1967-68 academic year, but only four years later, the 1970-1971 school year, there were only twenty-three appointed to Elder

(Elderado). This was the beginning of the exodus of teaching priests from Elder.

In 2003, there were only two priests at Elder and one of them is present for only part of the day (Appendix F). Also, for the first time in the history of Elder High

School the current principal, Tom Otten, is a lay man (Appendix J). As a post script to this information Tom Otten recently announced that one of the two 119 priests teaching at Elder would be leaving the school to pursue his doctorate degree and would eventually return to the seminary to teach. Mr. Otten did not know if the archdiocese would make a priest available to replace the departing religious faculty member.

This dramatic change in the structure of the Catholic school system would cause all kinds of repercussions. Because of the costs of paying lay teachers instead of priests the tuition at Elder High School would rise substantially. In

1963 the family portion of sending a boy to Elder High School was $100. In 2003 that portion is $5,975 (Appendix F). (It was recently announced the tuition cost for the 2004-2005 academic year will be $6,300 per pupil).

With this increase in the tuition and the decrease in the population of teenagers the enrollment at Elder has decreased. At its peak in 1969 the student population was 1,917. Currently it stands at 1,036, and that has gone up from 816 in 1990 (Appendix F).

These ramifications were newsworthy and not isolated to Elder High

School. In an article that appeared in Cincinnati Enquirer on April 29, 1977 these issues were discussed. The article stated:

They face increasing tuition costs, declining birthrate, suburban

migration, and one school closing, yet the administrators of Catholic high

schools in Hamilton County expect next year’s school population to be

within 5% of this year’s class load.

The Enquirer surveyed 16 Catholic high schools Thursday

(including Regina in Norwood, which will close at the end of this school 120 year), to determine projected enrollments for 1977-78 and the number of teachers who will lose their jobs because of shrinking school populations.

The most substantial declines in student population are expected in schools in College Hill (McAuley), Price Hill (Elder and Seton), and

Walnut Hills (Purcell), while suburban schools should maintain current student body level; the statistics show.

“Our schools follow the general population picture,” said the Rev.

Jerome Schaeper, superintendent of Cincinnati, “You can’t manufacture

14-year-olds. . . .”

The demise of Regina is part of the salvation of Mt. Notre Dame.

“If it weren’t for Regina we would be decreasing a little bit,’ said its principal, Sister Carol Diemunsch. “Eighth grade enrollments are down and people can’t afford the cost of a Catholic education (generally $600 to

$1000 per school year).”

Mother of Mercy will add a curriculum director to its faculty, while the student population remains about the same.

“But I don’t want to give the impression that everything is rosy financially,” said Sister Jane Stieringer, its principal. “How far can we raise teachers’ salaries without raising tuition?

“And, how far can you raise tuition before you price yourself out of existence or become a school for the elite?” These are questions that all schools are facing (p. B1). 121

On the same day the Cincinnati Enquirer wrote this about Elder in a different article:

. . . He is among three teachers at Elder who have been given

“notice of dismissal” because projected enrollments for the next school

year is about 100 students less than this year. . . .

In the May 3 administration newsletter to Elder parents and

alumni, the Reverend Lawrence Strittmatter, principal, explained the

layoffs, which he said, were prompted by enrollment declines from 1679

students in 1976-77 to a projected 1550-75 total in the 1977-78 academic

year.

This week, Father Strittmatter has been visiting Catholic high

schools in Cleveland and Columbus searching for any untapped

fundraising method to increase salaries for the remaining teachers.

Assistant Principal Donald Dahlman said, “It is a fact that being a

tuition-supported school we have to cut back as enrollment drops. People

have to be told that we cannot afford to pay them” (p. B1).

Elder High School would survive this transition with their traditions intact, but not all of the Catholic high schools in the Greater Cincinnati area would be as fortunate. Purcell High School and Roger Bacon High School, two of the other original all-boy central Catholic high schools, would see drastic changes during the 1980s. In 1981 Purcell High School merged with Marian High School, an all- girl’s high school, to form a co-educational parochial high school called Purcell-

Marian (Cincinnati Enquirer, 1980, May 23). Three years later Roger Bacon 122 would become co-educational, when it accepted the students from Our Lady of

Angels, an all-girl’s high school that was closing its doors (Cincinnati Enquirer,

1983, March 9).

There were other societal events during the 1960s and 1970s that affected

Elder High School. One of the first things students are taught when entering

Elder High School is “Altiora” a Latin word meaning “The Higher Things”.

Students are constantly reminded that they are here to serve God, Country, and

Community. It is this sense of commitment that has often been the catalyst for many of Elder graduates to serve their community and their nation by entering the military or by choosing careers as police officers or fire fighters.

Because of this dedication the war in Vietnam would again cost the lives of Elder alumni (Appendix H), and at the same time bring out some of the best of what Elder stands for; this was shown by how the Elder community reacted to the soldiers who were stationed in Vietnam. On May 25, 1987 the Cincinnati Post wrote the following piece:

. . . Among Greater Cincinnati’s 535 Vietnam War dead, there

were eleven Elder High School graduates. In one year alone-from Sept. 1,

1967 to Aug. 31, 1968-six Elder graduates fell in combat.

During the ’67 school year at Elder, Price Hill’s Catholic all-boys

school, students and teachers put together care packages for alumni in

Vietnam. At any one time, there are 60 to 80 Elder graduates there, said

Mike Honold, then the football coach, now athletic director and

accounting teacher. 123

“The guys would write back and say they couldn’t believe their

high school still remembered them,” Honold said. “But you have to

understand this school” (pp. B1, B4).

The Current Condition

Over the last thirty years, despite the ups and downs caused by rising tuition costs and lower enrollments, Elder has remained relatively stable.

During the last ten years Elder has gone through, and is going through, more capital campaigns and fund raising activities. There are two reasons for this need, first there is the necessity to update the physical plant so the mission of being a comprehensive high school that accepts young men from all walks of life and with different ambitions, can be prepared for the future. The second reason is to raise funds to provide financial aid for students to afford the high tuition costs.

These campaigns have enabled Elder to build new buildings with modern technological innovations, and to provide students with over a million dollars of financial aid annually.

Despite these positive accomplishments there have been moments of tumult that have affected Elder High School.

In the spring of 2001 Cincinnati experienced racial riots after a police officer shot to death a fleeing suspect. Before it was over, Elder High School would be drawn into the middle of the controversy. Tom Streicher, the current

Cincinnati Police Chief is a 1971 graduate of Elder, and is one of a number of police chiefs and police officers who are Elder High School alumni. In an article 124 written on March 9, 1999 (prior to the racial unrest) in the Cincinnati Enquirer treated this detail as a humorous fact. The article stated:

The institutions that have meant something to the new chief

throughout his life were all represented. There was Tom Otten principal of

Elder High School who was jokingly introduced as “Chief of Elder”

because his graduates traditionally rival Western Hills High School grads

for the position of chief (p. B1).

The number of Elder graduates who joined the military, and the alumni who became police officers and firemen now became controversial, rather than a matter of pride. Often during the civil unrest of 2001 the Elder graduates, who were members of the police force became the focus as one of the reasons for the problems between the African-American community and the city of Cincinnati.

The accusation was made that Elder was a racist male institution, and that the police officers that graduated from there were biased against people of color.

Elder High School students have always been predominately white. This occurred at first because of the demographics of the city. Up until recently, the west-side of Cincinnati was a predominantly white German Catholic neighborhood, and at best Elder had a very small number of Catholic African-

American students that came up the hill from St. Joseph’s parish, which was located near downtown. Recently, the immediate neighborhood surrounding the campus is made up of a largely non-Catholic African-American population, but the number of Black students attending Elder is still very small. There are likely a number of reasons for this phenomenon. First, there are too few Black students 125 attending Elder High School to enable them to form a community. Second, the large parish feeder schools that supply Elder with students have shifted significantly west of the Elder campus and these are still white neighborhoods.

Finally, the cost of tuition is high. With the price tag for attending Elder standing at $5,975 Catholic secondary education is potentially becoming more elite, just as was predicted in 1977. This often makes this type of education out of reach of lower income families. This does not mean efforts have not been made to recruit a more diversified student population.

The administration of Elder has tried numerous times to make the high school more diverse, but have always been met with limited success. This was pointed out in an article about Elder’s endowment fund in the Cincinnati Enquirer dated August 26, 1985:

. . . But enrollment stability isn’t Father Kuhn’s only concern. He

wants to attract minorities and student’s of other faiths to give Elder

students” the advantage of seeing other people and other points of view.”

And once students choose to attend Elder, Father Kuhn wants to

make sure they can afford to stay there. That is one of the motivations

behind increasing financial aid. It is also one of the forces behind a $1

million endowment fund.

“A lot of people have to struggle; many of them hold jobs after

school. As costs increase, we have to find a way to make that more

reasonable. You can’t expect to have a diverse school if only for those 126

who can afford a hefty and high tuition,” Going to Elder is not cheap. A

year’s tuition is $1460 (p. B1).

The challenge to the leaders of Elder is how to attract African-American males, most of whom do not have a Catholic background, to Elder with its large tuition costs. Despite the fact that Elder gives their students more than a million dollars in financial aid annually, very few students get full-rides. Families still need to make huge sacrifices in order to send their sons to Elder or any other

Catholic high school in the Cincinnati area.

Sex scandals

On November 20, 2003 the Archdiocese of Cincinnati under the leadership of Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk, became the first Catholic institution in the nation to plead guilty to criminal activity. The five misdemeanor counts were for failure to report sexual abuse that involved their priests and children. The prosecutor said the criminal activity occurred between 1978 and 1982, and involved Father Kelly and Father Strittmatter (Horn, 2003). Both of these priests have ties to Elder High School. Father Strittmatter is a former principal

(Appendix J).

Elder has been immersed in this sex scandal, which seems to have engulfed the American Catholic Church. During this period, not only Father

Strittmatter and Father Kelly, but a number of priests that have long been associated with the school have been accused of improper behavior. This fact alone would be damaging enough, but the numbers of accusations that have been 127 brought against Father Strittmatter are staggering, and the results of these charges have dealt a psychological blow to the school.

Father Strittmatter was associated with Elder for 24 years. After being part of the faculty for 13 years he was named principal in the summer of 1981, and served in that role for 11 years (The Cincinnati Post & Time Star, 1981, July

20). Strittmatter is no longer officially part of Elder, but apparently he was not forgotten. Over the past few years allegations about this particular individual have surfaced regarding his relationship with students and what happened to them while they were attending Elder High School.

On May 21, 2003 it all came to a head. A lawsuit was filed by four former students accusing Father Strittmatter of abuse (The Cincinnati Enquirer, 2003,

May 22), and this was only the beginning. By August more former students had added their names to the suit, and the storm had become so intense the current principal was forced to remove his portrait from the lobby wall at Elder in order to show that the school was no longer supportive of this priest (The Cincinnati

Enquirer, 2003 August 13). The uncertainty surrounding the various allegations led to a decision that resulted in all of the past-principals’ portraits being taken down.

Despite this dark cloud, the community appears to be dedicated to the school and those associated with Elder. Elder’s student enrollment for the 2003-

2004 academic year was 1036. This represents an increase of 34 students over the previous year, and 55 more students than the 2001-2002 school year (Appendix

E). Considering the circumstances swirling around Elder High School these 128 number might be surprising, but the loyalty toward this central Catholic high school has a long tradition.

The Elder Tradition

Extra-curricular activities have always been an important part of the Elder experience. The class of 1941 put it best when they dedicated their annual to the

“Spirit of Elder.” They defined it this way:

The “Spirit of Elder” as the unseen power that inspires and guides

all who come in its influence. We hail it as the producer of champions,

not only in athletics, but in all fields of endeavor. In the church, the

classroom, on the athletic field, and in extra-curricular activities it urges

men of Elder to be winners, but ever sportsmen and gentlemen (Plagge,

2002, pp. 70-71).

The role of athletics at Elder High School has been well documented, but not always easily explained. Not only have thousands of students participated in a multitude of sports while attending Elder; but the number of followers from the community who attend and support this school has become legendary. One of the reasons is clearly the success Elder has had over the years. Since 1943 twenty- seven teams or individuals representing Elder High School have claimed Ohio

State championships (Appendix I). There have also been numerous regional, district, city and league champions, but the spirit that surrounds Elder has a life of its own. During the two seasons, beginning in 2002, when its football team pursued a state crown, literally thousands upon thousands of the Elder faithful 129 followed the team all over Ohio; often waiting in lines for hours to purchase tickets. On any given Friday night when either the basketball or football team is playing at Elder, their home venues will be jammed packed with people of all ages wearing the school colors, purple and white. On Tuesday evening, during the football season, hundreds of men will arrange their weekly schedule in order to be at “Dad’s Club” to watch the previous week’s game films. They hear the coach speak, and enjoy good fellowship. The explanation for the sense of pride of the community for the purple and white should be left to sociologists, not history, but the fact remains that athletics at Elder is not only important, but how the school is often identified.

It would be too simple to say it was all about sports. The tradition that permeates through the school and the community can be found in other places. In

1970 the music department at Elder and Seton High Schools began to present a series of music and drama performances called the “Eight O’Clock Series.” This was the beginning of a tradition that continues today, and has led to a number of individuals finding a career in the music and theater industry (Plagge, 2002).

The school’s glee club and band have garnered numerous awards over the years, performed before thousands of individuals, and have traveled all over the country and the world.

Finally, this “Spirit of Elder” not only draws thousands of fans, but the

Elder Alumni have given and left millions of dollars to the school. Last year alone the Annual Fund Drive collected for Elder over $500,000, and this is just 130 one of the many fund raising activities that go on in the name of Elder High

School every year.

Elder High School is now over 80 years old. It is located at the same location, run by the same organization, and is attracting the same type of students.

But for all the similarities that this school has with its past, it is very much a different place. It no longer has free tuition. The influence and direction no longer are not set by a religious faculty, nor does it have the same innocence. But the Elder community and the parents who send their sons to Elder High School still believe in the original mission. In a survey conducted by Xavier University the parents of Elder students are still satisfied by the values Elder teaches their students. Yet to understand the history of Elder High School it is important to put a face on the people who have been a part of the enormous changes that have taken place over the last forty years.

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Chapter 6

The Oral History of Elder High School

Introduction

The following quote from Paul Thompson’s (2000) book, The Voice of the

Past, sums up what this chapter is about:

Oral history is not necessarily an instrument for change; it depends

on the spirit in which it is used. Nevertheless, oral history can certainly be

a means transforming both the content and purpose of history. It can be

used to change the focus of history itself, and open up new areas of

inquiry; it can break down barriers between teachers and students,

between generations, between educational institutions and the world

outside; and in the writing of history-whether in books, or museums, or

radio and film-it can give back to the people who made and experienced

history, through their own words, a central place (p. 3).

The following oral histories were conducted with fifteen educators; all of

them serving in various roles at Elder High School. Ten of these individuals have

been at Elder for over thirty years, two of them have taught at Elder for over 25

years. I interviewed two newer teachers to get their insight, and the last

interviewee graduated from Elder in 1928 and taught at the school for over 47

years. A brief profile of each of them can be found in Appendix K.

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Tom Bushman

Length of Service: 38 years .

Role: Guidance Counselor

Career Choice Issues:

I love the experience I had at Elder especially. I enjoy working

with people and I think that’s basically it. I was raised in St. William

Parish, good education there, good education here at Elder High School.

Catholic education at the University of Dayton but I always enjoyed my

high school experience and I thought I would like to teach and to coach.

That’s why I pursued coming back to Elder.

Well, I just knew what Elder stood for and I felt that I don’t know

whether it’s selfish or not, but I felt that’s what I wanted to keep doing is

to try to perpetuate those values, share my values that I learned from my

family, especially my family and my school with other students. I just felt

that Elder’s a great place to grow up and I just wanted to keep continuing

that, be a part of that.

Compensation and Benefits Issues:

What was your starting salary here at Elder?

$4,300 and I got $300 extra for coaching football.

What was your highest salary?

I guess this year, what am I making about $50,000 I’m not sure the

exact figure it’s just really nice to do your job, you enjoy what you’re 133

doing you just sign the contract every year and you just make do with

what you have.

Benefits:

At my age now I guess retirement is a possibility, sometime in the

next several years. It was never an issue with me. My wife and I, we’ve

raised four children through Catholic schools, including high schools,

Elder, Seton and Catholic colleges. Never been an issue. I think we were

talking at the table the other evening we were very happy, we always said

we didn’t have a whole lot but we didn’t need a whole lot of that. So I

know it’s been an issue for some but for me it’s never been a real issue at

all.

Could your experience as a Catholic educator be better?

Well, we did not have real good facilities for a number of years;

that would’ve been nice. That was partially to help Elder so we could . . . .

No Elder High School couldn’t do anything more for me, the principals

have all been very good to me and I enjoy working for all of them. Could

the archdiocese have done anything more, I don’t know. Could I have

used a few extra bucks here and there possibly? I think the biggest

concern is the retirement benefit and if there’s any area, and I think they’re

working on that and they have come up with some possibilities but

retirement’s not the greatest but hey, I’ll make it.

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Differences over the Years:

Is Elder different now than when you started?

I would say as a reflection of society we have maybe fewer intact

families. We have more families where there is a divorce, okay. The

student body has moved further west and not as many from the immediate

area, and of course the number of priests have diminished. But there’s

still the same spirit, there’s still the same community feeling, I even think

it’s ever greater than when I went here because now it’s made up of

primarily families, there are more families involved here. Back then the

priests ran the school, so to speak, and they did a good job of it and I’m

glad I had that experience, but I think there’s more a community spirit

here now because the alumni has just come back and the parents for the

most part are just very supportive.

Has the mission of Elder High School changed?

In my mind it’s still there…. Why did Elder High School come

into existence? A bunch of the Catholics from the west end start moving

up to the hill, some due to the flood, that’s why my parents moved up to

the hill, I was born on Ross Avenue, and of course they were Catholic so

they needed Catholic schools for their children and so only family came

and St. Lawrence was a major church that was built and you had St.

William and you had later on Resurrection and Our Lady of Grace when

those other ones were very, very overflowed. Elder High School just

came as a response to those families who wanted their sons to have a 135

Catholic education based on those Catholic values and we are still doing

that same thing today. Those same values are what we are trying to

reaffirm with the families. So again, I think the main support for any

student is his family. But we’re still doing that same mission continue to

provide that same valued Catholic education. Elder was started because

they said “hey we need a place these guys are graduating from grade

school we need some place else to continue their education.” And that’s

how it all started in fact, I think it might even have been called St.

Lawrence for the first couple years probably. That’s why it’s here today.

Elder exists because of Jesus Christ. And that’s the values that we try to

reaffirm and pass on. Pass on to the students that go here….It’s a great

place for a young man to grow up.

Have the students changed over the years?

I think if you want to say has society changed over the

years, yes. Have our students changed, yes. We’re thinking back in the

mid-60s when I came back here to teach and that’s when we had the

boom, we actually had 2000 students here, Paul. And they reflected

society then, and then you had Vietnam. If you look up on the third floor

or maybe the second floor of the building here and you see the hair styles

{pictures of the graduating class} and the protests and the whatever, we

had students reflected that as they came through here and now we have the

same type, students are dealing with the internet and MTV, and yes

students have changed some. But basically the students are, most of them, 136

very good kids. Who really need and want what Elder has to offer. Yes,

we’ve changed a little, society, again I don’t think we have 50 percent of

the student body that is coming from troubled-homes but we certainly

have more now today than we did when I first started here. When I first

started here I would earmark maybe one or two students that were in that

situation. So we do have more in that situation today.

Have the parents changed?

Yes, I think they have somewhat. Some are better, because I think

they can take a more active interest, now the way the school is. I think

more and more are involved with the education here. I think the alumni

are stronger now. I think those people who have been through here and

are willing to take their time and their talents and their pocketbooks to

help sacrifice for others to go here. We have many more students who are

on financial assistance than any other, . . . Good parents and the ones I

enjoy working with are the ones who realize their sons are human beings

and that they are going to encounter some difficulties as they go through

high school and beyond. And they’re willing to work through the problem

with them; they’re willing to accept their sons when they make mistakes

or when they do real well and still work with them. There are some

parents today who love their children so much that sometimes they get

into the enabling business and their sons you have to take away every

problem for them. I’m finding a few more parents along those lines and

maybe it’s me getting a little less tolerant of that, but I find a few more 137

getting a little more enabling, wanting everything to be perfect for their

son, and really it wasn’t perfect for me here at Elder and it probably

wasn’t perfect for you, and it’s not perfect anywhere. You have to learn to

deal with what is there and given to you and I think the one thing that has

remained constant is my mind. My faith is even stronger today and I talk

more freely with students about that; how important faith is to me in my

life, and how that can be important in their life; keeping them through the

good times and the difficult times.

Is Catholicism Different?

Well, it’s challenged us to maintain the values the why Elder came

to be. We’re supposed to be a school here open to everyone who wants to

come and continue the Catholic education at graduation from the 8th grade.

More and more, as you see in the Church today, the lay men have to take

more of a responsibility for that. When I was here it was almost all

priests, the only lay men here were the coaches. There were probably four

or five. Other than that it was all priests.

…when I grew up I would go to Mass everyday. There were six

Masses at St. William and my brother and my dad and my sister, we went

to Mass everyday. It was 6, 6:30, 7, 7:30, 8, 8:30 we went, I went to 7:00

Mass everyday throughout grade school and then high school, there were

priests all over the place plenty of opportunities for that so then Vatican II

came in and, so yeah the Church has changed but my faith has been

stronger because I’ve kind of simplified it, I try to do the best, instead of 138

all those commandments and all those rules and regulations, what I try to

do is to love and forgive, and that’s what Jesus stood for, but the Church

has changed obviously. Of course right now we are facing a lot of the

issues that we were unaware of as far as priest abuse. That hurt me

personally.

Have the priest sex scandals made an impact?

I don’t know but right now it seems like that the people that are

sending their sons here trust us. They trust us, I think they realize that

Elder High School didn’t create that or promote or accept that. But it’s

really hard, I think those people that have marginal ideas about Elder,

whether they would send them here if they’re looking for something.

Whether it’s the cost of the education or the priest abuse in the past that

gives them good reason, I won’t go there. But our enrollment is up this

year. The students and the families that are sending their sons here feel

this is a good place, a safe place, and I think it’s hurt, I really feel bad

especially for those who have been abused, and I especially feel bad for

priests who are good priests. I think it’s really taken its toll there and I

feel bad also, it’s hurt me.

The Issue of Diversity:

I think we’re kind of limited in what we can attract. We are a

community school so we have to deal with our community. It’s very

difficult, we have a diverse student body, mainly economic, and we have

them all across the board economically. We have a small percentage of 139

non-Catholics and a small percentage of a different race. But it’s hard to

attract those students for ethnicity because they are not in our grade

schools, and that is primarily where we get most of our students, from our

feeder schools. I would love to have some of these students that you see

around this vicinity feel that they could come to Elder, but if they’re not in

our system it’s very hard to attract those students to Elder High School.

For me, no, but I’m speaking for me. Any student that comes

through this door, and wants to come to Elder High School I don’t care

what color you are, or how much money, what economic situation you’re

from, if you pass the 8th grade and want to come to Elder High School

we’d love to give you our education. I can only speak for myself, I think

there are some people who are out there that feel that way, but I can only

speak for myself, and I do everything I can that if a person talks to me

they’re like you or anyone else. I’ll do my best for that person.

The Future:

Can Elder attract young teachers?

I always tell students to do two things when they’re contemplating

what they want to do and that continues to change. I always tell them,

answer two questions, “What do you like to do?” and “What are you good

at?” As long as the person feels comfortable here doing something he

likes and something he’s good at I’m hoping that the money will not keep

those people away. We find a lot of people who tell us, “I’d love to be

teaching at Elder, I’d love to go back to Elder,” and it’s a very good place. 140

The economics is becoming as issue. I have a son and daughters and

they’re all working. So the money issue could be a problem. I always tell

students, “do not let the economic factor decide what you want to do.

Because if you’re not where you want to be, if you’re not doing what you

like to do, the money is not going to make any difference at all.”

What will happen to Catholic education?

I hope Elder is always here, and if Elder isn’t here, I hope there’s

something like Elder, that’s there for those Catholic families that want that

type of education. It’s a wonderful experience. Yeah, I have my concerns

because of the rising costs, neighborhood, challenge to attract “ALL”

students from our feeder schools, from across the board you need all those

to have a good school. If it’s the cost or the other issues, keep making

those numbers smaller and smaller than it is harder, but I think if you look

around Elder High School and you see what’s going on, I think we’re here

for quite some time. You only have to look at what we’re sitting in right

now the facility that I have, that the counselors have right now, the

beautiful Schaffer Center that’s opened up all kinds of other possibilities

for us. The way that the school campus has been maintained the

enthusiasm of the students, alumni, and parents I think we’ll be around. I

just hope for a long time.

141

Will Elder High School always be here?

I only hope so. I think a lot depends upon the feeder schools. And

if they still maintain themselves then we will still have a good base to

continue the education of what’s happening at the grade schools.

Craig James

Length of Service: 4 years

Role: Teacher

Career Choice Issues:

I started off at McNicholas High School, which is a Catholic high

school over on the east side of town.

Why a Catholic school educator?

I think that it is something that I knew that I wanted to do ever

since I was little. I wanted to teach, and if I wasn’t going to be playing

football I wanted to coach football, and I think that I’m living a dream. So

I mean it’s been something. I never went through college and changed

majors or anything like that; I knew that this is what I wanted to do. This

is what I wanted to be.

Have you ever considered teaching in the public schools?

Yes, I have, yes I have. 142

Why didn’t you do it?

I guess it was just kind of an eleventh hour, I got kind of cold feet

because, of course, the one thing that appeals is the money, and talking to

people that teach in the public schools they had good things to say about

it; they had bad things to say about it. The one common {thing} that I

kept running across in my mind was you can’t necessarily substitute for

the discipline. Sure the money’s great, but you’re not going to have the

same latitude discipline-wise. You are not going to have the same type of

kid discipline-wise, and that kind of took on a bigger responsibility in my

mind that was something that I couldn’t ignore.

Compensation and Benefit Issues:

What was your starting salary at your first high school job?

My starting salary was just under $30,000. It was in the

neighborhood of $29,000-$29,500.

What’s your highest salary you ever got in a Catholic school?

With coaching all sum just under $35,000.

Benefits

Medical, I’m not very adept in that end of it. I just know that I

sign forms and I know what my coverage is. I have never run into any

type of medical problems. I know dental is something that I don’t have.

Knock on wood-I haven’t had to deal with; you know I’ve always been

kind of sheltered in that I was always under my mom and dad’s insurance

plans. So, that was something that has been new to me. My wife works in 143

the field; so she’s been able to kind of help me along understanding about

the different HMO’s and things like that.

Do you get concerned about the long-term, about your benefits or your retirement?

Absolutely, absolutely. My best friend, he moved on to law

school, and he got a job teaching here. He was here, I think for five years,

and to see him and how much we had kind of gone through high school

together just talking about how great it would be to be back here someday.

To see him give up on it, because he was concerned about retirement and

things of that nature really scared me. I talked to my principal about that

last year at my contract meeting; that if he could be in a situation where

my friend could leave because of that, that definitely popped up in my

mind and that’s something that is an ongoing discussion all the time with

different people on the outside of the Catholic educational system.

Sometimes they are really shocked and appalled that the retirement and

benefits are as little as they are.

Could your experience as Catholic school educator be better?

I think that they could make an investment in us, the way that

we’re making an investment in the schools that comprise the system. I

think that is something that you always hear-how appreciated good

teachers are and how appreciated vested teachers are. But unfortunately

for some reason, and it’s not about the money, you don’t get into teaching

for the money, but at some point in time you have to evaluate that you 144

provide for family members. That is something that I just wish they could

take a look at, the investment that the teachers are making in their system.

Do you supplement your income?

Well, outside of coaching I used to work at a bar-that would be just

money that I could spend during the week. I don’t do that anymore since I

got married and had a son. Other than that I would always look for

opportunities, but right now the only thing that I really do that is any type

of supplemental income is summer school.

What is keeping you here, what causes you to stay here?

Well I’m not ready to give up on it yet, I’m still amazed by all the

guys that I now call my colleagues that were my teachers, that taught my

brothers and in some cases were classmates of my father. It’s just, the

message still remains, that we’re trying to get the same things across to

kids that I always say, that this is my opportunity to give back what was

given to me. The fortunate thing is that the guys that gave things to me

are still here.

Why Elder?

There’s just such a great tradition in my family of Elder High

School. I was in a very good situation at McNicholas High School and my

principal {at McNicholas}was an Elder graduate and I still remember he

came down to tell me there was going to be an opening here. I mean I

could tell he was heartbroken, but I could also see the Elder grad side of

him that said this is something that you have to do. 145

How much has tuition gone up?

...I know it’s gone up dramatically and the reason why I can’t

answer that is because my parents at one point in time were sending three

kids through here at the same time. I didn’t know that they struggled until

maybe a year and a half ago. I honestly, I did not know that if there was a

money problem or if there was a situation where my dad and my {current}

boss, the assistant principal, they had kind of worked to an agreement

where he was making payments. It wasn’t like he wasn’t, but it got so

expensive that I couldn’t imagine, sending three kids through at the same

time. I do know that it has gone up dramatically. But like I said, I was

always blessed to know, and I didn’t take it for granted, but it was

something that I never really thought about.

Do you see kids and families struggling with the tuition here?

Absolutely, absolutely. There was a young man who was a

freshman here that he was asked not to come back for a day, well asked

not to come back period, because they hadn’t been making the payments.

I knew that this crushed his dad because this was an opportunity for him to

send his first boy through a Catholic school and because of the generosity

of Elder grads and those who were interested in what we’re doing here;

the kid was back in school a day later. So it was something that it worked

out, but yes you do see the struggles, and on the other hand, you see the

folks where money is really not an issue.

146

Has Elder High School changed?

Elder has not changed, and for the most part the kids have not

changed. The one thing that I kind of struggle with is that some of the

kids kind of take it for granted, and that is not to say that I didn’t or that I

didn’t know people that didn’t cherish the experience here. Because there

were some kids that just didn’t get out of it what I got out of it. The

building, the institution, the message has not changed. When you walk in

the door as a freshman and you leave as a senior, here is your school, what

you choose to do with your school and with your education is entirely up

to you. What I think is that some guys have made the most out of it and

some guys have kind of disrespected it. But the school will always remain

what it is.

Is there the same feeling at McNicholas as there is at Elder?

It’s different in that I think they’re kind of struggling to maintain a

sense of identity with the alumni. I do know it is the same as Elder in that

sons had their fathers go there; well now daughters had their mothers go

there. I think they are trying to develop an alumni base and a set of

tradition that we have here. You know they got an Elder guy steering the

ship over there, and that is what I think that’s what he wants to try to

infuse-a little bit of what we have here over there.

147

The Future

Discuss Catholic education.

I think about that, because at some point I’m going to be thinking

about sending a kid to a high school. I hope to God it’s a Catholic high

school, but the trend has just been the {tuition} increments have been

growing. In my heart of hearts I want to say it’s still going to be the same

type of kid that’s going to keep coming through, but economically, and the

situation that’s kind of surrounding where we’re at. The face of Elder

High School will change; hopefully for the better, but I think the next 10-

15 years, I think it’s going to be different.

What do you think is going to happen?

I know the building’s going to be here, I know that we will always

strive for the higher things. I just know the demographics around the

neighborhood are changing and I know that some of our feeder schools in

those subdivisions are exploding. So, I’m excited about the future, but

I’m also kind of preparing myself for exit of a lot of guys that are my role

models. And how I’m going to handle that and how I’m going try to carry

on what it is they’ve instilled in me.

How do you feel about the pending retirements?

It will change the place, and I’ve experienced a little bit of it

already. It will change in that a lot of people fear change, and because the

way these guys have done things right or wrong, it has been here, and in

my mind it’s been successful. But with new blood you are going to have 148

new ideas, and with what you learn from your methods classes when you

are teaching and trying to get your certification. You are always promoted

to try to make a difference, make a change, but in this environment I’ve

just kind of fit in nicely, because these guys I’m trying to the best of my

ability to execute what it is they have taught me when I was sitting in

these desks when they’re teachers. So yes, I am intimidated by it, but

again I’m also looking forward to carrying on what it is they’ve

established.

Joe Acito

Length of Service: 35 years.

Role: Teacher and Alumni Director

Career Choice Issues:

Well, first of all there was a job opening, exactly where I wanted to

be, that was here. I found out about when I was a graduate assistant. I

hadn’t really given much thought even to teaching before I became a

graduate assistant. For a while I was going to go through the PhD

program and teach in college, but as part of my graduate assistantship I

taught two freshmen comprehensive English classes. At XU {Xavier

University} in those days they had football so I had most of the football

players, it was an experience. That wasn’t the kind of teaching that I

wanted to do. About halfway through my graduate assistantship year 149

someone called from Elder and told me there was an English job open, and

that I should apply. I called Father Gruber who was principal at the time

and he said come on in. That’s a hilarious story by the way, my one and

only job interview, I’m nervous and excited. I bring in the dossier of

documentation. I’ve got all this paperwork and I’m laying it out. He is

sitting behind his desk and I’m laying this stuff out on his desk and “Here

Father this is this, this is this, and here are my references.” He put his

hand up with a cigarette in it which he always had and he waved his hand

for me to be quiet and he said, “Do you want the job, Joe?” and I said,

“Yes, I do.” He said, “Put that stuff away. We don’t need it and that was

my job interview. It has been a good decision.

Have you taught or considered teaching in a public school?

There was a time when I considered going to Oak Hills, maybe 10

or 15 years ago, I guess. I guy I knew at the time that was chair of the

English Department over there called me up and said, Why don’t you

come out and talk to me,” and I did. Of course there were many things

that were very attractive, benefit package, the salary and this stings me a

little bit now that I’m closer to retirement, at that time it didn’t mean much

to me, but the State Teachers thing was part of it. I seriously considered; I

did seriously consider it. I weighed the plusses and the minuses. The

bottom line was-would I be any happier there? And the answer was just

purely and simply no. This is where I fit in, this is where I’m most

comfortable and so, yes, I considered it, I decided against it I have been 150

involved in public education. I did teach at Cincinnati State for 22 years,

all night school, all adjunct stuff so I was involved in I guess you could

call it public education on a higher level, and it was fine. I mean my

experience at Cincinnati State was very good, very positive, I enjoyed it;

and there was a time when I could’ve had a full-time job there many years

ago and made exactly the same decision that I wanted to stay right here.

Compensation and Benefits Issues:

What was starting salary here at Elder High School?

Whoa, my first contract was in 1968 and let me think. I should

remember this; I think my first contract was for $4,200. I had just gotten

married, I also got married in ’68; and yeah, $4,200.

What’s the highest salary you’ve ever received here at Elder?

Right now with the other things that I do now, it’s not just a

teacher’s salary, I got other responsibilities with the alumni association

{alumni director}, I am really close to $60,000.

Benefits:

Although I’m not on the health plan here, I am on my wife’s; they

will pay a single contract which is pretty good. The things they list are

PICA and stuff like that, there is an archdiocese retirement plan which we

do not contribute to, therefore it’s not really healthy, it is just meant to be

kind of a supplement to social security. Other than that I don’t know.

Well, there’s a life insurance thing, I’m sorry there is that, they get for us.

Other than that I think that’s about it, I think that’s the package. 151

Wouldn’t you be better off from a compensation/benefits perspective, if you had gone into the public school system?

Yes, from a compensation/benefits/retirement, now that I’m about

five years from retirement hopefully, sure; an issue that didn’t occur to me

too much when I was 30. Occurs to me a hell of a lot now that I’m 58, so

yes, sure I wish I could retire with the State Teachers and have a good

health and retirement. Everything is a trade off. My trade off was I took

less in salary and less in benefits, including retirement for a system that I

was familiar with, that I believed in, and that I thought I could contribute

to, and all of those things have happened. I have never been disappointed

with my decision. If I just purely look at dollars and cents and benefits

yes, maybe I didn’t make the right decision when I had a chance to go to

the public school; but when I’m looking at myself and my own personal

growth, and how I feel about myself professionally, I made the right

choice. It’s trade off.

Could the experience as a Catholic educator be better?

You know, off-hand I don’t know. I think the school does a really

good job of making the teaching experience good. Certainly our principal,

Tom Otten, goes out of his way to support the faculty, and of course as

any teacher knows, support from the administration is very, very

important. Our administration does a good job of that, they always have.

I worked for {Father} Gruber, {Father} Strittmatter, {Father} Kuhn,

{Father} Schaeper, and now Tom Otten, so five principals. All the 152

principals I’ve worked for have been very supportive; I got along with

some better than others-just a personality thing; but they’ve been very

supportive so the school does a really good job that. The Archdiocese,

when you get involved with them you get more of a corporation type of

mentality. I think the Archdiocese is kind of an entity out there. I don’t

think we deal with them personally; at least I don’t day to day, although

part of the contract that we sign is to be Catholic and act Catholic and all

that that means, but other than that I don’t know of any thing off-hand that

I can put my finger on that I would like them to do that they’re not doing

already.

Differences over the years:

Is it different for teachers who are starting their careers today?

Yes, it sounds corny and old-fogeyish of me to say that life was

simpler than, but it was. It was. Again the trade off. I was newly

married, making very little money, knew I would continue to make very

little money even when we had kids. So obviously it was very important

that my wife agree with me. Now it’s interesting my wife did teach in a

Catholic school. But since then has been in public schools and that’s fine

for her…, I had to make sure that we didn’t want the biggest house or the

finest cars. This was the trade off for me to stay in a Catholic school,

because idealistic as you want to get, there’s still is a dollar and cents issue

certainly. All things considered, I have made the right decision.

153

Are the new teachers going to have to supplement their income?

Yes, oh absolutely, absolutely. The salary scale here at Elder and

generally at Catholic schools is much improved. I mean we did go

through periods where we tried to catch up, we’ll never catch up. It’s

much better than it used to be; let’s put it that way. Let’s say that, the

{new} teachers, just like we did, will have to work summer jobs. I think

the teachers, decision to stay in the Catholic schools and give up

considerable money and benefits other places is a much more pressing

issue these days; because when I was their age, a young teacher, even

though we weren’t making a lot of money we could still get by on one

salary. Now it’s almost impossible to get by, especially if you’re teaching

in a Catholic school. That puts pressure on the wife to work at least part-

time, and try to handle the kids; the wife and husband handle the kids, and

all those responsibilities. I think it’s tougher, and I know for a fact with

our younger faculty the retirement is a very big issue. A much bigger

issue than it was for me, when I was their age. They are much better at

planning and saving, putting things away. When I was their age we never

thought about putting stuff in IRAs, if there even were IRAs, I don’t

remember. Fortunately, several years ago my wife and I realized that this

would be something, so we have been able to put something away here

and there, of course the stock market hasn’t been the best, but you know

we’re going to be all right, we’re going to be okay. Yes, it is much more

complicated and definitely enters into their decision. We have lost some 154

good young teachers around here for exactly that reason. They took a look

and they said, “Hey, I’m going to be married, and I am going to have kids.

This Catholic school salary/benefit package is not going to fit my needs.”

That is an honest decision and I admire them for making it.

Tuition has changed a lot. Is that going to have an effect somewhere down the line?

Yes, I think so. I think some people are experiencing that line

now. Of course, there are a lot of factors that go into this. When I was at

Elder, I graduated in 1963 and the tuition was around a $100 a year, next

year it is going to be almost $6,000. That is a lot of money. We do a real

good job here of scholarship/financial aid. I think this year we are

approaching $800,000 in scholarship/financial aid; so as long as we can

continue to do that we still can say that any kid that wants to come to

Elder can come. The finances are not the biggest issue, an issue, but not

the biggest issue. Having said that, there are those who will always say

that they can’t afford Elder, and that may well be true. Sometimes I think

it’s a question of priorities, but that’s not my business, that is their

business. I keep that to myself. So yes, I think there might come a time,

especially considering our population being middle class, mostly middle

class, upper middle/lower middle. Certainly the lower middle class is

already experiencing a problem and may experience the problem to the

extent where they just literally cannot afford to come here. Again I’m 155

hoping our scholarship/financial aid package continues to offset that, but

yes, sure it’s an issue, definitely.

Are the students different?

They’re still good kids. One of the trade offs I was talking about

was dealing with the kind of kids that we have here, and that’s a good

trade off. It has been a very positive thing for me. I’m not saying we

don’t have discipline problems, we do, but our discipline problems pale in

comparison to some other schools that I hear about. Kids are different. I

think they are a little different in what I would call intellectual curiosity.

When I first started here, and really for the next 15-20 years or so, it

would not be unusual for a kid to come up to me after class, and say, I

really enjoyed this novel, what else did this guy write? Very seldom do

you hear that anymore. Not that the kids aren’t as intelligent. They are in

some way more intelligent, because they have been exposed to more. It’s

a very complex issue; I think information is perhaps too readily available

to kids these days, and again that sounds like an old-fogie. But you

remember in the old days when you did a research paper you were weeks

and weeks in the library going through card catalogs. Now you can sit

down at a computer and in one three-hour evening have more research

than you can possibly use. I’m not saying that’s bad; I’m just saying

sometimes when information, especially educational information, is too

available A) You don’t appreciate it enough. B) You don’t ask enough

intelligent questions as to its validity. That is a real problem with stuff on 156

the internet; kids automatically believe it and C) I really believe that when

you produce a research paper; having put in many, many, many hours

there is a certain element of educational pride that perhaps the kids don’t

have. It is a complex issue; it would take me a long time to comment too

much more on it. If I see a difference in kids, and it’s not their fault, it is

the fault of technology. I think things are too easily accessed. To me that

hurts what I like to call intellectual curiosity. I think kids are programmed

to the point where they just kind of sit back and kind of allow things to

come to them, both in the areas of education and information, rather than

say I’m going to get up, go out, and find it do it for myself. I think that is

not just education; I think that’s culture. I think that’s the way the culture

has changed over the years.

Talk about the female teachers at Elder.

I think they bring a big positive difference, I think they’re fine.

The kids, the kids are pretty open, and I talk to the kids quite a bit. Not

about the peccadilloes of individual teachers, that is very unprofessional.

If I hear a kid complaining about a teacher I will turn him off right now; I

don’t want to hear that. I will ask the students questions, and as an

English teacher I will give students essays in which they evaluate Elder

and evaluate in general the academic programs, not individuals. The kids

are very positive about the female teachers that we have. I think they add

a {new} dimension. Certainly it is unrealistic in today’s world to have an

all male view point educationally. Our population being all males, and not 157

really being that diverse in many aspects does kind of hurt the kids a little

bit. I think when they go to college and all of a sudden they’re dealing

very dramatically with females in an academic situation I think maybe

they’re a little bit behind….The women give them a perspective that they

need. They give them a social perspective, and they give them an

academic perspective. Not that a female would teach algebra differently

than a man…. Let me just say that I think the women do a really good job

around here and I think we need more of them. They are kind of hard to

hire. I’ve been told they’re kind of hard to hire for a number of reasons,

but sometimes the all male thing puts them off. We have a young female

math teacher now who’s only a year or two out of college who from what

I hear is doing a really good job for the kids so I’d like to see us get a few

more.

The Future:

What is the future of Catholic education?

I think you’re going to have more and more technology, not that

that’s a bad thing. I think as long as you allow the machines to serve man

we’re okay sometime. I worry that the machines in education, I don’t just

mean computers; I mean the whole structure has a tendency to maybe

replace the teacher. I think teaching is becoming, at least from what I see

from the younger kids, {teachers} so specialized these days; so, one-

tracked that I worry about it. Now I am an English teacher, as an English

teacher you have got to be able to move about freely in a lot of different 158 subject matters, because of the subject matter that you teach, but I worry sometimes that perhaps the young people that we are training as teachers are forced into categories a little bit too easily. I see them having to jump through unbelievable and unrealistic hoops just to get certified. I think when you combine the traditionally low salaries, especially in the Catholic schools, with the hoops that these young kids have to go through, because of the State I think you lose a lot of really good potential teachers that way. Why jump through the hoops when you can make twice as much money to start in industry some place? That is sad I think. We lose a lot of good young kids, and teaching needs good intelligent young kids, especially in the next several years when old dinosaurs like me are going to be going. I am not saying they’re not, I’m just saying if they are forced to buy into a lot of the processes just to get certified I think that takes something away from it. I think it {teaching}is hard. Let me put it this way, the more you make teaching a job, the less effective you’re going to be. Teaching should not be considered a job, if it is considered a job than you shouldn’t be doing it. I tell the young kids that all the time, if it is a job and nothing more than a job get out! Because you’re not going to do it well. Teaching has to be a way of life, not a job; not only a vocation but an avocation. That is the important thing in my opinion about teaching.

That’s what’s has kept me going.

159

Will Elder High School continue?

I won’t be here to see that, I don’t think but yes, I think so. That

also is an involved question because there are those who say, “boy you

know the neighborhood is deteriorating, we are land locked, we should

have gone out to the suburbs and built a new school, etc, etc, etc.” But

once you get beyond the fact that Elder is a lot more than buildings, both

your own buildings and surrounding buildings, yes I think it will, I think it

will be here. I think it better be here. I think if Elder is not here, and this

sounds way too egotistical for Elder, but if Elder is not here the

community has fallen apart. I really think Elder, Seton, and the

{Catholic}parishes are what keeps the community alive. I think when

these things go, I think the community is dead, I think it dies and so, yes, I

think it is going to be here, and I even more so I hope it’s going to be here

35 years from now, yes.

Is it going to be difficult to replace all of the teachers at Elder who are nearing retirement?

Yes, I think it is. I’m 35 years and, gee, there must be another

dozen guys or more that are 35 years, maybe 37-38. We’re getting them

retiring little by little, but when I’m ready to retire in five years there

could be as many as a dozen that all go at the same time. So, sure that’s

going to be difficult from an administrative standpoint, you know,

replacing us. What I know they’re dealing with these days is exactly that.

They sit an interviewee down and they go through the whole thing and 160

then they pull out the salary scale and benefits package and for the most

part, the really good people have a tendency to say, “I can do awful lot

better than that.” Elder is an exception to that though, because Elder has a

tendency to hire its own. Now an outsider would say, “boy that’s bad,

that’s bad.” Well, believe it or not that’s not bad it works here. I’m not so

sure it would work anywhere else. It works here because when you apply

for a job at Elder and you are an Elder graduate, you have already bought

into all the Elder stands for, and you are usually willing to accept less in

those areas in order to be part of what we call the Elder experience. I

know that sounds corny as hell as I’m saying it; I’m thinking it’s corny as

hell, but it is a reality. Not just for myself and the older guys for the

young guys coming in too. It’s a very kind of real thing that they deal

with.

Chuck Knepfle

Length of Service: 34 years

Role: Teacher

Career Choice Issues:

I knew I wanted to teach mathematics, but I also wanted to teach

where there was a support from parents and some quality discipline that I

knew I could work within that particular environment. Being raised in the

Catholic system it made it an easy transition for me. I had interviewed at 161

West High and I would’ve taken the job at West High after my student

teaching there, that was in ’69, but at the time the public schools would

only hire you within the system, they wouldn’t hire you at that school even

if they knew there was a position, and I didn’t feel comfortable in the

inner city because of my background. I felt like I wouldn’t give the kids

the shot they needed.

Have you ever considered leaving Elder?

Yes, I did consider it in the first part of my career. I also

considered in the mid-70s leaving Elder, I interviewed at Oak Hills, but

they told me if they hired they me wouldn’t give me any of my experience

from Elder. And I thought, “Where’s the Catholic bathroom?” if I want to

go there, too. Is it smaller than the bathroom here, I was really actually

upset after I left there. So that turned me off to there, I also interviewed at

St. Xavier at that time, and then I finally left teaching for six months, then

I was a computer programmer. I was looking for a higher rate, a higher

salary.

Compensation and Benefit Issues:

What was your starting salary? Thirty-four years ago?

I think it was about $6,000 a year.

What’s the highest salary you ever made in the Catholic schools?

$54,000, that’s with a master’s degree, plus 30 extra hours beyond

the master’s degree.

162

Benefits:

Parent support as I mentioned earlier, that’s a benefit. Trust from

the administration; I can always say at least academically I was always

trusted in the classroom. Sometimes my desire to have a more comparable

wage, and there was a time when we had a little bit of friction with setting

up some kind of an organized teacher group. There was some resistance

from the administration; I think I was a little mistreated then. But never

questioned what goes on in the classroom. And always backed, they’ll

always back you even, they’ll back you to the point where they know you

were at fault, but up to that point you are totally backed.

Organized teacher group?

Let’s see here we had Don Weinkam I don’t know if you

remember Don, he was involved. He had such negative feelings he left

education completely. It kind of started with; it’s called ALTA

{Archdiocesan Lay Teachers Association}. We didn’t want a union, we

just wanted to be listened to, and the archdiocese said that they were not a

school system; so we could not deal with them. They said you had to go

to your school, and the school said they were not allowed to deal with us

because they were an archdiocesan school we had to go to the archdiocese.

And we knew that recommendations were coming from the archdiocese in

terms of salary and the school would normally follow them, but they felt

they were out of line at times. That’s one of the reasons I think I was out

looking for other jobs. Thinking I needed to make more money for my 163

family. Also when I first got married, we moved in the same house we’re

in right now very small three bedroom house. One of those starter homes

everybody thinks, and now for me it’s retirement home. So we had

aspirations of more affluent living, but we gave in and said well, “we’re

just not going to have that,” because I missed teaching so much after six

months I had to come back.

Could your experience as a Catholic school educator be better?

I think they have to, I think they have to raise the base salary. I

think that the guys that come in have to be treated {fairly}, to hold on to

some good quality teachers for the long range, and that’s what I think the

Catholic schools have had; they have had people that have committed their

lives to this place not just three or four years. We’re seeing more of the 3-

4 years type people now. I think within our faculty we have some long,

some guys for the long haul, but not as many as when I came. I also think

we were a product of the late 60’s when I took, came up, and it was those

times, we were going to save the world, yes some of us stuck around and

are still trying. So we were willing to give up some things; there is a core

of kids coming out of college still willing to do that and it might be going

that way, I don’t know kids might be more interested . . . . I think they

have to come up with a way to give people at my age a way to retire

earlier, so that, they can use the money I taking up for the younger guy….

I think they need a little bit more and we need to be moved on and that’s

going to be tough, because it still is money, but I don’t think a person 164

that’s been here as long as I have needs $54,000 if they’re not on the spot

to teach everyday, where they could find somebody part time to fill in the

gaps. I don’t think I’m ready physically or mentally yet, but I know it is

coming. I’m starting to get slower and a little less patient. I think they

need to get us old guys out so that they can have the young ones get some

increase in salary.

Did you supplement your income?

Yes, I taught some night courses at XU {Xavier University}, CTC

{Cincinnati Technical College}, and I always taught summer school,

Summer school money was what we got vacation on. If I worked we got

to go on vacation, if not we didn’t take a vacation. Yes, I had to. I did do

some tutoring along the way, some private tutoring, but I found myself, I

couldn’t work a second job. We had an instant kid, it was my first year

teaching, and I think it was two weeks into the first year when my first son

was born. So, we always had kids and I wanted to be home, that was one

of the advantages of teaching was to go home at 3:00 and be with the kids

for a while and then finish my work in evening when they went to bed.

That was a big advantage; you can break up your day and still be a parent.

You know at the front end we have to tell these people we’re with you,

we’re going to pay you a little bit more now, but you’re going to have a

slow raises along the way, but I’m not a financial guy so I don’t know how

that would work.

165

Has Catholicism changed?

We’ve lost some really good ones {priests}. A guy named Jim

Sheryl who now teaches at Hamilton Badin was a priest, great guy. {He

was} a real motivator, positive, still that way now as a lay man with I

think five or six kids. I think he’d come back tomorrow {to the

priesthood} if you said come on in. So, I think the Church itself has a

problem. Not just the activity of some of the priests and their doing.

Personality wise, but just they need to get with it and say; “what’s the deal

with no women and no married people.” That’s where I am with that so

that’s a problem I have with the Catholic Church. I don’t think it affects

me, I think it affects the system though, by not having enough priests out

there day in and day out going into the schools; like when you and I were

kids. The pastor was there once a week, the assistant pastor was there all

the time during lunch, talking to you, and rubbing elbows with you.

Differences:

What is the future for the young teachers?

I think we {his generation of teachers} were more patient with our

moves up the salary scale, I think we knew going in where we were in

general. I think society is into a little more instant gratification; if I want a

new car I’m going to get it tomorrow, and I think that’s going to be a

problem for the young {teachers} coming into the system. I think one of

the big problems is not because of the Catholic system; it is because of the

state requirements for licenses. It is going to be something hanging over 166

all the teachers’ heads for a long time. They don’t have something down

the road like I have where I’ve got a life time certificate. I don’t have to

deal with that, they don’t have that option anymore. They can’t work

toward something like that, where I’m off the spot, and I’m not under

pressure. Oh, I still take courses; I take a course in Web Design or a

course in PowerPoint, because I see that’s a need for me. I don’t think the

State trusts teachers in knowing that they will go out and do the things

they need to do. That is the education process; that is not the Catholic

school.

Has tuition changed?

I think tuition was maybe $100 or $150 when I started, but now it

is a little less than $6,000, I think. My math should serve me right, that’s a

pretty big percentage jump, too. Now I’m going from $6,000 to $54,000

{salary increase} so mine’s a nine fold jump, but that’s a little more than a

nine fold jump right there {tuition increase}. I think our particular

principal {Tom Otten} looks at what he thinks is a fair pay for us and then

calculates what tuition will have to be, but it wasn’t always that way, we

had {earlier} administrators that first saw what the physical plant costs,

and what the other expenses were going to be then set a tuition, and then

say this is all that is left of the pie for the teachers. Tom {Otten}started

out in the financial end, he had a family, he knew all those things and I

knew he had to bite his tongue sometimes when he presented a salary

scale to us, because he was in the same position. I think that Father 167

Schaeper was the one that really looked out for us, because he’d say the

cost of living is this so we have to give the teachers this, now how are we

going to get that money. So, it’s been positive for the last half of my

career; the first half wasn’t.

What are the reasons for the huge change in tuition costs?

First of all you had 31 priests; you’re down to 1.5 {one of the

priests teaches a half a day}. Now I think the priests over the last 10 years

or so have probably gotten regular salaries. Same as ours so I’m not a

judge of where that money goes. That’s not my thing, but I know that

back then they got very little so 31 of them getting very little pay made it

real easy, but if we have priests that were married or priest that were

women we’d have more priests on this faculty.

The Future

Are the expectations different?

When I was a student, and maybe when you were a student, our

parents expected us to get good discipline, somebody watching over us,

somebody pointing us in the right direction. I think the parents want more

quality education and high powered education and they are willing to put

up with a little less of the other structure. I also think parents are right or

wrong, good or bad, more involved in the academic line. They’ll question

it. Why aren’t you offering this class? Why can’t my son do this? Those

are good questions. But with our budget I think even at $6,000 we

probably are spending less per student then the public school. I don’t 168

know what theirs is, and that might be something that you need to find out,

just look at that growth there. We used to talk about that more in the

earlier days. I think the Catholic education has to offer a quality

education. We are also dealing more with A.D.D. tagged kids, kids with

some kind of a disability thing. We have to deal with that more; before we

never bothered we just didn’t bother, we’d just say work harder. You’re

not paying attention. You got to get your nose to the grindstone. Some

people actually do have problems; I know Purcell-Marion has a great

program. We thought about a program {like Purcell-Marion} at Elder, but

the finances to run a program like that would jack up tuition even more

and that would be a tough thing. I think parents want more academics and

they’re willing to put up with less religious experience and we do have

more non-Catholics {attending Elder}; not as many as Moeller {High

School} might have, but a considerably bigger percent. I also think we

need to get a more diverse group of kids, Blacks and Hispanics, ones that

we are able to retain. We need a bigger percentage; the world is a bigger

percentage. The white west side is not just the white west side anymore.

What about female teachers in an all-boys school?

When I was in my early career I was in the office and one of the

female secretary’s, someone called and said can I have an application?” It

was a female on the other end of the line and the secretary said, “We don’t

hire women.” I honestly believe that was an undertone policy that we just

didn’t want women teaching men and I think it’s been advantage to have 169

them. Donna Railing has done a great job in her experience. Katie

Umberg seems to be fitting in very well…. {They bring}more sensitivity,

less locker room attitudes, a less chauvinistic approach even though we are

still there. I think those things; they bring a more sensitive side

sometimes. They tell us when we have crossed the line, at a pep rally or

whatever, more frequently which we need to hear because we leave here

too manly men, too macho and I think we all adjusted. I feel no tension at

all working with them, but we live in a little bit of an island. It is still

there. The island is still there…. We also have a few non-Catholics

teaching which I think is good, because they make us look at ourselves

sometimes, and if you look through somebody else’s eyes the Catholic

Church does some screwy things on the administrative side; what they say

is right and wrong. I don’t feel its divine providence or divine thought

that goes into some of the decisions they make.

Toby Heile

Length of Service: 37 years

Role: Teacher, Director of Development, and Director of

Planned Giving.

Career Choice Issues:

I came from a Catholic school background and I didn’t go to Elder,

but I always wanted to be here so when I realized in the senior year of 170

college that I wanted to be in education, and started taking education

classes I think I realized that Elder is where I wanted to be at a Catholic

high school.

Why Elder?

I always loved Elder and thought about going here. I guess I

attended this other school because of family tradition.

Compensation and Benefit Issues:

What was your starting salary at Elder?

$4,200 in 1966

What is the highest salary you ever earned here?

What would be the highest? See with me it’s kind of convoluted

because I’m a professional administrator now rather than being a teacher

so there’s no way to really parcel it out. I only teach one class in

Accounting.

Did you do anything to supplement your compensation?

Until 1997 I managed the swim club in the summer, Phillips,

always, I started there when I was a kid, so I always did that to supplement

my income. I think in the mid-70s I started teaching at what was called

CTC. And I was the first one from Elder to teach there as an adjunct

faculty under Hal Funk. And then we slowly started getting people up

there. That did the same, and they were supplementing their income by

doing that. 171

What could make the experience as a Catholic school educator be better?

The diocese, I know it’s an economic issue, but the diocese could

have more leadership for Catholic education and direction. I think it’s

again an economic issue for them. They just seem very under-staffed in

town and lay people that work for the diocese are paid menial wages.

They’ve lost a lot of the religious…. That kind of base of priests and nuns

anymore, so now they’re relying more on lay people so that’s more labor

intensive so I think it’s put a financial burden on them more than it used

to.

{Another concern is}the number of priests that are not available

and there’s nobody coming in, I don’t think anything compares to the

needs they have, so I don’t know if the diocese is really capable of, the

diocese has not displayed an ability to the adjustments needed with the

priests that are leaving and the effects it’s going to have on the parishes.

They see it; I just think they don’t have the wherewithal to handle it, to

manage it. I don’t know what it is, I’m not downtown, and I don’t know

what’s going on down there.

Differences over the years:

Has Elder High School changed?

It’s unbelievable; it seems pretty much the same, probably because

of the base. The family base that we have, the stock. But I notice in

general a little more affluence, but still you wonder how people can afford

$5,800 a year. It’s amazing how many women work to send their kids to 172

Catholic schools. So I guess I think people sacrifice more to send their kids

here in a way, because of the tuition the way it is.

Are Elder’s feeder schools healthy?

That’s where the affluence is. Around here we see the areas like

St. Williams and St. Theresa with, to some extent less financial security

than they used be, I think. Demographics have changed in those

neighborhoods mostly; around here St. Williams, Resurrection, Holy

Family, and St. Lawrence, that’s changed quite a bit in terms of the living

standards of the people that reside there.

Is the mission of Elder High School still the same?

I think it is. It’s more difficult to maintain the . . . the

comprehensive school because it’s more difficult to get the kids from

around here that live in this area, and the lower income kids to come

here…. We have a million dollars worth of aid that’s given out this year,

but we could easily give out two million.

Define comprehensive school.

It’s one where you invite students of all academic levels and

you’re there, so you’re not strictly a college-prep school and you’re not

advertising that you’re a college-prep school, and 99.9 percent of your

kids go to college. You’re saying we’re open to all levels of students,

however, most of the kids; the greatest percentage is college prep.

However, you’re saying you are not going to close the door to the kids that 173

are the lower levels. They’re going to go out of here and get a job when

they leave; they’re going into the army, military, whatever….

Are the feeder schools struggling to keep up with aid?

They have to be, they’ve got to be. I’m not that close to them, but

their tuition, if ours is $6,000 theirs has to be two or three or $2,500. It’s

just where do you stop, it spirals and I think they’re having a lot of

difficulty; and I think this year we’re seeing more attrition in the grade

schools that we really haven’t seen in the past financially.

In your opinion is there a line up there where people just can’t afford

Catholic education?

We’ve talked about that line since the 70s and 80s and we keep

saying where is that line; it just looks like it’s going to be broken slowly. I

don’t think it’s going to be a crash thing but we’re going to see that it’s

going to erode in the Catholic schools.

Are the kids the same kids?

I feel the same. In fact today, I don’t know why but some of the

kids seem more respectful, 10 years ago you’d never expect a kid to hold a

door open for you, call you sir or something, but for some reason they do.

Have the parents changed?

Parents have changed to the extent that the family structure has

changed, with all the problems with divorce, separations and things that

have to take a toll on families. But for some reason I don’t see it in the

kids. 174

Has Catholicism changed?

It’s really remarkable because I remember when we were going

through the transitional period and all the lay teachers going in and taking

training for teaching religion classes. For some reason I really don’t see

that it has impacted us negatively that we lost the priests here in

religion…, but today I think the religion classes have gone more global

maybe and into other areas that can emphasize religion which is probably

good the lay teachers can identify pretty well with the kids since they’ve

been there, since they are one of them. I don’t see deterioration in them at

all.

Have the sex scandals had an impact?

Long-term effects, thank God we haven’t seen anything that has

affected us in the short run. But if we find that at the lower levels the

faithful decide this is enough of a scandal for them not to send their kids to

Catholic schools, I haven’t heard of it yet, but if it would happen

obviously that’s our base our feeder parishes so then it would, then we’d

feel an effect; but in the short run we’re not seeing any effects right now

other than it is on the back of your mind. It’s just like, “when’s this going

to end;” sort of like being in limbo. If it has a long-term effect it’s going

to be financial, we’re going to feel it from other sources, like the feeder

parishes that will be affected because of the contributions being down and

the parents not sending their kids to those schools.

175

Has the scandals had an effect on the Annual Fund Drive?

Nothing last year and that was a very controversial year, but it was

a very good year and we haven’t launched a campaign yet this year. Last

year it was actually up. I think a lot of it had to do with the state

championship. So to them the issue wasn’t the priests as much as Elder

winning the state football championship, I think most people don’t blame

Elder for this, our constituents, I don’t think they blame Elder. From what

we hear from people, I think we’re probably getting to a point, where our

real good constituents are saying well there they go again they’re beating

on Elder again. But how many times do they keep coming out and doing

things like this where it starts to erode the support, I don’t know.

Talk about the issue of diversity.

I guess our diversity lies more in the income ranges of kids…It

would be great if we had more black kids here….I don’t know if the

economics is an issue for them or if it’s religion. But it’s difficult to get

them to come here, very difficult, we’re doing better getting the Asian kids

here…. I’d like to see that happen because there’s no question about our

wanting to be diverse, but it can’t be for the sake of giving up religious

values. I think things like Elder being involved down in the restock and

those places in Over-The-Rhine and places in the community service stuff

that we do, this food and toy drive where kids go into those areas and

those people see our kids, I think it helps overall. We just opened up that

new Schaeper Center and we’re trying to bring in Tech Reach and inviting 176

kids in from the community in to the class which is really good. So trying

to reach out...is the only thing that I can see that we can do to win their

confidence is for them to have a good experience here, I don’t know what

else you can do

The Future:

How can young faculty members be attracted to Elder?

Economic issue for a lot of them; just like I said for parents, where

do you draw the line on being able to afford Catholic education is the

same with the teachers and I know we’ve already lost a couple teachers.

Their heart might have been in some other occupation but they said, in

particular, one that left, it was the retirement system and that he just

couldn’t continue because there wasn’t any. There wasn’t any thing that

Elder doing and in my opinion could do to help that, because we’re pretty

much on the diocese plan and I think that’s going to be the biggest factor

for young teachers. The pay scale is competitive but it’s the retirement

system, the benefits that are the problem.

Is there anything the Archdiocese can do?

Not with their current financial situation, I don’t know how. It’s a

difficult question for them. Where are they going to put their resources in

terms of scholarships for kids that need it versus programs for faculty

retirement? They just don’t seem to have the strength to be able to do it

financially.

177

What is the long-term financial outlook for Elder?

If it’s based on today it’s good, but if it’s based on erosion of our

student base which would probably not be because of the scandal, but it

would be because of the loss of attrition of students in the elementary

schools that would affect our financial base and it would hurt.

What is the long-term financial outlook for all of the Catholic high schools?

We’re going to see schools go out of existence. I think we are,

some. I can’t speak for Elder. We’ll be the last of the bastions I think,

you know of the Catholic school but there are those that would like to see

the Catholic school eradicated. They’d like to see religion eradicated.

Will there be another series of mergers and closures?

I don’t know. There was talk in the early 80s of us merging with

Seton; we were going through some pretty lean times. In 1986 we were

down to 830 students and was Seton down to 500 or something; they feel

it because they have less feeder parishes than us. Then that went away

with the success of the 90’s and late 80’s when we came out the recession

and everything. It’s kind of hard to say, I think I just see closings. I think

we’re going to see a survival of the fittest. I don’t see mergers anymore.

How important was the vision of Fr. Schaeper for turning this school around?

Timing was really important, when he came in here we didn’t

know what his agenda was at all, we thought he was going to clean house.

But it was one of the best things that happened to Elder at the time 178

because, for some reason, it was a mixture of him as a leader but also the

economy turning around that got us into where we are today and I think

Tom Otten really did a hell of a job in succeeding him and maintaining

that growth and strength…. Father Schaeper had a heck of an impact. You

know it’s hard to say I think probably the success and the wealth of the

alumni are felt much more now than it was before. Because people are

able to give more, I think that has helped us a lot. The whole idea of

giving has changed for people and that helps. That really makes a big

difference considering where we were back in the 80s. I don’t think Elder

can keep a thousand students forever. A thousand boys, that is going to be

difficult, I mean we can market the place. For Elder itself, we’re going to

have to be leaner and meaner in the future and I just hope we don’t lose

our identity of being a comprehensive school; I’d hate to see that happen.

Will Elder be here 37 years from now?

God, I pray it is. My gut feeling is yes. In some form or another it

will be here.

179

Ken Laake

Length of Service: 35 years

Role: I am Co-chair of Religion department.

Career Choice Issues:

To be completely honest when I was in grade school and high

school like most guys my age that I know, we were encouraged to think in

terms of being a priest. I realized that wasn’t going to happen. I would

say my wife had a lot to do with that, of course in high school since we

knew each other in high school. The thing that priests did as far as I was

concerned was teach and there probably was more priests in school when I

was there, or comparatively anyway. I was at Purcell which had Marianist

as brothers and priests so that’s what priests did. I couldn’t tell you why I

chose to teach English. It was an area that I was comfortable with, was

good at, and I could do.

Have you ever considered working in a public school?

Never, ever. When I was at Purcell, I was in a sodality, which I

don’t know of an equivalent here, but it would be Marianistism? That I

remember observe, judge, and act and that we were in a sense training to

be leaders and we were always brought up that way. I remember my 8th

grade teacher saying, “Mr. Laake when you get to high school you should

take Latin because you could be a priest.” We were always being

prompted to be prepared for what we would be doing and nothing else 180

ever really occurred to me. When I was in college I worked for Blue

Cross and I could see myself doing that. I could see that to be a valuable

thing, working in insurance; and I was working in the claims department,

which was essentially working to help people out. We were always

geared toward service. I think that’s what Catholic schools do. They gear

people to be in service, which is one of the great ironies, especially about

Elder High School being criticized about so many of our students

becoming police officers and firemen and such, come on, that’s a benefit,

that’s a benefit to the community, you guys-what are you thinking.

Is that a fair criticism from the community?

Well, I think they associate what they believe to be racist actions

with the members of the police department. They see so many Elder

people within the police department, but I wrote a letter to the editor in

response to so much of that stuff which never got published, my final line

was: If you want to know what Elder is come see us; come be with us for a

while so you know what you’re talking about, because we don’t teach that.

Of course, there are people that are racist. They certainly might be at

Elder, but that’s definitely not what we teach. You can’t take everything

within a human being when it comes to your school, but if you want to

know what we teach, come on over I’d be glad to show you around.

181

Differences

Has Elder changed over the years?

Yes and No. Certainly my experience within the school has

changed, but I think a lot of that has to do with being a 22 year old

beginning teacher, having students who are 4, 5, and 6 years younger than

I am, and now at 56 I’m teaching children of people I taught in the

beginning. With the years of experience, I’ve had three sons of my own

who are now in their twenties and thirties, I’m a different person.

Definitely the students have changed with the time; and as a school we’ve

had to respond to our students and so we have had to be different. The

essential ingredients, I feel so fortunate. I feel that I have always had the

best administration, the best faculty, co-workers to work with and

truthfully, probably some of the best young men that I’ve been associated

with as students. I’ve got one of the best jobs in the world. Especially

being Catholic and being, feeling a sense of service, a sense of mission

this school allows and encourages me to live my religion. Who else would

be luckier than that, because when I worked my other jobs, when I taught

tennis for 25 years even though I talked to people, they know what I do

here, and part of our conversation in our relationship; usually the

important questions of life don’t come up on the tennis court. But they

come up now every year twice a year with my classes, that’s not only

something for them, but it allows me a continual reminder of what my life 182

is all about. Actually it’s been good for my marriage, it’s been good for

me as a parent, as a grandparent now, and I cannot be a happier person.

Has Catholicism changed over those thirty-five years?

Oh goodness gracious, since Vatican II we’ve been reinventing the

Church. I always talk about myself being among the most fortunate of

people historically that in the church, I graduated college in 1969 and so

really 1968 was about the beginning of some of the real significant

changes in the Church. It was just at that time that the laity was being

invited to come and take over your rightful place in the church. As an

adult coming out of college I stepped right into being a lector, being

Eucharistic minister. At that time I was one of the youngest members of

parish council, was on education commission, my wife will tell you I did

everything. Which is not always a good statement, because as she says I

was never home. But as far as Church is concerned I was welcomed to be

an active member of the Church; which before that it was the priests.

Has the loss of clergy in these types of positions changed these schools?

Especially in the last five years or so we’ve had a self-evaluation

here and one of the big questions was due to our lack of priest faculty at

Elder. Elder has never, except for the first two years with the Marionist,

has primarily been the service of the diocesan priest. It was a real

challenge because all of the stories we heard from the older alumni, the

positive stories. {Stories such as}we really appreciate what the priests

have done for us and that sort of thing, and as laity hearing this we had to 183

ask ourselves a question, will any of them see value in what we have done

for them? As representatives of the official religion with Roger Auer and

I both lay men, married guys, being co-chairs of the religion department,

this is a crazy thought. I mean, with Tom Otten being the first lay

principal of the school, well, we have the religion department that doesn’t

even have priests as head of the religion department, so this put so much

more responsibility on us. Quite frankly I think we have a terrific religion

department, well-qualified, good teachers, doing a great job. I think we’re

doing, with no disrespect to anybody in the past, a better job than ever.

The Future:

With the retirement of the older faculty, how is the younger faculty going to maintain the traditions?

A few years ago I was stressing about this, because quite honestly,

I didn’t know if anybody had it in them to do what we’ve done for so long.

That is a pretty unfair statement, but over the past few years and seeing

some of the people we have hired I have gained greater and greater

confidence, that they get it, that they know what we have tried to do, they

have appreciated it, and they’re growing in to it. I think it was probably

after I was here for ten years or so. I don’t know how long, but I’m going

to say about 10 years, when it was Father Kuhn, asked me my opinion, I

was in my thirties, and it was then that I discovered, Wow, now he’s not

exactly telling me what to do so much; I’m not the rookie any more; I’m

actually being valued as a source, and that made all the difference to me. 184

That is what I see in our younger guys. I’m still talking about Curt

Ruffing as a young guy, and he’s in his forties or whatever he is. Mainly

because that’s how I still think of him, but the legacy is being handed on,

and I’m more and more confident every year that we’re going to be all

right.

You had to make sacrifices to be here, how is the Archdiocese and Elder

High School going to hold on to these younger people?

That is a good question. First of all I think our salaries are decent,

but that’s speaking from a 56 year old point of view. The thing that’s

going to have to change the most is the attitudes towards retirement. Right

now at 56, I’m looking at 62, hoping that I’ll be able to retire then. My

feeling for a long time has been being a high school teacher is like being a

parent of teenagers forever! Thank God as parents they get through that; it

depends on how many kids you have over a period of about 15 years or so

you get through it and then you can de-stress. I don’t know how long a

person can reasonably be expected to deal with the challenges of

adolescence, because in the classroom, and I love the challenge, I LOVE

the challenge, but at some point then you wear down, and we need an

appropriate system that allows people to escape gracefully, to retire

gracefully with out. You know I don’t know what the rest of that sentence

is, but I’ve seen some teachers as they get closer and closer be unhappy,

and I think they’ve become less of a credit to the school. Because they

can’t do it any more, or they don’t want to do it, and that’s not fair because 185

so many of those people contributed so much; but I hated to see the last

couple years, I hated it. Because I know how much they gave to the

institution, to the kids all those years.

Will Elder High School be here 35 years from now?

Absolutely, the strength of this community is so unbelievable that

there’s no question in my mind. There’s always a question, just as every

year the senior class has to meet the challenge; are they going to be able to

pass on the spirit on to the next {class}, are they going to be able to

uphold it. I’ve seen every year the answer is yes. However it’s going to

be done I think we hit the biggest obstacle when we went from the

relatively low paid clergy to an almost exclusively all laity faculty. If you

would’ve asked people 10 years before that happened; what’s going to

happen if you lose the priests or the nuns from some of the other schools.

Well, we’ll go out of business because we can’t afford it. The answer was

we saw the value, the community saw the value, and they did the hard

thing. Now it would be great if the government finally sees some way to

make this work a little bit more fairly I think, but people will do what they

see value in. I think our administration, our community, the alumni; I feel

sorry for other schools because we do such a good job, and I know some

other schools aren’t as lucky and I don’t know a system wide if it will last,

but I know we will. I’m absolutely confident.

186

Ed Menkhaus

Length of Service: 38 years

Role: Assistant Principal in charge of Academics

Career Choice Issues:

I think the teachers at Elder had a great influence on me, my

brother also, who was a year older than me, had started [a career} in the

Catholic education. He seemed to enjoy himself and I kind of followed

him in. I think it was the main profession that I had been aware of. I

didn’t know many lawyers, I didn’t know many doctors, I didn’t know a

bunch of engineers, but I did know teachers, and I thought it was a decent

life.

Compensation and Benefit Issues:

Did you supplement your income?

Yes, my father-in-law had a grocery store and I started working

there on Saturdays, also after school, and I did that for 12 years I guess. I

also ran summer school for 25 years, which is more compensation than the

regular teacher would have. So I did have a summer job besides.

What was starting salary, the first one?

$4,200.

What is your current income?

I don’t know what it is now. I don’t pay all that much attention to

it. My wife’s working, we can pay the bills.

187

Could your experience working in a Catholic school be better?

I think the kind of things that are going to keep teachers out of

teaching would be the lack of a retirement system, or a decent retirement

system anyway. Probably not as good of medical benefits as we could

have, we don’t have dental {insurance} for example.

Differences over the years:

Is Elder different?

Well, when I started there were more priests on the faculty than

there were lay men. Salaries were obviously very low. Back then the

idea, the concept, was priests pretty much took care of the religious

teaching and the lay men took care of the other subjects, now everyone is

expected to add to the religious aspect of school. The salary has improved

a whole lot. Back then, because there were so many priests, and there was

camaraderie amongst priests to start with because they went to school for

such a long time, some of them together, that they knew each other before

they got here. I think back earlier, more so than there is now, because

there are more women on the faculty now than there used to be, there is a

wide age range, and you don’t have that natural camaraderie that you had

when the priests were here.

Has the mission of Elder High School changed?

I think that has not changed at all. I think back then, in our earlier

days, possibly not as many of the kids went to college, but now a high

percentage of them are going to college; so we’re probably emphasizing 188

that a lot more, but as far as our general mission I don’t think that’s

changed at all.

Have the students changed over the years?

Only so much as where they live. We still have some kids that are

very poor, who definitely need aid to get here. We have some kids whose

parents are millionaires. I didn’t know a whole lot of those people when I

was going here. I didn’t know whose parents were millionaires; I knew

some of the people that were not too wealthy because I came from a part

of town, North Fairmount, that were not very well off, so we were actually

part of the lower class coming to Elder. The kids, they’re just coming

from a different area, we still have very slow kids and we have very bright

kids. I think now we deal with the slower kids better, because we have

some services from Cincinnati Public School auxiliary service people,

reading specialists, math specialists, psychologists and so forth that we

didn’t have then. I think they started having a guidance department in my

junior or senior year, so we didn’t even have that back then. Now

guidance, of course, with college is a major aspect of a school, and we

didn’t have that back then.

Have the parents changed over the years?

I think the one big change is that when you pay more for the

education parents tend to think you ought to do a whole lot more for them.

They expect more, and they have more demands for you, more specific

things. They think basically you should hand lead the kid to an education, 189

and if he doesn’t get an education it’s your fault not the kid’s fault. I think

it’s true, the old adage back then, if a teacher swatted a kid, he’d get worse

when he got home, now when somebody even yells at a kid the parent

comes back and yells at the teacher instead of yelling at the kid. So, I

think they’re more protective of their kids, and they expect more from the

teachers than they ever did before, teachers and administrators.

Have the faculty and staff changed over the years?

I think that when I first started there were so many priests here.

One of the things was that the priests were not necessarily educated to be

teachers. This was one of the jobs that they gave to a priest right out of

seminary. So, they might be stationed here and have absolutely no desire

to be a teacher now or in the future; and some of them I think wanted to

get out of here as soon as they possibly could. Get out of education, I

should say. So that’s one thing, now the people are coming in and they

want to be teachers, because they were trained to be teachers; they

basically want to be here. We have a number of teachers whose dream

since they were in high school was to teach at Elder; some of them have

taught other places, but the first chance they got to come back here they

took it, so they’re doing what they’re trained to do.

Have the women faculty members brought a change to Elder High School?

I think so, for the good. I know when I first started we didn’t

depend on the mom’s for much, and we didn’t have any women teachers

for a long time. It changes your outlook on things, they bring a certain 190

viewpoint to things they are very good at doing; things that we don’t even

think about doing. Men, for example are horrible for thanking other

people for what they are doing; and women are excellent at doing this.

Women will organize things, like the Elderama, Elder’s auction {a fund

raising activity}; they do a lot of things with the Mom’s Club, and the

canned food drive. They come up with ideas that men would never ever

have come up with on their own.

Diversity:

Does Elder do enough to attract a diverse student enrollment?

We try to, we’ve had some open houses and things and they really

haven’t been very successful. We have gone very much out of our way,

we have a program where we invite kids up here from Oyler Jr. High

School, where we had never had anyone graduate who came from Oyler

over the years and we’re trying to attract those students here. We are

trying to get a program with St. Joe’s parish downtown so some more of

their kids would come here. We have some alumni who are giving money

specifically for underprivileged kids to come here. They are paying

practically their entire tuition, but they have an option in the Catholic

schools downtown to go to other high schools if they want to; for example

where there are more black students and where they might feel they are

more at home than they are here. We try to work with the Catholic Inner

City schools, we have been more successful over the last three years but,

we have over the years grown to be thought of as a boys, white, Catholic 191

school, and so our number of non-white students is not very high and our

number of non-catholic students is not very high. The number of non-

Catholics at Elder compared to like Moeller it’s no where near {the same}.

Moeller has many more non-Catholic students, and of course a lot of the

high schools have more of the minorities than we do

Talk about Elder graduates serving their community?

I think it’s always been there, Elder is a very traditional school and

a lot of families follow what their uncles and their fathers have gone into.

Over the years a lot of our people have gone in to the police department,

we have had several police chiefs in Cincinnati who have been Elder

grads, several Fire Chiefs have been Elder grads, and in those kinds of

jobs sons tend to follow their fathers in there. It’s just been something that

kids know other parents who are policemen, firemen, who have gone into

the service and so forth. It’s just something that has happened in the past

and keeps on happening. We had a teacher at Elder who left teaching to

become a policeman so it’s just something that they admire because of the

tradition here of law abiding, we don’t want crime, we don’t want people

preying on other people, and we’d like to help do something about it.

Is Catholicism different now?

One of the things that is different about it was back in the old days

they more or less preached the actions that made you a Catholic, and they

talked more about going to Mass on Sundays and saying these special

kinds of prayers. The focus has changed more to what you do with your 192

life, how you help other people, and how you follow Christ by doing what

Christ did. Not that we deemphasize going to Mass, saying prayers and

that sort of thing, but we talk more about being of service to other people

helping them out over a long haul, rather than people viewing going to

church on Sunday. That is helping the person themselves. We also try to

emphasize helping ourselves by helping other people.

What has been the impact of the priest sex scandals?

Well, it’s put Elder in a bad light. It has caused us somewhat to

circle our wagons and be very careful about what we say to the press. We

can’t express what we are really thinking. We get teased, and people joke

about it that are not Elder graduates. They have been looking for a reason

to make fun of us over the years and never were able to find it until now.

It is a bad situation from the standpoint that it did happen, it happened

with the highest level people here, and somehow they {the community}

expected the people down below them to know what was going on. To

know what was reported, and who it was reported to, when the person that

is being accused is the highest person here. So, that would have to be

dealt with at a higher level than anyone here has. I think that’s one of the

problems. One of the other problems is that they are viewing what

happened 25 years ago by what we have been told to do specifically right

now….

193

The Future:

What is the financial outlook for Catholic schools?

For Elder in particular, I think it’s pretty good. It’s difficult with

the tuition. A lot of people have trouble paying it; but then again, we have

a lot of generous alumni who are willing to give money to help with this.

We give over a million dollars every year to students to come here. It’s

going to get more and more difficult; some of the inner city parishes are

going to have a very difficult time of it. Our student base is probably

going to move more and more away from the city, unless something

dramatic happens in our neighborhoods to revitalize them which it does

happen in some parts of town. It hasn’t happened here yet, but there is

some potential. There are some very big houses in our area that are in

what we would consider poorer, less desirable neighborhoods. Hopefully

our neighborhood will stabilize, but it’s going to be challenge to do that.

Are the tuition costs going to cause a problem attracting lower income students to Elder High School?

I think it has already and I think it will continue to. It’s a matter of

priorities a lot of times; some people who make considerably more than I

do would say they can’t afford an Elder education. That may be because

they can’t afford an Elder education, a very, very large house payment, a

very large car payment, and paying off college bills or expecting to spend

big bucks on college tuition. It is a combination of that, it is priorities

what do you think is important. Some people will get by with practically 194

nothing, as long as they can get their kids through here, and others will

give up nothing to send their kids here so it’s a double sided thing.

Predict the future of Catholic school education and Elder High School?

That’s difficult to say, because I’m not sure what’s going to

happen to education in general with the internet. For example we had

summer school for years and years and last year we had a dramatic cut in

summer school. The reason is some schools allowing their students to

take their remedial courses on line. As soon as they answer a certain

number of questions right, and cover the material, they’ve got the credit.

They don’t need a teacher for this anymore. I think that is going to play,

have an impact on all of it, education. A lot of kids are going to become

more and more responsible for their own education and how that’s going

to affect Elder, I’m not sure. In the foreseeable future I don’t think it’s

going to affect it too much, but in the next 10 years, 20 years, or 30 years

down the road I’m not sure how kids are going to be educated, because

they can get every bit of knowledge that there is in the world from their

computer keyboard. It’s just a matter of how much do you need that

person to explain why, and how things fit together. The knowledge they

can get, and the other aspects they still need a teacher.

What can be done to attract younger teachers?

I think a lot of the teachers that are here now will consider the

retirement situation and think about it a whole lot more than I ever did in

their decision as to whether they’re going to stay here or not. I think the 195

retirement thing is going to become an issue. I think the reason it wasn’t

an issue is because we didn’t have older lay teachers when I was here who

talked at all about it. We had very few teachers that were old enough over

the years to retire, but now we have lots of teachers that are getting close

to retirement age; they’re talking about how much money they are going

have and maybe that they’re going to have to work five more years than

someone else. I’ve been here 37 years; I have friends from the public

school who have already retired. I’ve got guys I play golf with all the time

who are retired. I have a lot of friends that are already retired and I know

I’m not looking to retirement for at least another five years. You think

about it a whole lot more than we did back then.

Will Elder High School survive?

Yes. Because I think people still realize that there’s a need for kids

to have something in their life other than what they see on television, or

what they read in the newspaper and magazines. There has to be a center

to their life, and I don’t think you can get that kind of an education over

the internet. We have a tradition, people believe in the tradition, and I

think they’re going to continue to believe in the tradition even if it gets

more expensive. I think they’re still going to be willing to give the money

for it.

196

John Ploehs

Length of Service: 31 years

Role: I teach Junior English, American Literature, and

Junior’s and Senior’s Death and Life. It’s a religion

elective.

Career Choice Issues:

Well, I myself went to Elder, I went to St. Lawrence grade school,

Elder High school and then Xavier University and just have always liked

the atmosphere and the values and the people that I came in contact with

in Catholic schools. I always tell my students that it is my home away

from home. They're the people I feel closest to outside my family.

Have you ever considered working in a public school?

Considered, it crossed my mind, maybe 20 years ago when you

saw the differential in salaries and so forth. But then again I was fairly

unwilling to leave my community behind and I teaching a lot of English

through values started weighing the prospects of money versus happiness,

and decided it was more important to be happy and I was fairly happy, just

as a kind of man with a young family. I was looking that maybe I could

provide for my family in another way, but after having heart to heart

conversations with my wife and colleagues I decided to stay here. Plus

there was, shall I say, a situation going on here where we were losing

students and we weren’t sure what the future was going to hold, whether it 197

was going to become a co-educational institution and that was kind of late

70’s stuff I guess and it just seemed like demographics whatever, things

started to turn around in the mid-80s.

What was your starting salary?

$6,400

What was the highest salary you have ever earned at Elder?

Well it would be this year, what is it $52 {or} $53,000. I should

know the exact figure, but I keep signing one-year contracts because I’m

happy; not because of the money.

Do you do other things to supplement that income?

I did teach at CTC and I did that for 25 years, I guess I’m still

currently on the staff; I don’t have a class this quarter. And summers 20

years ago I worked tennis courts at a country club, and just here and there,

odd jobs, I haven’t done that kind of summer work for 20 years.

What would make the teaching experience better?

I don’t know if they could make it better, I think for the most part

it’s kind of what you make it. There’s a structure that you work within, as

any organization or institution. I think I’ve been able to find my own

freedoms within that structure. I’ve never been approached as any one

sees me outside the structure. I think there is, for lack of a better word, a

dynamic where you’ve always got this kind of organizational structure. If

you let that be your guiding light things can become kind of stale and

routine, but through your personality and your motivation you can find 198

ways to kind of look at things through different windows all the time and

go around and stand in different places and look at issues, events, and

stuff. I don’t think the structure’s ever really gotten in my way to this date

anyway.

Differences over the years:

How is the institution of Elder different than when you started?

Well again, when I started it was probably half priests, half lay

people. Now we’re down to 50 lay people and one priest, whatever. So

that priestly presence is different, you don’t have the collars visible that

you once used to. I’d like to think part of that goes along with what we’ve

been taught as far as Christ Himself was going to move on and He left his

“priests,” lay people to carry on the job, the work. I try to use that in my

classes even with my kids when they’re like, “there’s no priests or there’s

no sister,” as if it was on those people to see that things got done correctly

and everybody towed the line. Now I see it’s a much more individual

responsibility we’re all responsible for living out the values and modeling

those kind of lifestyles and personalities.

Has the mission of the school changed?

I don’t think so, I think perhaps even the clergy, I can’t speak for

them, but I think by the nature of their jobs they might have had to tow the

line a little more closely and perhaps didn’t feel the freedom to maybe

speak as a lay person about different issues. I found a certain amount of

freedom in being a lay person even though I’m employed by the diocese. 199

I still feel like a free man to speak my mind on certain issues. I’m not

trying to counteract anything the Church says on faith and morals, but I’m

just trying to help young people find their own way in this organization,

this structure and in a countercultural world which preaches some

questionable values.

Have the students changed over the years?

I think as adolescents, searching for what is their own good life,

no. Do they have different toys available to them that can distract them

and keep them from their kind of prescribed mission probably yes.

Sometimes I think when we taught in the 70s and you had some of those

really kind of radical ideas floating around, kids would question more and

they would call you out on things and they made you yourself think and

become kind of a stronger person in what you believed. Some of the kids

today, maybe because they’ve been given everything, they walk into a

classroom of students just sit there, and expect teachers to give them

information and give them this assignment and they really don’t take an

individual responsibility for their own learning. It’s just whatever you

want to tell us, that is what we’re supposed to learn; and I constantly {tell

them} question me. Nobody died and left me boss, I’ve got ideas on this,

as a 53 year old adult, but you should start having some ideas on this as a

17 year old adolescent or young adult. I don’t sometimes see that

questioning attitude or personality in the students today as much as

perhaps I did 30 years ago. 200

Has the change in tuition changed how they view Elder High School?

I think the change in tuition right away has meant that some of the

students we would’ve had before who were unmotivated; perhaps not sure

that they even wanted to be here, but if it was financially negotiable the

parents would send them here anyway. A lot of those fringe type students

I don’t think we have any more, because of parents have said $6,000 is too

much to send this kid to Elder High School on a maybe. So I think that’s

happened, so I think we have a more select group of young men then we

used to have.

Have the parents changed over the years?

That’s funny, because some of the parents I taught so I see them

now and some will say, “don’t tell my son what I did when I was in high

school.” When they were in high school I think they themselves saw some

of their contrariness and some of their trying to spread their wings and

now it’s funny, because they don’t want their sons to do the same thing. I

don’t know if that’s a father-son thing or a family thing or whatever. So, I

see these parents having grown from the time they were in high school and

you kind of warn them about this when they’re in high school. Wait until

you have your own kids, as probably every father/mother has said and sure

enough here they are with their kids and I think they do take a

responsibility in their children; but again I think the parents of the kids in

the 60’s and 70’s, some of them were depression people who were more

interested in just seeing their sons and daughters become good people. I 201

think some of the parents today, they want them to be good people; but

they want them to be financially successful people too, and that equates

with dollar signs. They want them to have better houses. They want them

to have cars and advantages and so forth. I don’t think some of the parents

30 years ago worried as much about that.

Does that put more pressure on the teachers here at Elder? Is there more outside pressure?

It doesn’t me because I consider myself to be somewhat

countercultural. I’m not of that ilk. You can maybe chalk that up to a

Catholic school teacher’s salary, I don’t know. I just never fully bought

into the idea that lifestyles, values, and so forth should equate with things

that people have, rather than who they are. But I think that came to me in

my upbringing through Catholic school and a strong Catholic family.

Has the faculty and staff changed over the years?

Yes, I think they’re more liberal now than they were, than when I

started. When I started, I think you talk about conservative Catholic, and

that probably was the case. We’re probably still considered conservative

Catholic; but that’s a funny point of view, because in our own little world

we probably see ourselves as more liberal than our parents, more liberal

than the teachers that taught us 30 years ago. So I think the faculty as a

whole is more liberal than they were when I started.

202

Diversity:

Does Elder do enough to attract a diverse student enrollment?

I remember Jerry Schaffer saying he thought he was doing

everything in his power to attract diversity, whether it was minority or

other religions, or whatever it might have been. His opinion was, and I

guess I agree with it, that Elder has an image and other people’s

perception of that image is it’s a white male middle class institution. If

you’re not white, male, middle class you’re going to have a bit of a

disadvantage there. I don’t think anybody’s given a better or lesser chance

regardless of who they are; but the perception outside as far as getting

your foot in the door it that if you’re not Catholic, white, middle class,

male, that’s probably not for you.

Does the African-American community view of Elder fair?

I’d say they see what I just said, they see a Catholic, white, male,

middle class institution and obviously many in the black community don’t

fit that description; so those people aren’t like us and I think there’s a bias

on both sides. I think they probably perceive {Elder community} that;

therefore they somehow don’t appreciate us. Elder {community} at the

same time probably have some black stereotypical attitudes which we see

in the newspaper, and on the news and in neighborhoods that certain

minorities performing certain actions and we think blacks are da-dum, da-

dum, da-dum. So, I think that door swings both ways. It’s tough for Elder

to defend itself, because you look around the building and you see five 203

black kids. You say Elder does not welcome minorities; well we haven’t

had a whole lot of chances to welcome minorities. If more minorities

would walk in here I think they would be welcome. I think when you hear

statements like that {over}the last few years whether it’s police behavior,

or the whole Elder image of producing this kind of mentality, that’s not

fair either. Whatever guys came out of Elder and became policemen, it’s a

small percentage of the over all number. They publish things sometimes

like; a third of the police force is from Elder High School. That’s just

wrong, those facts aren’t right. Then that tends to color people’s thoughts

about what kind of institution it is. Colors their thought about what the

police are like, which is unfair too.

Is Catholicism different than when you started?

I think when I started and there were many more priests, it was

much more of a rule-conscious organization, with Catholic practices,

Catholic dogma, Catholic preaching, and so forth. I think to some extent

we’re Catholic and we’re Christian and some of the strict practices, just as

they have in the Catholic Church, in general they’ve kind of been relaxed.

But I think the Christian part of it is still strong. I think people are very

faithful to the basic values, love God, love one another.

Talk about Elder’s tradition of teaching its students to serve.

Well now, when I started here again, there was no such thing as

community service. Everybody was expected to help their neighbor. Now

we have a structured, organized class where the young guys go out to 204

schools, to neighborhood organizations, not just in their neighborhoods,

but down to Eighth and State, public schools and they do encounter a lot

of service opportunities. Plus I think there are some other {opportunities

such as} restock and so forth. Roger Auer {faculty member in charge of

community service}, has provided other opportunities on weekends, {the

annual} canned food drive obviously, much of that wasn’t here 30 years.

So maybe we’ve become more conscious of it; maybe it was a grassroots

effort where certain people were involved, and they got other people

involved, but I think the school is more firmly behind community service

now than it ever was.

What is the impact of the Catholic priest sex-scandals?

I was here at the time some of those priests were here…yet I’ve

been able to separate the school from those individuals. I mean those

individuals did happen to teach at Elder High School, because so many

priests were sent here as their first assignment. I still don’t think people

realize how Elder is connected to all those priests. At one time {Elder}

was the only diocesan school. If you were a young priest, and there were

plenty of them back in the 60s, you were going to be asked to teach in a

Catholic school and Elder was the school. So there are untold numbers of

a priest who went through Elder High School, not because of their choice,

but that was their first assignment. Now once I got through the

embarrassment and tried to understand these individuals then I got a little

ticked off, because I felt that the media was using Elder as a hook, why 205

else would people read this article? But if they see the Elder hook then

they start reading, and they form this idea that somehow Elder has a role

in it or Elder had a part in it. I still believe, it’s like some of the old guard,

the building could go away, Elder is the people. Are they all perfect? No.

I mean America’s a good place. Are {Americans} all perfect? No. So the

idea is that those individuals are going to be held accountable in one way,

shape or form. I don’t see where Elder should be held in any account

because it just happened to be the place that they were, that they

perpetrated some of these crimes. No more than if somebody today did

something. Okay, he teaches at Elder well, that doesn’t have anything

really to do with Elder. It’s just that individual and his circumstances.

The Future:

What is the future for Catholic schools?

Changing Catholic schools is probably going to somehow have to

include changing the demographics to some extent. I don’t think Elder’s

ever going to move way out to the suburbs; it’s going to be here in the

city. I think slowly we’re going to integrate our population with more

than just the white male middle class kids and it’s going to make Elder

better in the long run. Because those kids that are already here and have a

narrower picture of things, they’re going to have to develop a broader

picture; where the school itself is going to reflect a larger community. Not

just the west-side, white, middle class of European descent. As far as

Catholic school teachers, technology is a big thing right now; I am even 206

struggling with the idea, because I still like my values orientation, trying

to integrate technology into a classroom to make these young people more

adaptable to society’s needs that’s one thing. But like I said in an article a

couple of years ago, I don’t want to see these kids become so

technologically consumed that they forget that the technology is just a

tool. It’s not an end in itself. The people are what are important. I don’t

think technology is going to save the world, I think people can save the

world. So if these people let themselves be taken over by technology,

which is what you see in a lot media and advertising, I’m not anti-science

or anti-technology, but there’s that old caution of beware, it’s the whole

Frankenstein thing all over again. The monster’s run amok and it’s taken

over our better values.

What about Catholic school teachers?

That is a good question, because as I said so many of the young

people, they look outside and they see a lot of dollar signs and financial

advantages, and then when they hear teaching salaries they don’t

necessarily see that as a desirable profession. I think by the time some of

them go from freshmen through senior year some of them see the bigger

picture, and they realize that these teachers for the most part are a happy

lot of people. I think they start seeing in their own lives how happiness

could be more important than having money, having the trophy wife,

having the big house in the suburbs, or whatever. I think the teachers in a

way have to exude that. You have to show students that you are happy in 207

what you’re doing. As they get older, of course I teach the death and life

course; but they see the idea that nobody’s guaranteed tomorrow, that you

could die sooner than you think and you can’t take any of this with you.

Some of its not even good to have around, it tends to corrupt some of your

better values. So maybe there’s an alternative here of leading a good life

over a rich and successful life. I see the teacher’s goal or the teacher’s

role as talking about those things, but also trying to model those things.

Will Elder High School continue?

I definitely think it will be here 31 years from now. I won’t be

teaching 31 years from now, but let’s see-I’d be in my 80s. I would love

to think that Elder High School would be here, that maybe my grandkids

would be here, and that they would enjoy it and love it the way I do. I say

this all the time, to some extent I’m not sure where it hits people, but when

I started at Elder it was a job. I was 23 years old when the principal said

we had an opening and I said, “Oh that’s good for a while.” I have since

signed 30 more contracts after that. I went from looking at the students

like an older brother, to looking at them like a father, and I guess now I’m

old enough to be their grandfather. I do think it’s very family, community

oriented. I don’t think I treat anybody any differently than I would in my

own family, and you can’t quit on your family. I feel like this family will

be here 31 years from now. Exactly what it will look like or what

condition it will be in I don’t know. I think the values will be here. I 208

think the people will still have the love of institution, and the love of the

people who are in this institution. That’s about all I could hope for.

Roger Auer

Length of Service: 22 years

Role: Campus minister, co-chair of the religion department, and

I’m the director of community service.

Career Choice Issues:

I graduated with a degree in Biology and shortly afterward I

wanted to get a teacher’s certificate in order to be able to teach Biology;

when I went back to get my certification to teach I had to go out and

observe and this was back in 1977. That I chose Elder to observe, and I

was there for one week, and one of the teachers had a medical problem.

The principal came and said, “Hey do you want a job?” I was here, I had

one week of one education course under my belt and I was asked if I

wanted to teach. So I said, “heck yes.” So that’s how I started off in ’77.

I taught in the science department until ’80, at which time I got a master’s

degree, came back in 1984 in the religion department, because from my

observation what was going on I personally like biology. I know that you

don’t need it to live a good life, but I did see what was happening in the

religion department. Something that was essential and something that

could use my gifts best so that’s why . . . 209

Did you ever consider working in a public school?

Oh yes, I have. As part of community service we visit 14 different

schools. More than half of them public schools, so I have been exposed to

it. And I have considered it at times. Now if I’m going to be a religion

teacher obviously it’s not issue, but I would probably go through science. I

thought about it as a . . . I guess when I was teaching Biology. I just

decided to go with the religion department here.

Compensation and Benefits Issues:

Do you remember what your first starting salary?

No I don’t. I could look it up.

Do you know what the highest salary you ever earned at Elder High School?

The highest salary, probably what I’m making right now. Yes, and

that is close to $50 thousand, maybe about $48,000, something like that. I

think that’s what it is.

What would make the teaching experience better?

Make my experience here better? No. My experience here is very

good and it’s not due to the archdiocese; it’s due to Tom Otten. In fact,

the diocese regarding the three years that I had before I went for my

master’s was not counted with regard to my salary. Elder counted it in

regards to my salary, but the diocese didn’t count it in regards to

retirement and so on. So, I don’t have a . . . I feel like I’m dealing with a

Mom & Pop shop sometimes down there. It’s just not, when a person

goes away and gets a master’s degree and gets another experience and 210

then comes back, your years of experience . . . why they wouldn’t honor it

I don’t know. It doesn’t make any sense.

Differences over the years:

Has the institution of Elder changed?

Yes. Being in the religion department, the obvious change, right

now we have two priests. One of the priests teaches German, and there is

only one that actually teaches religion so for me the biggest transition,

certainly from my vantage point, is the influence of lay people on religious

education, because we are it, at this point. One thing I think, that fact was

never recognized officially by the diocese. There was never an attempt to

say, “Hey, look the reality of the situation is that there are very few

clergymen involved in secondary education at this point. The ball is in

your hand. What can we do to aid the passing on of the Catholic ethos?”

And it’s almost as if they’ve never wanted to admit that. Never officially

recognizing it, and never really being supportive in the obvious change of

the guard. The guard changed and nobody recognized it. So that’s been,

that has been disappointing to me.

What would you tell them if you had a chance to tell them, in regard to that particular subject?

Well, to be honest, when Jerry Schaeper {deceased former

principal} was still here I said, “hey, look at what’s happening around us

here, you’re still a man of the cloth, but hardly anybody else is. Can we

get the archbishop in, to kind of recognize that this change was being, was 211

going on.” So, we got him here, but that’s not what he said when he got

here, there was very little encouragement. It was basically, these are the

things that you folks are doing, and these are jobs that we are doing or are

qualified to do. Now I don’t know exactly what he meant by “we’re.”

There so few folks around, it was a very, very discouraging, very you

missed the point, or you missed the opportunity. Because the fact is the

lay folks, if we are not passing it on, it’s not going to get passed on, not at

Elder High School. So either you acknowledge that and support that. You

don’t keep pretending that is not the case. And that’s what I felt was

taking place.

Has the mission of Elder High School changed because of that?

Surprisingly enough, no. I don’t think it is. It continues on often

because we have a lot of folks in the {religion} department who are Elder

grads or are from other parochial secondary schools. Grads that have a

feel for what it’s supposed to be, and have a desire to pass it on. So all the

products of the education are still there, and they’re going to be educating

still. Now I think in some senses it is better, yes. With regards to religion.

In fact it was even acknowledged by Father Rudemiller {he is a graduate,

former teacher, and athletic director at Elder. He is currently a pastor at

one of the feeder schools}. He was here for my 1972; I guess it was my

30 year reunion. He had the Mass and he acknowledged that some of the

priests didn’t want to be teachers; some of them were so involved in the

parish at the time that they didn’t have a whole lot of time to be educators 212

and because of the fact that our folks are full-time now and obviously

dedicated to the school. In some situations it is better.

Have the students changed?

My experience is that the students reflect what’s happening in the

society and there is a swing, if you want to say a liberal, a more of a

liberal swing and a conservative swing, but they swing back. It’s not that,

“Oh kids are wild and they’re getting wilder,” that’s just not the case. In

my experience you look at the decade, you look what is happening

politically, you look what is happening socially, and you get products of

that era. And sometimes they are very conservative, even for kids, and in

some cases there have been certain emphasis on the family where you see

kids that are actually maybe more strongly linked to their families than

they were a few years back. I think the divorce rate, at least from what I

understand; the statistics have leveled out and have been level for a while

so it is not a continuing deterioration of the family. Not that I recognize,

you have a certain percentage, but I don’t see that percentage as really

increasing.

Has the faculty and staff changed?

Not appreciatively, I mean Elder has got one of the lowest

turnovers of any school in the country I’m sure. A lot of folks have been

around, there are still folks that taught me that are here and there maybe a

few more non-Catholics, but I don’t think that has made any significant

change. I think the young folks that are coming in are excited about being 213

Elder teachers. I think they’re excited about being in a place that has a

feeling of caring and has a fraternity about it between the teachers.

Diversity:

Does Elder do enough to attract the diverse student enrollment?

That’s probably what I do. In fact today after school I’m getting

together with kids from Oyler {a Cincinnati Public School}. What I’ve

found working on this for three years; we are working with a group of

folks; well, primarily with a man named Dick Grote who really wants to

see kids graduate from high school. And if it’s Elder High School, great,

but it doesn’t have to be, he just wants to see them graduate. So, we have

a program that brings 8th graders in Tuesdays and Thursdays and sort of

gets them prepared for life in high school. Gets them used to studying,

and crank them up a little bit with the extracurricular activities that are

here and so on. But strangely enough what I found out, and was a big

surprise to me, that even that the poorest families; the main obstacle of

going to Elder is often not money. It’s a situation of education, especially

Catholic education, if they’re not a Catholic family it has never been held

up as being more valuable than anything else, and so when you’re offering

to a student a way of experiencing an Elder education. If he has not come

from a family and a background that holds this up as really as a way, a

foothold, into a good life you can’t give it away. Because the kid’s going

to be attracted to a place that he can do the least amount of work and if the

parent isn’t behind and saying, “No this is your foothold into a decent 214

life,” if that’s not held up as being a value and so on it’s hard to give

away. So to answer your question, I think we are finding out it’s a more

difficult thing. It’s not just an issue of simply providing scholarship

money.

Sometimes the African-American community does not view Elder favorably; is that fair?

I think from my experience from working in Over-The-Rhine, been

down there, been involved in re-stock low-income housing project in

Over-The-Rhine. The issue of Elder High School and the police. I think it

seems from the media that much of the situation of the riots were directly

related to the relationship between African-Americans in the inner city and

Cincinnati Police. Many of those issues didn’t matter whether they were

black or white police that was representing the main problem. So I think

Elder in a sense got pulled into that because of our involvement and

graduates becoming police chiefs. We were sort of guilty by association,

and I think that still from what I understand the situation, in the city is

primarily with the police department, it’s not white people; it’s not white

people on the western side of town; it’s really not Elder graduates. I think

the connection between the police and Elder High School has been over

dramatized just because it makes a good story.

Is Catholicism different?

I think, yes in a sense, that the Catholic experience, even though

the word meaning universal, most people experiences are their parishes 215

and I think that a kid’s parish experience is changing. I think that it has

been documented that less adults are going to parishes, even if a kid is

going to Catholic grade school. He’s still getting similar education

through the feeder schools before they come here, but if his family hasn’t

bought the Catholic identity, and I think there are more people, more kids

are coming from families that haven’t bought the Catholic identity at this

point. And so that has reached a critical stage at this point, or I guess I

haven’t seen it, almost in the classroom you can, a good teacher can

handle a certain amount of disruption, or people who aren’t plugged into

what’s going on, the majority of people are, they can bring the other folks

on board. But there becomes sort of like a critical mass in the classroom

where you’re dealing with so much; so many kids that are not doing what

you’re doing; all of a sudden the whole thing rapidly crumbles. And that

hasn’t happened at Elder, but I think if you have more kids coming from

families that have not bought into the Catholic experience that could be an

issue in the future, it’s not now.

Are there long-term affects of the priest scandals?

Yikes. I haven’t seen it; it seems to be a non-issue to the kids who

are here right now. Not an issue. In the future, I’m not exactly sure how

it’s going to affect the parishes in the long run. Some parishes talk about

attendance down and so on. I think if it affects Elder it’s going to be in

that direction. That there’s going to be disillusionment with the Church,

there’s going to be less people involved in the parish and ultimately less 216

people involved at Elder. But I don’t see a rejection of Elder as an

institution. I think there has been a rejection of Catholicism that would

eventually show itself as a rejection of Catholic education. Haven’t seen it

yet but that’s where I think it would come from.

Talk about Elder’s tradition of teaching its students to serve.

I think we have been doing that involvement in the community

better and better. One of the things we’ve done not too many years ago is

to require the sophomores to do service in the Church, they have to go

back to the Church, it’s kind of a pivotal year, because that is the year they

learn how to drive, and after year usually they make the break with the

parish. And so we try to say within that year you have to put in a certain

number of service hours at your parish in order to meet the requirements

of a particular religion class. I think we’re doing the service; I think Elder

stands for service, I know a lot of our folks are attracted to the fire

department, the police department, military service and so on. And I think

they get that from a feeling of giving back and being responsible and

contributing to the well being of the larger community. I think our

challenge is always to make their vision bigger. To include more people

in whom they feel is their community, and I do think we are. The majority

of us see that as a worthy goal to try to, because I think that is in fact the

ultimate vision of the Catholic community. To allow more and more in

your family, because you care about whom is in your family and so if that

can be past your neighborhood, past Delhi, well good then, if it can be 217

passed all the way to the inner city and you see yourself as a member of

the larger Cincinnati community, well than, that’s even better. If that can

be seen as being a part of the whole American experience of course finally

if you can see yourself as world citizen than that’s the best. I think we

recognize the same attributes that give us our strength are also our

weakness. The cohesiveness and the solidity of the community; we talk

about this when I teach human sexuality, and we say, “You know you look

at the statistics, if somebody gets pregnant out of wedlock the guy takes

off,” well that just doesn’t happen around Western Hills. The guy doesn’t

take off…, if a marriage doesn’t take place he still takes care of the kid.

Now that is unusual, and so that allegiance and connection to community

is huge here, and it’s got a lot of positive repercussions. Of course the flip

side of that is sometimes seeing folks who are outside of wherever your

boundaries are as being “other” than that they are, and most of the time

“other” is scary.

The Future:

Predict the future for Catholic education and Catholic teachers.

I think the Church is going to, I feel that the clergy scandal is

going to cause people to stand up and reclaim their parishes; not the

Father’s parish anymore it’s our parish. The Father may come and our

Father may go, and we may even have to take our things when Father’s

not here and that’s okay. And I think whenever there’s a major event that

happens I think the corporate world says there’s an opportunity here, and I 218

think that’s what’s going on in the Catholic Church. I think there’s an

opportunity for, finally, in a sense for Catholics to grow up, to say, “Okay

I’m going to be a believer I’m going to believe in Catholic, it is my

responsibility to make it happen; and it’s no more Father’s responsibility

than it is my responsibility.” I think once that happens Catholicism will be

alive and well and continue, and feeder schools will be, and Elder High

School will be. But is that transition going to be bumpy, I don’t know, I

really don’t know. But the overall outcome is going to be good.

How will young faculty members fit in here and what can be done to keep them here 22, 25, 30, or 35 years?

Two years ago we had a faculty retreat, and we kind of had

spokespersons from the faculty speaking about each individual decade.

And what was happening, what were the big events that were taking place

there. I saw that as a real, unifying kind of experience for the older guys

to the younger guys. Because when they came in they had their

opportunity to comment on what was talked about and we had an open

discussion. I guess one thing being in the religion department (super

obvious because we’re not built around an order) we don’t have a hero.

Like St. Francis Ignatius {St. Xavier High School} or Sister Elizabeth Ann

Seton {Seton High School}. We have to sort of create our own because

it’s not like it’s after the archbishop, nobody knows exactly what

Archbishop Elder stood for other than he was fiscally responsible. So we

have to create what the Elder man is. And I think that the creation of the 219

Elder man had a lot to do with a lot of teachers here, their dedication to

family and their dedication to hard work; their work ethic, and their

dedication to the Parish too. So, that’s where our values come from, and

that’s what we have to pass on.

Will Elder High School continue?

I think so, without a doubt. As Mark Twain would say about

Cincinnati-in general things seems to remain the same-and I think they

will remain pretty stable and Elder on the western side. I don’t see signs

of deterioration. So, there would be no, no reason to think that it

wouldn’t be.

Ray Bachus

Length of Service: 35 years

Role: I am in the English Department and I’m the

Business Manager of the athletic department.

Career Choice Issues:

It may sound like a cliché, but I wanted to give something back. I

enjoyed my time here, I enjoyed the teachers that I had here, and I wanted

to get into coaching and this seemed to be the ideal spot. And I was lucky

enough to get on.

220

Ever considered leaving?

No. I knew going in that we were not going to get rich, and I don’t

know if it’s just unique here, but you seem to rally around the idea of

helping the kids, whatever it takes, and a loving wife certainly helps out. I

never ever considered leaving here, no.

Compensation and Benefits Issues:

Do you remember what your starting salary when you first came here?

$6,400 was my first signed contract.

What was the highest salary that you ever made at Elder High School?

I make $67,000 now.

Differences over the years:

Has Elder High School changed?

We have a lot of single parent and both parents working kids; a lot

of them are on their own a lot. A lot of times we don’t have the

cooperation or the discipline that we had back in the 70s, 60s and 50s

when I was here. I mean that’s changed for society also, and I understand

all that, but it used to be that the teacher was backed by the parents and

now Johnny’s right, you prove that you’re right. So that’s one of the

changes that I’ve seen.

Has the mission of Elder High School changed?

I think it’s adapted in a lot of different ways. I think with the

changes in the Church and what has gone on, we have to get down to nuts

and bolts, because Catholicism is what we preach; through that we instill a 221

lot of discipline, a lot of responsibility, and I think the students benefit

from that as they go on. Now the some {students} that regret it, or don’t

want to pull the boat, then obviously they leave, but I think they get a darn

good education, I know they do.

Have the students changed?

Oh yeah, in the 70s of course with society, the rebels and so forth,

I was in Dayton and I saw Dayton Chaminade {all-boys school} go down

to a point where they were almost bailed out, and of course, they had to

combine with Julienne {all-girls school}. But I think we’ve gone from

800 {students} to about the last 10 or 12 years back up to over 1000

{students}. The type of kid that we’re getting we still have diversity of

highs and lows as far as intellectual abilities, and we have the faculty, and

we have the school that adjusts to that situation, and I think that the A

students, the excellent students really get an excellent education. The

basic kids get what they can handle, and so be it.

Have the parents changed?

Oh, yes. Again I think through necessity Elder’s not free. Mom

and Dad do have to work. Time that they may have spent with their kids,

that time is not there. So the kids have to do it on their own and I think it

has hurt {the students} in that aspect. There are a lot of single parent

families in our society, and of course it hit here: and it too takes its toll on

the kids. It’s unfortunate, but that’s life.

222

Has the tuition increase changed students?

I just witnessed this last Friday where a guy came into buy his son

a ticket because he got paid late in the day and he didn’t have the money

to give the kid $4 to buy a ticket, so yes, economics has really been a

factor. I think you really have {to give} the parents a lot of credit for the

sacrifices they are making and are willing to make to send their kids here

to Elder High School.

Have the faculty and staff changed?

Yes, I think it’s gotten better. I think, of course, some people do

become complacent, but I think the people who have stayed here are a

testimony to Elder High School. I mean if you don’t like a situation you

might as well get out, but people don’t. I mean, I’m in my 35th year, and

I’m not the oldest man here. So, I think the faculty as a whole is really

solid and I’m proud to be part of it.

…Well I think the laity has gotten involved. I mean now we have

a lay principal. When I was here there were five lay faculty members and

the changes now that we have a religion department led by a lay person, in

fact the one full time priest isn’t even, well, I don’t know about Father

Brausch anymore because he might be that half that you’re talking about,

but Father Rettig is in the language department so the lay people have got

to pick up the slack, and I think they’ve done a good job.

223

Has Catholicism changed?

I think the Church is different and I think it takes a certain

discipline to stay focused-if that’s the word. I remember my father being

very upset when they went with the Mass in English, in fact up until he

died last year he still had the Latin missile in his car. Unfortunately, my

kids who are older now have gone away from the Church. Maybe it’s not

a top priority for them or maybe it’s our fault for not demanding, but I

think the role of the parent at least in my view is, you can’t force them to

do anything that you don’t want them to do, because then it’s going to be a

rejection completely. So you kind of let them lead to here. Hopefully

they’ll grasp on to some values and through that then they’ll want to come

to church, but I don’t think there’s a guarantee anymore.

What is the impact of the recent Church sex scandal?

Well, I’m not blind to the situation. I think people have to realize

that it’s not Elder per se; it’s just a bunch of individuals who unfortunately

were sent here by the archdiocese and they are sick. Yes, they taught here

and they’re affiliated with us; but they’re not us. Hopefully it won’t have

any long term effects. Hopefully people realize that Tom {Otten}has sent

out a letter to all the parents and advised them that we are for their kids

benefit, that we’re here to teach them and protect them and that’s our job.

If certain people don’t view it as such then again they’re not part of that

Elder family.

224

Elder has a tradition of serving; would you like to comment on that?

I think you just look at the people that have graduated from Elder

and all the various walks of life. We have religious, I mentioned

policemen, and judges, senators, and we have a little bit of everything. I

think the people that have risen to those positions and I think that George

Schaffer {Fifth-Third Bank C.E.O., and Elder graduate} said it best.

“They got it from basics that they learned when they were here at Elder.”

I think that’s what Elder’s all about that they give them the discipline, they

give them the fundamentals, they instill in them the desire to get ahead,

and those ambitious people that want to become senators, want to become

bankers, doctors, lawyers have done it and done a great job at it. I think

that to my knowledge they have acknowledged that fact. That they got

their roots here, and if it wasn’t for Elder, maybe they wouldn’t be where

they are. So maybe I’m overstating something or maybe I’m prejudiced,

but I believe Elder High School played a very large role in their

endeavors.

The Future:

What is the future of Catholic schools?

Well, I’m going get off base a little bit, our church in Indiana

where I live is losing a pastor and they’re talking about combining. I

witnessed six years ago when Tom {Otten} became principal. Now we

have a lay principal. You just said we have one and half or maybe one

total priest here at Elder. I think the laity is going to have to pick it up. 225

They’re going to have to have support from downtown, I don’t know

what-or how the role is going to change, if it will change at all. But I

think when you’ve got something going or maybe it’s an old cliché also, if

it’s not broken don’t fix it. That we have, well we’re not status quo, we

want to change, witness the Schaeper Center and all the technology that

we have here. When a new avenue opens up I think we go for it. I think

we will do that, I think people that are in the administration see that, they

see that we need to get involved with the ethnic groups and be an

attraction to them; an affordable attraction with the scholarships and so

forth. I just hope that people don’t just look at the finances and say, We

can’t do this.” Let’s find a way to do it and I think with Toby’s

{Heile}group and Sean Kelly, they go out to all the feeder schools, and the

Schaffer Center is opened up to the community. This is a great situation,

but they on the outside have to have some open eyes to see and want to get

involved; and maybe pay the price whatever the paying means, or put the

sacrifices aside and get into it. I think a lot of it comes from in here.

What can be done to attract and keep young teachers?

You know, I think it has to come from within. I believe Elder

High School is a great place because of the people here, and I tell that to

my senior home room and I teach that to my freshmen and sophomores.

And I think you know we were kind of accused of inbreeding several

years ago because the faculty is all Elder people; at least they were at one

time. And I think the mystic of Elder has a lot to do with it. Also that 226

there are a lot of people who just want to be a part of this family, and it’s a

great family. You know money, if money is a top priority, than I think

you’re in the wrong boat if you’re in Catholic education.

Will Elder High School continue to be here?

I think so. I hate to see the changes in the community. My

brother-in-law is a prime example, he’s lived two blocks over for 30 years

he’s now moving because he’s been ripped off a couple times, had his

house broken into, the police chief’s house been broken in to, a lot of

destruction, a lot of litter…, but that’s not bad but if they’ll support the

community and I think Elder will be here, I know it will be here, at least I

want it to be here, because I want other people to take advantage of it.

Now in what condition the building’s going to be in, what condition the

neighborhood is going to be, I can’t say.

Rick Nohle

Length of Service: 27 years

Role:

Well it’s kind of hard to define. I teach of course, I teach the

Advanced Placement Computer Science course, and some other

programming courses. This year I am also teaching a math class. The rest

of the time I am involved in programming for the administrative computer

system, sort of like an IT manager, and responsible in some way to keep 227

machines running and get them repaired when they need any

troubleshooting. Helping train the faculty to use software, and my role has

change a little bit last year we got Jerry Hamburg as a technology director.

Until he came on board I was doing all of his job too. It got to be pretty

intense. I had a lot going on. That’s sort of what it is.

Career Choice Issues:

Well it’s kind of funny how that came about. I think the Lord kind

of led me; I was doing my student teaching over at West High and going

to the University of Cincinnati. I had been raised Catholic, but while I

was going to UC {University of Cincinnati}I joined up with the Christian

Student Fellowship, kind of a evangelical student group, and so I was

away from the Church some of the time I was in college. I was over at

West High student teaching when this guy who was in a graduate level

class with me at UC was teaching here and wanted to get out of his

contract. In order for him to get out of his contract he had to find a math

teacher of equal qualifications I guess, but math teachers were really,

really hard to find at that point very, very difficult to find. So, he started

calling, and me said, “Do you want to get this job at Elder.” I said, “Well

I don’t think I can, I haven’t finished my student teaching.” So he gave up

at that point. He called me back later, and said; “Yes you can take a job

there, and finish your student teaching there if you want.” I called UC,

and they said, “No, we worked hard to get you this placement.” All this

stuff, and through really his persistence; he started calling the people at 228

UC and said, “They really have a need here for this teacher, and this is

what you’ve been preparing him for is to get a job as a teacher.” They

agreed to let me teach as a probation status for that first year, and then I

did my student teaching with Chuck Knepfle the following summer. They

said, “Well we never do summer teaching placements,” but they made an

exception. When I came over to interview for the job Chuck was there as

head of the math department and Father Stittmatter was there and the

question was put to me “Here’s what we’re about, we want people who

will teach as Jesus taught,” I said, “Hey, I’m in for that, that’s what I want

to do.” So, I really saw it as a ministry opening up with a chance to

demonstrate my faith through what I do for a living. And some years after

that through a long series of events I came back to the Catholic Church

and been there ever since. Elder was the Lord’s way of drawing me back

to the Church as well as giving me a good job.

Have you ever considered going to work for the public school?

Yes, I think I had been here about 10 years, Father Kuhn was

principal at that time and I had been teaching in the evening college to

make ends meet, evening college at Cincinnati State; it was CTC at the

time. So, I was teaching some math and programming and there was an

opening for a computer and math teacher. So, I applied for it, and I

thought well if it opens up, that’s the Lord’s will for me to go there, I’ll go

there. It was kind of interesting how I didn’t get the job. At the last

minute an applicant came by that had two master’s degrees, had been a 229

professional engineer for a while, and he had all kinds of qualifications,

although the dean of the college really wanted to have me there. He liked

the way I taught, but the qualifications of this other person were just so

overwhelming, he had to choose him. It was kind of like being let down

easy, well, I’m going to get beat out for a job I kind of wanted, it’s nice

that it’s by somebody who has all these qualifications.

What was your starting salary at Elder?

Oh, boy. I wasn’t certified yet and I came in one month after the

year started. I think it was like $7,500. That was in 1977-78 school year.

What the highest salary you have made at Elder?

I’m not sure really, I hand the check over to my wife who does all

of our finances. So, I don’t think about it. I’m not trying to put you off or

anything, but on the contract level it says one thing, but my checks are

higher than that because I work after school hours doing computer stuff;

so that also goes into my paycheck. I think the total paycheck maybe

around $80,000 with everything that may be a little high.

What could be done to make your teaching experience better?

That’s a good question. Fifteen years ago I might have said they

could pay us something more in keeping the salaries with public school

counterparts. In fact, there was a time when Father Kuhn stuck his neck

out and went on record as saying we’re going to try to work our way up to

90% of what the Oak Hills teachers{local public school district}make. Of

course that never materialized, and I don’t know what the salaries are like 230

now, but I don’t think we’ve gotten close to that. I think what has

changed my mind about that being a real important issue is seeing the kind

of sacrifices that parents make to send their kids here. We used to hold the

tuition number down and kind of cover things from all the fundraising and

everything else that was going on. So, you didn’t really realize what the

real costs of educating a student. Then when Tom Otten and Father

Schaeper went to the cost-based tuition, the need based aid. The

philosophy is we’re going to charge you what it costs us to educate the

students and then supplement the people who need it with a lot of financial

aid. So, the people understand what it really costs. When I started to see

the parents struggling; even with the significant financial aid to send their

kids here, and working like 2-3 jobs; single parents that are making the

sacrifices. It felt like that wasn’t so important anymore. I think we have

improved in supporting teacher’s decisions in the classroom as far as

discipline goes. Instead of letting you just kind of hang out and be your

own little island. You get a feeling that the school is behind you a lot

more.

Differences over the years:

Is Elder High School different?

Well for one thing, the ratio of priests to lay teachers has changed

dramatically. I did a little thing I was taking some master’s degree course

work at XU. I did it on Catholic school finances and worked in the

proportion of lay teachers around the time of Vatican II to clerical or 231 religious order teachers and it’s just startling how in the 1960’s you start to see this huge shift and of course with that shift toward lay people teaching; it costs you a lot more. You don’t have those people working for just subsistence or bringing the nuns in canned goods or something to help and get by. You had to start paying teachers who have families. So that is one of the biggest changes. I think I’ve seen a change in how we relate to the community and how public relations are done. It’s a good thing, before when it was mainly priests running the show. It was sort of like, well they’re up on this pedestal and you don’t argue with the priest.

So, the show goes on, decisions are made, and it’s not your job to question the decisions and how things are arrived at. Now, I think it’s a lot more, get people together, find out what their ideas are, and use the wisdom that we have here more….He {Tom Otten}solicits our opinions and gives them a lot of weight. Not that we make the decisions, but his decisions are usually well tempered with what we have to say. I think we maybe grow even a little bit more that way. I look around over the past 10-15 years,

Mike Honald had all this accounting and business expertise and experience, and Paul Stryker had the whole thing with architecture and it seemed like not all their ideas were taken very seriously. We go to outside consultants, but I think a lot more the {administration} listens to us and ask for our opinions.

232

Is that because Mr. Otten is a lay person?

I think Father Schaeper was a lot more that way. It may just be a

natural trend that everyone was going through, or I’m not sure what

motivated it, but it certainly has changed to more of a group decision

making model instead of the dictator or czar making the decisions for

everybody to live by.

Has the mission of Elder High School changed?

I don’t think the basic mission has, no. How we go about delving into has, but you’d expect that. You would expect us to learn from mistakes, successes, and what is working; to go forth, but the basic mission I don’t think has.

Have the students changed?

I think they’ve changed in the sense that there are more and more

students who are coming from single parent households or

divorce/remarried situations. So, when they come they have different

ideas about things like respect for teachers and you see kids that will not

think anything of talking to a teacher in a tone that would have gotten

them canned right away 20 years ago. We felt like back then that the

parents were going to be really on our side and really tougher on the kids

than we were even. So, if he gets in trouble here and then goes home he is

in double trouble and he would never think of doing some of the things

that they think of doing now. So, I think that’s has changed and the

expectation of the parent has changed a little bit. Instead of, “This is

something that I’m sending my kid to Elder and he’s going to get values 233

and discipline stuff that I am not giving him, or that I can’t give him.”

That is the way it seems to me now; where as before it was a community

thing that the parents and teachers were kind of on the same page.

Have the faculty and staff changed over the years?

Well aside from the ratio of priests/religious to lay teachers, if it’s

changed in any other way it has been a slow moving change, because so

many of the people seem to stick here. We have a lot of people, you know

that, are in that over 20 year category and even though I’m working on 27,

I don’t feel like I’m in the older half of the range. Now within reach of

retirement I may be, but I don’t feel that way. I feel that there are a lot of

older teachers that I can go and bounce things off of, so it feels pretty

consistent. I think because of the changing requirements that the state puts

on us, and the archdiocese wanting us to grow and do different things for

professional development we had to try to be a little more by the book, or

little more professional. Instead of each teacher running their own ship

without much input or direction; that now you have to jump through a lot

more hoops to stay current, and I suppose that is a good thing. You asked

me before, is there anything that the archdiocese and the administration

could do to make things better. I think, this probably wouldn’t go well

with a lot of faculty members, but I think we need to see the

administrators and supervisors observing what’s going on in the classroom

instead of just being mysterious black boxes, things go on and you don’t

really know what’s going on. Not because bad things are going on, but 234

maybe really good things are going on and nobody else ever hears about it.

Nobody goes in and says, “I was in this class observing and he used this

technique to teach this class and it was wonderful;” spreading that around.

There has been a move at the academic council which is the department

chairmen and the administrators to have the department chairs observe

more and try to get the administrators in at least for the newer teachers.

But I think the older teachers need to have them around too, because you

begin to feel like nobody’s watching and nobody cares if I really try to do

an excellent job or not. So I think that would be a help.

You have some younger faculty; will they be able to stay 27 or 30 years?

I don’t know. I know a number of really promising younger

teachers have left and gone on to law school or in to business or

something, and I think it’s kind of a shame that they didn’t stay in

teaching. I don’t know what their finances are like or what their needs are,

but I know that the retirement benefits are pretty minimal, I think the

younger teachers have a lot more concern with retirement accounts and

stock portfolios and building up some sort of a nest egg. I guess the older

teachers that I would fall in with are more like, you know I’m just going to

keep teaching until I die, kind of thing. Maybe that’s short-sighted. Like I

said, it’s hard for me to even say what my paycheck is, because I don’t

think that much about it, I hand it to my wife and she cranks it through the

budget, allocates stuff for groceries, and gives me my allowance and I just

keep teaching. 235

Diversity:

Does Elder do enough to attract a more the diverse student population?

I guess we’re not doing enough because we don’t have an

extremely diverse population, but I’m not sure what stands in the way.

And if it’s something that Elder has complete control over. I mean you

can say we have all kinds of financial aid available for your students, but

if the parents look at the high tuition and say, “There’s no way I can do

that,” and don’t go any further then that might be the turn off. It also

might be if they’re coming from a non-Catholic background or even a

Catholic background. If Catholic education is not an important value for

them they look at Oak Hills or Elder, and if you’re not weighing in the

Catholic values you might say, well, the public school resources are there

and it’s free. I don’t have to pay any money or I’ll get fees and stuff for

activities but nothing near $6,000 worth. So, I’m not sure about that, but

guys are working hard on it. I see Roger Auer in here with kids from

down at 8th and State with the Boy’s Club, we’ve got our kids working

with them tutoring them and trying to let them see that they could succeed

here, helping them to do well in grade school so they can come here and

do well. People are trying; it is just hard to say why more kids from

African-American backgrounds don’t come. I don’t think it’s entirely fair

how we’ve been portrayed in the media in the last few years about being

this lily-white school. It was coming from when some of our graduates

were policemen, were under scrutiny and that whole thing was going on. I 236

don’t think that the media people really took a good honest look at what

our population is like, because if you start looking at kids from an oriental

background, we have a lot of kids who are from an Appalachian, poor

white background: of course, they look white like the kids from the

suburbs, you can’t see that they are a minority just by looking at them. So,

we have some diversity in different directions, not just black and white. I

know there’s a mixture of kids from affluent families and kids from poor

families here as well.

Has Catholicism changed?

I’m not sure. I would say the Church teaching and what we

believe as Catholics hasn’t really changed, but there’s along with this

switch from religious and priests doing the work to more laity, almost

exclusively laity doing the work, I think that we’ve been challenged to

pick up some of that ministry that’s been going on. We’ve always say,

“Well that’s Father’s job or Sister’s job to be doing that.” I had an

experience where I’m involved in the Kairos Retreat Program as a

director, and when the archbishop took Father Kiffmeyer out of circulation

he was a big component of making the retreats go. I mean he would come

in over a 3-day retreat; he would be there every day for Mass. He would

come one night. We would have reconciliation services, and private

confessions, and we would be there, he would give a talk, go to dinner,

he’d go to his room and correct some papers for his chemistry class he was

teaching, and then he’d be at the reconciliation service and hearing 237

confessions until like 1 and 2 in the morning. Then he would get in his car

and drive back home and be here {Elder} at 7 o’clock and teaching his full

schedule for the day and then come out for Mass and be here for the

closing. It’s like he’s everywhere, he’s everywhere. So, when he was put

on indefinite leave we had to start picking up more of the talk that he did.

Leading some of the services that he did, of course we can’t say Mass, but

our closing, instead of a closing Mass at the retreat center we did a

communion service. I wrote a communion service outline and so one of

the lay people has to do that. So, that has changed. The lay people have

had to pick up a lot more of those things that were clerical functions

before.

What is the impact of the recent Church sex scandal?

I think Elder will survive that. I’m really confident in that. It’s

hard though to deal with {what} you feel for the people who have been

abused, but then I feel bad for the priests who haven’t done anything. It is

such a small number of priests, but they fill up the newspaper with them.

Every time another allegation forward or substantiated thing comes

forward the same priests who have had allegations are dragged through

again….

The Future:

What is the outlook for Catholic schools?

I think in the future we will still be looking at Catholic school

teachers and saying, “I don’t know why you work for that much money,” 238

or “How do you get by,” evidently you do. I think we’ll continue to

surprise people. I used to think that pouring more money into the mix

would make things better. One positive that comes out of lower salaries

than public school counterparts or lower salaries than executives, like

computer programming, you get a bunch of people who are probably

doing it for the right reasons, because there aren’t too many of the wrong

reasons to tempt you to come and teach here. So, I think we’ll still be

doing a good job. It’s amazing to me for example, you look at the public

schools, and how they continually have to go asking the tax payers for

millions of dollars to shore up their infrastructure when a lot of the

buildings aren’t that old. Not anything like Elder, many were built in the

60s or 70s and are crumbling. Why is that? We’ve got strong graduates

and alums that support us, and we don’t have to take that money out of

tuition costs. People see to it that we have the money we need to do the

job and we keep going. The campus, facilities look great, better than

they’ve ever been. I think we’ll be surprising people.

Will Elder High School continue?

I think so. As far as technology, and how we’ll be teaching that

will change a lot. I think Elder will still be here.

239

Katie Umberg

Length of Service: 1 year

Role: Teacher

Career Choice Issues:

How is it going in your first year?

It is going pretty well. I’m enjoying it. It definitely is very hectic

being my first year of teaching. Putting everything together, keep up with

grading, and phone calls and not necessarily doing everything I had hoped

that I would be. But it is going well.

This is your very first year of teaching also?

Yes, I just had student teaching last year. I did teach summer

school this summer here. But this is my first year of regular teaching.

Why did you decide to teach in a Catholic school?

For several reasons, some practical and some more spiritual. I really like the fact that religion has a part in the schooling here. I love school Masses and the fact that everyone gets to go like that. I love that you can hang a crucifix in your classroom without getting lawsuits. That you can talk about things religious, talk about faith, morals, and that sort of thing without the heat coming on. {I like the fact} that I can wear a cross to school if I want to and be able to pass my faith on to other people. I thought that was really neat. Retreats in high school were extremely powerful for me. I know my Kairos retreat was life changing and that was also something that I really looked at as something that I wanted to do; when 240

I came to high school to work on the retreats. On a more practical level I really like how laid back it is, you don’t have all of the strict evaluations and forms and busy work. I know my mom has just started with Cincinnati Public and she spends 15-20 a week just filling out their forms, summaries and things like that.

Beyond her planning, to me it was just overwhelming as well.

Why Elder High School?

I think I was meant to be here. In high school I was in the band

here. I went to Seton, but I think spent more time at Elder than I did at

Seton. I always loved Elder, my dad was an Elder grad, he loved Elder,

and my brother is currently an Elder student, so we definitely have a

connection to Elder. And truthfully, when I started looking for a job I

hadn’t even considered Elder. I was sending out my application wherever

it went and seeing what would come up. One time we were at church and

one of the teachers here goes to our church and he says, “Katie, there’s job

opening up in the math department. You should apply.” And I was like,

“Oh Elder, all those boys, yeah right.” But I applied and I ended up

talking to Tom {Otten} the last day he was accepting applications. He

said, “Fax it over, email it to me and we’ll see if we can get you in for an

interview.” As I was waiting for the interview I started to think about it

and thought why not, I love Elder, it would be a perfect situation, I love

what it stands for it, it’s a great school I know there’s such neat people

there. I’ve always tended to work well with boys. In all my observation,

it always seemed that all my favorite students tended to be boys and it just 241

started falling in to place. I came here for my interview, it went extremely

well. I love Mr. Otten; he is so nice and caring. As soon as you walk in

he’s just so welcoming, they all are. All the teachers were, and so they

called me the next morning, I left here about 4:00 they called me 7:00 the

next morning and said, “You’ve got the job if you want it.” And it’s

gone smoothly since then, it’s seems like I was destined to be here.

Are you comfortable teaching in an all boy environment?

I haven’t had any problems at all. I was actually a little nervous

about coming in, because I have a few friends, I had several guy friends

that went here and they seemed to think they gave their woman teacher

kind of a hard time. But I haven’t had any problem at all from the

students and the faculty for the most part has been very accepting as well.

Compensation and Benefit Issues:

What is your starting salary?

$28,000

Is the salary on the Catholic level and the benefits on the Catholic level an issue for you?

So little, I think it’s completely outweighed. That probably has to

do partly with the fact that I’m single, no family, and I don’t have a lot of

financial responsibilities right now. But I think it’s definitely outweighed

by the benefits that are from being here. Even the extra time that I would

have to be spending in a public school with all of their requirements would

definitely be paid for by the salary difference. 242

Do you think there will come a time as you get older and more financial responsibilities begin fall on your shoulders that the issue of compensation and benefits might become a problem?

It might become a bigger issue, yes.

Expand upon that.

I’m not sure, I’m going to have to see how things fall out, but I

don’t think I would change solely because of compensation. One thing

that I have noticed being here is that, and it’s probably just because it’s my

first year teaching, but I haven’t formed as a close a relationship as I was

hoping to with the students. I was at Hughes for my student teaching and

loved that. The students there are in a city and I really liked, I’m trying to

say this nicely, how needy they were. I really felt like I was making a

difference with those students, because we were the one stable part of their

day. And so they would be so excited if you went to their basketball

games and you would make such a big deal to them. So, I think in the

future a combination of several things might come in to play. I’m hoping

that my experience here gets a little better in that area as I get a little more

experienced. I think right now I’m trying to keep a very professional

standoffish attitude. I am trying to seem that way to the students, because

I know that it would be so easy to lose control my being a female and so

young. I think it would also depend on what situation arose, the school

that came open, and how much the money difference was. I know there

are several schools that there is no amount of money you could pay me to 243

go teach in those schools. But I do like it here and for right now this is

definitely where I want be no matter what the compensation would be.

What could be done do make an experience for young teachers better?

One thing that I would say is that I don’t feel like I’ve had too

much support. Not that people have been unsupportive, but there hasn’t

been, or there are not set people who are assigned to making sure that

young teachers start out well. I know several times when there are

different days that everyone else has done something a million times I

kind of have to guess my way through. Like when they do progress

reports and they come back and I have to collect them. No one really

says, “Now when the students come back you’re going to have to take the

envelopes and put the papers in the envelopes.” So, there have been a few

times it has been a little embarrassing, such as sending my students off

when they were supposed to still be in the room or things like that. But

for the most part which I think I am lucky here, people that I work with

are extremely helpful. I haven’t really had any problems.

Would you recommend other female teachers come teach here?

Yes

Why?

Well it would depend on the female. If it was a female who was

having second thoughts I would absolutely, if this is something that

interests you, than come in a second. I have heard females that have done

student teaching in other boys schools who have had major problems, have 244

had their butts smacked as they walked past, have had guys pin them to

the steps and stare up their skirts, but at Elder I have had not a single

problem. So, in that respect I would tell them there are no negatives

because of the boys. There have been no problems, no special problems

with that, and also I think from the boys end it is nice to see some women

in there. I know they had women teachers in grade school, but this is a

different setting also. Sometimes it can be a “little manly kind of a man

party” here, I think it’s nice to balance it out and have a balance.

Why do you think Elder’s different than those other schools?

I think it is just the whole atmosphere here. It’s much more family

oriented here. I know one girl had to stop her student teaching at St. X.,

but I’ve heard from boys that have been there also that they’ve had similar

problems. It’s just so competitive that there really isn’t that kind of really

neat environment. I think with Elder just the attitude that everyone’s

responsible for their own behavior; we’re family working together and

how your behavior reflects who you are, I think all goes together.

The Future:

From your one year experience, predict the future of Elder High School?

I see two conflicting theories here. You’ve got several people who

are definitely more than any other school I’ve seen looking toward the

future. The financial, I know, plan is gone into like ten years from now,

and they really do make an effort to make changes, make improvements,

and I really like that. On the other hand, you’ve got several people who 245

have been here for a very long time and are very resistant to change. I

don’t know how many times you go and ask someone a question. I know

Mr. Menkhaus does this all the time, he’ll ask well why is for? I mean

could we do it a different way? That’s how we’ve always done it. Yeah

but why, well that’s how we’ve always done it. And you have people who

really want change, and the people who are resisting change. What I see

probably is as some of these teachers start retiring it will be a whole new

Elder. I see the tradition continuing. I think Elder going to start getting

more up in to education trends, I know there are several things I think they

could improve on that they’re not doing right now that I think they

probably will change in the near future.

Do students have trouble with the high cost of tuition?

I have never talked to a student who has brought that up. As far as

I know I think that Elder is extremely accommodating. I’ve never known

of any student either, never heard of anyone that was unable to come

because of the cost. I know that several families, especially if it’s going

up, that it’s going to be a strain, but I do think that Elder is very good

about giving help where it’s needed.

Let’s try to put you in charge of recruiting new teachers.

Okay.

What would you do?

Uh, recruiting new teachers? I think one thing is that I would go to

the colleges. Because I know that I had never heard that Elder had a job 246

opening and try to get that out to the new and different teachers. I think a

lot of time they stay within their family, because that’s who knows. Oh,

there’s a job open, I have a friend who can teach history. Oh, my son

wants to teach math. So I think I would definitely go out and make it

known that I was looking for teachers or whatever position they were

hiring for. I would probably make that my first option, I think that would

really start a lot, and then from there just have opportunities for those

people who are interested to get to know Elder. At least in the beginning I

would wait until someone expressed an interest, but then have them come

and observe, come to some functions at Elder, talk to new teachers and

hear what it’s like.

Mr. Otten puts you in charge of the working with the brand new teacher on day one. What would you do?

I tend to be a perfectionist. I think I would be very, very clear

about everything that was expected of them. Let them know exactly what

to expect the first day, exactly what they will need to do with your home

rooms, with this, with that, the different schedules, so they get off to a

good start. And then though out the year to make sure that they are aware

of what’s going on beyond that I think I would probably, there are several

good books that I’ve read that I think I would suggest for them to read. Be

there to answer any question, and maybe even meet with them regularly

just to see how they are doing. Definitely create a relationship where 247

they’d feel comfortable saying: I’ve got this student I don’t know what to

do. And be able to help them in that way.

Father Don Rettig

Length of Service: 32 years

Role: Teacher, also pastor of a local Catholic

parish.

Career Choice Issues:

Why did you as a priest decide to teach in a Catholic school?

For obvious reasons; I’m a Catholic priest teaching helps to build

up the church community and I wanted to teach. Also, because of the

subject matter that I taught, if you teach, it stays fresh in your mind. So, I

thought I’d kill two birds with one stone. Keep up the German and make a

contribution to the Catholic community.

Compensation and Benefit Issues:

What was your starting salary; your stipend for teaching in a Catholic school?

That was set for the diocese for everybody. I think when we

started it was $300 a month, and then we would get Mass stipends.

And what is it now?

Stipend across the board for all the priests is about, with my

seniority $22,000 gross. 248

Are there any other benefits for teaching for a priest in the Catholic school system?

Elder pays me a bit more, because I’ve got the parish, but the

amount doesn’t double or anything like that.

What could the archdiocese do attract more teachers to a Catholic school, or maybe more priests to teach in a Catholic school?

I don’t know that you can do a whole lot. When I came out

{seminary} a lot of the guys {priests} didn’t want to teach because they

felt that was dying, that was not priestly work. They didn’t see the

connection, and so consequently a lot of them just backed away from

teaching. Now the shortage is so great they won’t force anybody into

doing it. I think those who failed to teach kind of shot themselves in the

foot a little bit, because it forces you to be organized, to really work a full

day rather than just kind of hit and miss like a parish priest can do. They

never had that. I’ve heard in terms of preaching because a teacher

generally has to outline, have pretty good idea what he wants to do or

accomplish that day you don’t ramble as much you get to the point you

develop it and then you put an end to it. Where as those who haven’t done

that never seem to get down to the heart of the matters sometimes.

From your perspective what can the schools do to attract lay teachers to the

Catholic school system?

I guess Elder’s done a decent job I think, in terms of the other high

schools, to try to keep the salary somewhat competitive. If they can come 249

up with fringes which are appealing or attractive; you’d have to ask the lay

people in particular, but that would certainly be a part of it. I don’t know

that you can appeal to them necessarily by witnessing to their faith.

Anymore things have gotten watered down a little bit in the process.

Differences over the years:

Has Elder High School changed?

Yes, for all the technology they have in grade school I don’t see

any great advancement in the subject that I teach. In terms of religion

they’ve probably gone backward. The catacatical program which came

out of Vatican II had more of the feel good approach, emotional approach

to religion rather than content. The kids have no real idea of the

guidelines, the rules, the regulations, what makes a Catholic.

Consequently things have fallen off because they don’t have a sense of

obligation. Probably fewer of them go to Mass on Sunday in the past

especially as they get older. So that’s quite a big difference than what is

was in the beginning. Academically I think I’ve lowered the standards

that I’m expecting of the students, because well I think there’s been a

lowering of standards, all around the United States, particularly in

Cincinnati. You know when we had the riots and this equality business

came in standards got lowered I think and some of that carried over,

though they’re still better than what they are generally in the public

school. 250

I know Oak Hills got the award just recently for all of the

excellence in education in the state of Ohio and yet if I have a student that

I have transfer to Oak Hills generally he’s a month ahead of where they

are, and if you get them in from there, they’re usually behind where we are

and so there are a lot of plusses there. I think there’s more expected yet

and the sense of discipline about learning is more serious here than at

other schools.

What do you feel about where tuition is going?

Yes, I don’t know how it can end. Because it just keeps going up

and out of sight. You figure now if it’s basically $5,700 this year. $6,000

a year and it’s only going to go up that’s $25-$30,000 they’re investing in

a student over those four years. I think the only way you can look at that

is as an investment, because the values are going to pick up, the self-

discipline, the purpose will carry for a whole lifetime. But that’s a

tremendous burden I would think for a parent to carry. More financial aid

probably has to be available. For a while I thought vouchers might be a

real assistance like they are at the college-level and opposition to that is

breaking down somewhat, but only if it doesn’t water the program, you get

too much of a government regulation and too much government control.

A lot of the Catholic colleges, I don’t think there’s any connection or

know if there’s any connection, they are not as Catholic as they could or

should be I don’t know if it’s because of any kind of government

regulation, but they’ve been watered down since they’ve kind of opened 251

up a little bit more. I don’t really know; it’s amazing that it has held now,

considering the expense there. Elder’s class next year is supposed to be a

bit larger than it is this year; so long as the proper product is being

produced I imagine the parents will see that it’s worth while. But it must

take quite a tremendous sacrifice on the part of the parents to make this

work. Financial aid will be one thing, maybe students working and

perhaps the vouchers to be looked at in the future as well.

Talk about Elder High School in general?

For Elder High School in particular, the spirit of the school is just

amazing. I did not go to Elder High School, matter of a fact I rooted

against Elder until I came here. But there’s a community type atmosphere,

even if you look at some of their athletic teams. They haven’t had a Roger

Staubach {college football Heisman Trophy winner, National Football

League star, and a graduate of Purcell High School}, or somebody of that

caliber, one superstar; but their teams are very successful, and it’s

basically because of the team effort and that carries over to more than just

the student body, obviously, to the alumni, to those who support the

school yet. Those who live in the area, those who send their kids back to

Elder. I think you’ve got a real identity there that’s beyond just four years

of a high school that what’s holding the roots, holding everything together

I think.

252

You’re a teacher but you’re also an administrator, because you’re a pastor and you have your other school to deal with. Are you seeing changes or attitudes on the elementary school level with parents toward Catholic education?

No, almost all of our graduates, and we don’t have that big of a

school, but almost all of our graduates will go to Seton and Elder and

that’s held. We used to lose some to St. X but not so much anymore, and

very few go to the public school. Now they do have the option a large

number would have to go to Cincinnati Public, which obviously is going

to make Elder more attractive. A fair number could go to Oak Hills, but

they are basically still coming to Elder. There have been no major

defections in that sense on the grade school level from the parish that I’ve

been in, and it seems to be holding around with other parishes as well.

They complain about our tuition down there is $1,400 a year {St Aloysius,

Saylor Park}, and you’ll get complaints about that. Yet they will have to

pick up tuition which is four times that for one year and some how make it

work. When you look out in the student parking lot there aren’t too many

junkers {cars} out there. So the middle class Catholics have obviously

arrived at a point where they do have more financial security and I think

they’ve seen this still as a worthwhile investment.

Do you have a hard time holding on to your teachers at your parish?

Not holding on to them, because the ones who have been there

longer-they couldn’t start over again with the same salary as they are now. 253

The problem is to attract them, because there’s a bigger discrepancy in the

starting pay. In our own parish we’ve made the adjustment, you won’t

call it signing bonus, but you have got the scale and to entice them.

Maybe you tack on $1,500 or $1,000 more to get them in. They’ve done a

very good job, we’ve got four of them, no five of them, who are real

young, and three of them will be back next year. Two just tried teaching

this year, and they are going to pull out, so the principal is going to have to

find some new teachers. But getting the younger teachers to come into the

Catholic system; that is going to be a bit of a challenge. The problem with

them is they haven’t had that strong Catholic background, because they

got more of the kind of “feels good religion” rather than some meat and

potatoes, so to speak. When it comes for them to teach religion to these

kids they can only give what you’ve got, and obviously they’re not where

somebody is who has 10-15 years there. Be interesting to see where it

goes. He has always been able to fill the post so I presume he’ll be able to

do that. That’s where the real challenge is, to getting the younger teachers

to come in.

The Future:

What is the future Catholic school and Catholic school teachers?

I think we’ll go the route of the parishes and probably the diocese.

Which I think will be the return to a bit more of a traditional approach.

For one thing, this entire problem with pedophilia, the regulations on

priests and religious I would presume is really clamping down so in 3 to 5 254

years. The product you’re going to have is going to be a much more

disciplined, more dedicated group of people than you’ve got right now.

There’s not going to be many as loose links in the chain there. There’s a

move with changes which will be coming out in the parishes shortly of a

more traditional approach, more reverence for the Blessed Sacrament,

moving back to some of the things that people have gotten away from in

worship. I think in the teaching of religion they’re going to go back to

more of a content approach rather than being an experience or faith thing.

But that’s in process now and it’s going to take some while. For instance,

the Kairos Retreats which they use right now, I’m not the biggest fan of

them. It kind of aims to give them as I perceive it, an emotional high, but

it doesn’t carry over; it doesn’t cause them to want to go to Mass more.

I’ve started to tell the couples I have for marriage when you talk about

your Sunday mass attendance look at it than more than just yourself, but

it’s your way to make a contribution to the Catholic community, your

witness value carries over, and I think that will come back in there. I

would think these Kairos Retreats will either pick up that element or fade

away in the not too distant future.

There are more female teachers at Elder High School; how do you feel about that?

I have no problem with it so long as they can, they know the

materials. I don’t know if they’ve got any trouble with the discipline since

it’s almost all boys. I teach both boys and girls and there is a world of 255

difference. For a while I thought about teaching at Seton and Mercy; I

don’t entertain that thought much anymore. I’ll stick with all boys. It

might have to come to that hiring {female teachers} a little bit more

because of salary, they might accept a little less than the men, because of

obligations maybe. It is just a matter of ability. It doesn’t have anything

to do with gender.

Will the Elder High School continue?

Probably, probably, it’s just you’ve got to deal with another

situation and find a way to find a solution for it. People have been

describing the demise of the Catholic Church, because of this stuff with

pedophilia in a way it’s going to reverse it and strengthen it. The press,

the secular press is very hostile to the Catholic Church generally, because

of the stand they’ve taken on abortion and things of that sort. So, when

you take the high moral ground and they find a weakness they really want

to exploit it. But the percentage of Catholic priests involved in anything

of that sort is lower than it is among the non-Catholic, the protestant

clergy. Yet, the press knows that prosecutors have not gone after them as

yet. So the problem is there and in Catholic theology. This is the church

that Jesus established. It will be around no matter what the priests,

prosecutors, or the press does. So yes, the Church will certainly be here. I

would think that schools like Elder High School will be here. For no other

reason that the fact there’s no better way to strengthen your faith than to

transmit it than through a Catholic school. I compare that to having been 256

in Europe a number of times and worked in German parishes, and they

can’t begin to compare with American parishes. They have almost no

Catholic schools they’re all state schools, so I expect it to be.

Paul Stryker

Length of Service: 47 ½ Years

Role: Retired

What was it like to be a student at Elder High School in the 1920’s?

In the 1920s? It was kind of slow and easy going at that time. We

didn’t have too many problems. Just the financials, I think those are pretty

well taken care of {no money worries}. There was no pressure then on the

family. So it was nice you could study. There weren’t many outside

interferences in my face. We just went on as we did; you might say the

change over from grade school to high school wasn’t too much except for

the scheduling, that’s all.

What year did you graduate from Elder?

1928

What parish did you come from?

Holy Family. We lived in the neighborhood so that worked out

very well, too. We had a good school at Holy Family it compared to the

others on the hill. I was fine with the education that I had. Of course just

talking about the vision, now I see Holy Family is not in to good of shape 257

as it was, I’d say, they are struggling. It’s unfortunate, but at least it’s

existing, it’s operating.

Were the girls already gone from Elder High School when you were there?

No, I think it was in the first year I think they split. The girls

packed up and went to Seton. We were left without them; I don’t know

what occurred to bring that issue up. To decide what the best direction to

go, to split and of course in later years girls were welcome to take special

courses at Elder that they needed so it worked all right that way.

How long were you a Catholic school teacher?

Well, I was at Elder the whole time, I never taught at any other

place. {I taught there} 47.5 years

What was your role at Elder?

I taught drawing. In the beginning we were at least given the

benefit of what talent I had. In all, I taught free hand drawing,

architectural drawing, and mechanical drawing. Mechanical drawing was

the basis we worked from. Those who wanted architectural because I’m a

registered architect, because I was willing to take them on and teach them

something about it. We had a few architects graduate from Elder. So,

mechanical drawing was the basis, because I felt as though it benefited

those taking engineering. Some of the students coming back said that was

true and they thanked me for the experience that they had. Even those

going up to Columbus, some of the boys came back and said: “you know 258

we were taking Dentistry some of the problems we had to do are what you

gave us to do here at school.” I was really thankful for that.

What made you decide to teach at Elder?

I guess it was a feeling that I had to teach. I was looked upon what

I did as being a mission. That the Lord wanted me to do this. The way it

happened was rather along those lines, because Elder needed a drawing

teacher and they put an ad in the paper. I didn’t know what the ad was it

was for teaching for drawing. I thought well that looks like it-so low and

behold, when I called for it was Elder High School so I had an in right

there you know. They took me in, but because my credentials were

simply more of a master’s degree than anything I did, I was accepted by

the state on those grounds. I didn’t have any previous teaching

experience. I was put on probation for about 5 years. After that I became

a full member teacher.

What year did you start teaching at Elder?

1939. The odd thing is after he {Fr. Bredestege} (Appendix J)

accepted me to teach, he died very shortly after that, maybe just a matter

of months. So there I was {at Elder}, he put me in place.

How many lay teachers were there at Elder back then?

There were only two there, you remember Babe Bartlett and Joe

Cooler. Joe and I are good friends, I don’t know if he’s still living or not.

So that was it.

259

The rest were all priests?

Yes, that’s right. We were the only two, well maybe three of us.

Did you ever consider leaving Elder High School for another career?

I had offers, but I thought it wasn’t a good idea. For instance,

during the war one of my students came back from the University of

Illinois and said they were in need of a teacher like me. I said, “No I’m

staying here.” And even University of Cincinnati contacted me and they

wouldn’t give an offer, they wanted me to come up there for an interview

so I passed that up, too.

Do you remember your starting salary?

Not really. I guess it just about, well that was before we were

married, we were married in 44. It was meager. Just groping for the

word, but they were good to me and I ______as we grew on and finally

developed, we had six children. When we had four or five {children}

things were getting very, very tight as far as finances go, and I’ll say this

about Father Strittmatter, he went to bat, he knew the conditions and he

gave us a raise. I’m glad to put that in. I didn’t worry too much about it

except when it got to that one point where we weren’t making enough

salary really to cover expenses. We had built this house you see, we had a

lot, a lot of debt going on so it was a struggle, and at that point it was. We

kept on going and I enjoyed it, it was very satisfying and when I think

back now I kind of wonder how I did it. I’ve always had the faith, thank 260

God for that. I think that carried me along. I’ve always had that feeling

that I was doing that for Him.

How will Father Strittmatter be remembered at Elder High School?

I don’t know off hand, I don’t know what the occasion was but

some person’s objected to the pictures being in the lobby {principal’s

portraits were hung in Elder’s lobby, but were removed because of the sex

scandals}. I don’t know whether Tom {Otten} told you or not. They

wanted them all taken down, even if they didn’t abuse the rights, but they

finally decided to take them all down. I did suggest to Tom that maybe

just those you know who under surveillance or allegedly sexually abused.

I said why not just cover them with a purple cloth they {the public

wouldn’t know was under the cloth} don’t know who’s there; you could

say a prayer for them if you wanted to as you go by. I thought that would

serve the purpose, but that was too late. I think the consensus of opinion

was that they take them all down no problems, but I don’t like that. Those

who qualify were good teachers, who did their jobs well, they have to

suffer with the others, I don’t like that a bit. I hope some day they replace

them.

How did the institution change over time?

During the war year they were tough even the first floor over there.

We did our bit; the boys would stay after school, and what we did was

make model airplanes for the military service so those in training could

use them for identification. We made some Jap planes, and German 261

planes, all the different planes. I thought that was unique. I still

remember all the boys leaving. They were leaving their class, not

finishing really. {They were}probably drafted or they volunteered, but

they went into service and of course we got word of those who didn’t

come back, that was kind of hurting I think too. There was a lot of turmoil

during the war years. It wasn’t so bad I don’t think during the Vietnam

War when your namesake Paul Davis {no relation, an Elder graduate} lost

his life. Well, we got through it by just keep going and hoping and

praying and just wishing for the best.

The Second World War ends and all of a sudden in the late 1950s and 1960s the place just booms with enrollment.

Yes, the walls were bulging and the corridors were crowded.

Conditions like that are a little hard to live by that what it was. I know my

classes were crowded too sometimes I had a full 32 people in there, but

again we kept moving, kept going, everybody worked, everybody did their

job.

There were all of sudden more lay teachers than priests.

I don’t know when that started. What happened first unfortunately

some of the priests left teaching. That was unfortunate, but that started it

though. They come back now and then in the school I don’t whether they

kept their robe; they were usually in street dress and I still would address

them as Father; that would never leave me. I believe in the Lords’ work.

No matter what happens you are a priest forever. So that was a change in 262

things, seeing the priests go. That didn’t help matters then at all. Because

there was a lot of respect for them here at the school and they did a good

job teaching, but I guess it just had to happen. I look at those things and

say, “Well we don’t know why it happens we can’t make any judgment on

it.” Then lately with the abuses going on, what are you going to do, you

just have to accept it (as much as you can). You can’t say, “I’m washing

my hands of this I had nothing to with it, I don’t care about that,” that is

no way to do it. So, here we are up to present time.

How did the students change over the years?

It was more difficult to keep discipline, the changing of the times

did that, in the 60s it was headache. There again you had to accept what

was going on and just make the best of it. But I know it was more difficult

for the faculty then any other time. Because the kids were always, as you

remember in the 60s-that was when everything was being challenged you

might say, and the students just didn’t give the effort that they should

have. Too much disruption.

Were the classes too big?

Well that didn’t help no, see I had 32 tables which was the limit I

think, they couldn’t, follow state regulations and put in more, the room

was designed for that many tables so I couldn’t have any more. We would

have full classes sometimes because so many people were enrolled.

263

Was it more difficult to teach with 32 students, than 20 students?

Not really, if things go the way you expect them to go and the

cooperation is there. It doesn’t make a whole lot of difference then,

except in grading. That takes more time.

Did the lay teachers bring a different atmosphere when they came to Elder?

It wasn’t recognized at first, because they were all doing their job

in their room. That’s one thing about my work I had 5 classes and I didn’t

associate too much, when I was in the lounge room and so forth, there

were very few teachers in there. So I was kind of left, I wouldn’t say

isolated, but I didn’t have contact like the others had. That left me pretty

much on my own.

Did Catholicism change during that period of time?

Not at the school, because we always said prayers in the morning

and we said prayer when we left in the afternoon. I think the devotion was

there. We had gatherings even on the outside we had Masses if I

remember correctly. It was very much a Catholic school for any outsider

coming in and recognized everything. It was Catholic all through.

Will Elder endure? Will Elder High School still be around 25 years from now?

I would say it’s a matter of confidence. Do we have confidence in

the Elder Community as it is? Yes we do. All the way up to the hilt from

what it’s survived these past couple of years. So, to answer your question

I’d say definitely yes. That would be my attitude. 264

Does Elder need to be more diverse?

No I don’t think so. I it always had a full curriculum, a well

rounded education it doesn’t have to diverse into anything else.

What do you think is Elder’s greatest weakness?

Well a definite weakness it would be the influence by outside

forces. Drugs, I don’t know how much drugs were used; I know they were

used in school to a limited extent, but how much it effected the school.

The staff probably would know better on that. And I always, except in the

last years I got a little too old, I was not their generation so that affected

me in person, so it would be better for me to leave for someone younger to

come in. I left in 1986, 15-19 years gone by since.

Has anybody taught at Elder longer than you?

Not at this time, I’d say no, but they’re getting there. They’re all

trying.

Is it difficult retiring from an archdiocese school? Will enough be provided for these men as more and more retire every year? From a financial standpoint.

Yes, well you know that mine came pretty much all of sudden.

There was a gap there, but I got a feeling that everything was going to be

all right you think that maybe {would} surprise you. Everything was okay

and everything worked out, we had entitlements to go back on, social

security, little investments and so on. And the pension from the school

and it, I don’t know, did you suffer much Marsha {wife} when I left 265

school, did we have enough to go on, {her response} I was working part-

time. So, that helped me. We always paid the bills. We never finished the

house.

I forgot to mention we had a very critical time, I guess we had 4-5

kids at that time before Father Strittmatter realized that we needed more to

live on, Marsha decided to go back to work, she is a nurse. So the

hospital was right up here so that was convenient, but then from that point

on we had enough with her salary. You worked much longer, you retired

the year after I did. It looked good to Marsha.

What is the strength of Elder High School?

The strength is that it is there. I guess you realize, anybody

realizes that, religion is the strength, the fact that they are very devoted, I

think carries it along. I think Tom Otten would’ve agreed with that so

would Toby {Heile}.

266

Tom Otten

Length of Service: 36 Years

Role: Principal of Elder High School

Has your career always been here?

The entire time, I actually did my student teaching here, also. So,

yes, the entire time. I went to school here.

Why did you decide to come here and stay here?

When I was a kid I actually had a job here, when I was a

sophomore the principal hired me and I worked in the office during the

school year. Then in summertime with the longer days I was able to do

my things in the office in the morning and I went with the maintenance

crew in the afternoon. At the time they were busy hiring teachers so, I got

to work with the teachers as we went through the different classrooms

repairing the desks, the old runner desks, and so forth and we did some

work in the stadium when we removed all the wooden seats that used to be

there. So, I was working with a crew of teachers and it struck me, and I

can remember almost where it happened, up in 211; my first realization

that these guys have a lot of good times, they always seemed to be very

happy with their lot in life and they got along with each other so well.

They were coaches by-and-large and I thought maybe I ought to consider

this line of work and that is when I began to think about that. Eventually, 267

that is where it led me, and I knew that I wanted to at least try this line of

work and see how it did for me.

I was only a teacher really for three years and then I got into

administration, pretty much on an experimental basis. I said to the

principal at the time Father Gruber, actually Father Strittmatter (Appendix

J) was the transition guy, if I don’t like it can I go back. So, I have been an

administrator for over thirty years, thirty-three to be exact. I guess I like

it.

Have you ever considered going to a public school?

At one time I did. In 1976 we were expecting our third child, and

money was very tight. My wife had had a small job, just a couple nights a

week, to pull ends together and she had to give that up as a third child

came along. We thought we could make it. We were paying back some

loans for the house we had bought to a family member, her aunt, but it

came quickly apparent that the salary I was getting wasn’t going to make

it. So, I actually applied and interviewed for a couple positions. In the

one instance they were actually asking me to take a cut in pay to come be

a principal. In the other case I was in the final three, but I didn’t

make the final cut. Then along came an opportunity at Cincinnati State

(CTC at the time) and I worked there for twenty-four years, and that is

how I made ends meet. I had a job teaching evening school as many as

three nights, actually two nights and a Saturday, but most of my career

over there it was just two times a week, but it was enough to provide 268

eventually for our five kids. Now they are all pretty much grown, three of

them are in college. I have been out of Cincinnati State for almost three

years. When we began our capital campaign here at school I got out of it,

but I have very fond memories of Cincinnati State and the people over

there. It saved my career here. It made it doable.

Do you remember what your starting salary was when you first came here?

Forty-nine hundred and some dollars, I cannot remember what it

was but it was a shade under five thousand a year and I got to coach for

free. I was an assistant freshmen track coach for the class of seventy-two.

This was the spring of 1969 and those classes at that time had over five

hundred in them. The class size was somewhere in the neighborhood of

five hundred and forty. So, the track team was packed, wherever we went

we had to take two buses just for the freshmen team. We probably had to

be pushing about seventy or eighty kids on the track team. John Owens

was the head coach, and he got a hundred bucks, and I was the assistant

and I got to do it for free. The neat thing was that we got to spend time

with the kids, and we got bus rides all over the place. To this day that was

the only team I ever coached, but it was a wonderful experience for me.

We won the GCL {Greater Cincinnati League}. John had never coached

that sport before either, he was a football coach. He had gone to the

library and took out a fourteen day book on how to coach track. He had it

for seven days and read it, and he gave it to me and I had to read it and 269

take it back to the library before it expired. We won the darn GCL,

amazing.

What is the highest salary you ever earned as a Catholic school educator?

Probably right now. I think I am around seventy-three thousand,

and it is a twelve month position.

What are the benefits such as health care?

Now that is a changing moving target today. The school in a

situation like mine covers a single policy. My wife now is employed so

she has her single policy otherwise she would come under my plan and I

would pay for her. Our children that are in college are under my plan and

I pay extra for them. I kid with the students and faculty that the only real

perk I have is my parking spot has a roof over it. Occasionally when some

kid parks in there as they sometimes do, I give them what for and say that

is only good thing I have.

I tell you just being connected with this place is so special. I live

in the neighborhood and to be connected with a high profile school in this

community and throughout, and be recognized. I think people really

respect our faculty and staff in general for the job we try to do with our

kids. That part I think is the biggest perk. As far as other fringes the

archdiocese has a pension plan that is mediocre at best. We can’t

contribute to it so it doesn’t get any better than they make it. There is no

dental. There is no eye care. There is tuition remission, and that is a big

one. So if an employee wants to send their son to Elder High School it is 270

practically free. They only have to pay the fees. If you want to send your

daughter to one of the other high schools in the archdiocese, like Seton or

Mercy it is about half, which is a nice perk. Particularly since we don’t

pay very well, and so whenever I am looking for someone to work in the

office, to work on the maintenance staff, or to work as a teacher that is one

of the perks I tell them about. Because if I am paying the main office

person $6.50 an hour and I know they can go somewhere else and get a lot

better salary that is one of the nice things that they feel they can contribute

something back to their family is that they can send their sons through

here for maybe four hundred bucks for four years. That is a $25,000, at

this point, prize. You get two tickets for the game. You get to go all of

the dances that you can stand. There are other things. It is just a neat

place to be. Even at this point in my life I would never want to be

anywhere else. I can’t imagine it.

What could be done do to make the teaching experience better?

I am not sure what they can do. We just had a meeting last week at

LaSalle {another all-boy Catholic high school}. It was with principals

that were on a certain committee, there were about seven or eight there.

We all face the same challenges. Our pay scale is considerably lower than

the public high schools. So the people who come here to teach do so at a

sacrifice, and yet our tuition, ours next year will be just a shade under

$6,000; its $5,975 next year. We are asking parents to come up with

$6,000 next year {the tuition will be $6,300 for the 2004-2005 academic 271 year} to send their son here when they could send them, to say for instance, to Oak Hills at no cost at all, free. So they are making a tremendous sacrifice. Our personnel are making a sacrifice. That is the biggest challenge we face, and if you extrapolate the problem on into the future you can see it is only going to get worse. Because everything we do as far as our expenses, about 85 percent of that is tied in with personnel whether it is actually paying their salary or the fringe benefit package that comes with it, but it is around 83 percent to 85 percent for all the schools.

So that in itself is generated off of a salary scale which is a traditional type of thing in our industry. Even if you don’t increase your salary scale a number of people jump on the incremental scale just because they put in another year, so with doing nothing our expenses increase. When you increase the salary scale the cost jumps way out of proportion to the cost of living, and therefore to cover that tuition is out of bounds to the cost of living. So what people are seeing is if the cost of living is raised maybe three percent, they are going to see something maybe in the six percent to seven percent range here at Elder.

That is the problem and how they can deal with that I don’t know, because the diocese has a number of other things on their plate so to speak. They have a lot churches, they have all of the schools and we all going through the same thing. We are starting to take a look at as a group of high school principals and business managers is how we can cope in the future. Where is it going? The answer seems to be in endowments, and 272 whether it is too late or not, some of the schools have not begun their endowment programs, but we are very fortunate to have begun ours.

You got to look to the future and prepare for it as best you can.

The students, enrollment and everything are tied with that. You have certain fixed costs. I am running the school with about 1,000 students, and it would run more efficiently if I had 1,100 in the same building because I am still going to heat it, I am still going to light it, I would have to hire a few more teachers perhaps, but by-and-large if I lose students, say I dropped to 900 or 800 I still have those same fixed costs and now it is more per pupil. So, it is very imperative that we keep our enrollments as high as we possibly can, at an idea level. We exist in a changing environment on the west-side of town, the parishes fifty to eighty years ago; they were very Catholic and were just loaded with kids that were going to come here, that is not so right now. Our clientele come from further out in the suburbs then they did fifty years ago, even forty years ago when I went to school here. So people are making these tremendous financial sacrifices for their families to send their sons further into the city and it is changing the whole demographics of the thing.

The other thing that I think is probably key to this is the Catholic schools, even when you and I went to Elder, back in the sixties and early seventies there were a lot of priests. When I went to Elder I had only two lay teachers, every one of my teachers was a priest, and they were poorly paid. The same with grade schools. The nuns I had there were poorly 273 paid. Catholic education at that point was subsidized by the religious that were in our classrooms. I still say the lay teachers today subsidize it, but not nearly at the rate the sisters and the priests were doing it. That is why the religious now are in a world of hurt when there are not nearly enough of them to care for the old infirm members. Lay teachers that are raising families can’t possibly make the sacrifices that those people did, even though they are making a sacrifice. When the religious and priests were replaced with lay teachers we saw the costs really jump up. We haven’t had many priests here probably the past fifteen years. The replacement has taken place, but when people remember the good old days when they went to school here for $100 or $50. That is never going to happen again.

My dad was making a lot less money than I make, but proportionately it doesn’t stack up. It is all those reasons. I think that is a big challenge.

I think the Catholic Church, in our archdiocese at least, is beginning to notice there is a big problem, something we have been aware of. The archbishop {Archbishop Pilarczyk, the current head of the

Archdiocese of Cincinnati} has talked to us about it, he is very concerned that we are changing the mission of our schools that we are here for everybody, and that was true in the fifties, sixties, and seventies. But things have changed so dramatically. He is questioning, “Are we right, can we continue to charge these exorbitant amounts to families who may have $8,000 adjusted gross income.” How can you charge $6,000? We have a financial aid program. It is not where it needs to be to provide the 274

aid that is necessary, but this year 52 percent of our kids are getting some

form of financial assistance to attend Elder. The total cost of all of those

scholarships and financial aid is just a shade above $900,000. So we are

getting close to a million dollars in aid. We are trying, but it is not where

it needs to be. Our budget is around six million dollars. That is exclusive

of athletics and some of the other student services such as summer school

and things like that. That is just operations.

Have you lost teachers to public schools or private industry?

We had guys who have made a transition to different vocations I

guess you would call it. We haven’t really lost; yes we lost a couple that

has moved for one reason or another to a different school. Mostly it was

their spouse who was moving and they moved to a different side of

Cincinnati. We had two guys who left last year. They wanted to go and

be lawyers. So they found out teaching isn’t nice, it’s great. They

coached while they were here, but in the scheme of things it’s not

something that they wanted to be able to afford to do their whole life. It is

a decision, it has to be a conscious decision that your money is not going

to the first issue that you look for.

We have had other ones that have left for coaching opportunities.

Not that we don’t have coaching opportunities here; because we have

great teams and great kids with certain, I guess, mentality that they are fun

to coach, but there are these fringe benefit packages. I am thinking of an

individual in particular whose family has some medical issues. Our 275

medical package just does not stack up with what was found in the

Fairfield City Schools. So he had to make a decision for the good of his

family. So he moved on in that direction. But there have been guys who

have moved off. We had a young lady last year who decided not to pursue

her career here at Elder. We were making a transition into some more

technology that was not where she wanted to go, and it also provided her

with some time off to do some art work that she had been looking forward

to. Her children were all in high school, and this gave her some time to do

that.

So yes, there are some people that stay in the profession and move

for one reason. There are people who have moved out of the profession

entirely. But our turnover rate is very low so far. But we are at the

leading edge of about twenty some people that are going to probably

retire. We got more than two dozen of us that have more than thirty years

here at Elder and believe or not, there is a limit to how long you want to

do this.

Just like you supplemented your income at Cincinnati State, do you know how some of the teachers supplement theirs?

I think we all do it probably. At one time there were nine of us at

Cincinnati State. There are guys who have summer jobs here at Elder.

Something that is very popular-we run a summer program, and we hire

about fifteen guys that teach summer classes here. We took a look at this

not too long ago; if you are married, either you have a second job or your 276

spouse works. That is almost down the line what everybody is doing.

Either you are coaching; most of our coaches coach more than one sport,

so they might coach a fall sport, a spring sport, some combination. Some

coach all three seasons. Or your spouse works.

Do the coaches receive extra pay?

Yes, but its crap. I think our head football coach makes a little

over $4,000, and this year we made him work an extra five weeks. If you

paid them per hour I would hate to think that it was anywhere around a

quarter, twenty-five cents an hour. I do not know what it would be, but it

would scare the daylights out of me to actually sit down and figure it out.

That is off the league, so that any member of the Greater Catholic League

has the same price structure so that we are not stealing coaches from each

another. It all generates off of the same scale, so it would recognize years

of experience very much the same way as we do in the teaching

profession. If you are going to an assistant or head coach at Moeller High

School you are going to get the same pay as you are at Elder, at Purcell, or

at Chaminade-Julieanne. So you are not going to get rich unless you

move. And that is always an attraction too; the one coach I mentioned that

made a transition was a football coach. He got a nice boost in his salary

when he moved, and he got the benefit package to help his family with the

medical problems that they had, but there is a trade off though and it turns

out that it is our kids. So you got to make up your mind where you are

going. 277

For a teacher beginning their career here at Elder is it different now than when you started?

Absolutely, I started in the late sixties, and we were still building

enrollment towards what would eventually my second year would be over

nineteen hundred students here. As I mentioned before we are now at a

thousand students, the building as grown immensely in those last thirty-six

years. So the rooms were very crowded. It was pretty much, “Here is

your book there is your classroom, and good luck.” The presumption that

I think Father made when he hired us is that we could do the job. The

place was loaded; there are over two dozen of us here with over thirty

year’s experience, so if you think back we were a very young faculty,

because a lot of people have moved on in the meantime. A very young

faculty, rooms horribly overcrowded, there was no less than forty-two kids

in the room. I don’t think I was ever visited the three years I was a

teacher, ever. Discipline was dispensed very rapidly. With nineteen

hundred kids eventually you had to; you didn’t have time to sit down and

counsel kids to find out why they were acting the way they were. Things

like attention deficit, unknown. All the problems we had that we now

recognize, unknown. Learning disabilities, I don’t remember being taught

in my education courses, but certainly we are all very much aware of

them. There were no I.D.P.’s. There was very little way in outside help. 278

There were no school psychologists. There was no school nurse. And thank God for that lady today. Probably one of the most respected positions we have in our school is the lady that takes care of all of us teachers and students alike.

There is so much difference. It is a slower pace. It is a lot more serious today. We have a very clear focus on what our goals are. If I thought back and tried to put it together, and I might be wrong at this, but it was pretty much like I said, “There is your classroom, good luck.” We knew we had to get through the geometry book, the algebra book, whatever it happened to be. We talked to our department chair, but got very little direction. He was busy also. My department chair was also the disciplinarian. If you could imagine, he taught two classes on a six period day, and was disciplinarian for eighteen to nineteen hundred students.

There was no way he was ever going to make it to our classroom. So it was pretty much just the survival of the fittest.

Today we have mentors for the young teachers. We take time with them; at least I hope we do. We take time to talk to them, and I think all of that helps. Most of us when I was hired on were Elder graduates, so we were coming back four years after we left, and it was a great privilege to work for the people that taught us. We hadn’t fallen that far astray, and we pretty well knew what Elder expected, what it was about. So we just continued to teach those same things we were taught.

279

The tuition this year is?

This year it is $5,600. Next year it is $5,975, (the tuition for the

2003-2004 year will be $6,300), and the parish pays $100 of that. The

family is expected to pick up the difference {the 2003-2004 tuition will be

$6,300} But like I said 52 percent of our families receive some sort of

financial assistance.

Where do the kids get the rest of the money?

Pretty much from their folks, very few kids work and contribute

directly to their education. Which is I think far different than when you

and I would remember that. I think at the time families were definitely

larger. I came from a family of eight. I was the oldest. I am not aware of

more than three families that come to mind right now that would fit that

category. Most of us walked to school. I lived over a mile away, and

walked every day for four years, almost every day. The one day my mom

let me have the car I forgot that I had it here and walked home anyway.

So I had to walk back up and get the damn car. I had a sister at Seton and

a brother at Elder by the time I was a senior. I forgot the original question

(repeated question). I think parents pay for the tuition.

How much has tuition gone up during your thirty-six years here?

When I started as business manager in seventy-one my memory,

and it could be faulty, that it was $212.50.

280

To what do you attribute the huge rise in tuition?

Pretty much what I said before, the demise of the priests in our

profession caused most of the upswing; those guys were paid close to

nothing. I mentioned that I started at $4,900 we start them at $29,000

now. There are fewer priests and they were replaced by lay teachers who

make more money, and everything works off of a salary scale. Pretty

much it does not end. It used to end at twelve years experience, because

that was pretty much what was happening, except for Paul Stryker he was

the exception to the rule. Now it extends out to thirty-seven years. We

have guys that have been here over forty years, but they are frozen if you

will, but if you bump the scale 2 percent they get a 2 percent. Guys get

some sort of an incremental along the way; they will get 7 percent that

year. That is what happens. It is the incremental increase, and it is the

replacement of personnel with lay people.

Are all of your students Catholic?

No, most but not all.

Where do the non-Catholic students come from?

From our feeder parishes, they live in the Elder district. They

don’t live outside of our district, by-and large we have so few students that

come from outside of our district. I think last year, I have a list, maybe

twelve, thirteen kids in the freshmen class out of 280 live outside the

district, and there sort of borderline people because some of the parishes

don’t have schools. They may live in an area outside of our district and 281

come to a school inside our district, so they have grown up with these

other kids, and want to continue to go to school with them.

Is the tuition the same for the non-Catholic kids as the Catholic kids?

The tuition is the same except they have to pay the $100 that the

parishes pay for the other kids. So, next year they will have to pay the full

$5,975.

If you could predict the future, what changes would you predict for the

Catholic schools?

The schools that are financially stable will survive, and stay

around. The ones who are not financially stable will be in trouble. You

can’t run a losing operation.

How many teachers at your school are priests? How many are women?

There are two priests, and we are fortunate to have them. There

are a handful of women faculty members, but much of our staff is women.

What changes do the female teachers bring to this setting?

They really don’t bring much of a change. Unlike the male

teachers, the students on Monday don’t seek the female teachers out and

talk about what defenses were run during the football game over the

weekend. But there are not a lot of differences. The one thing they do

bring to the building is a softening, and at times that is what is needed

around here.

282

What can be done to attract young teachers to this career?

Maintain academic standards that teacher’s value. It always comes

around to that. Maintain the Catholic school values, because that is our

mission, and finally, uphold the athletic traditions. I know there are times

people think this is over-emphasized, but it is important. It puts a face on

us, and keeps us out in the public. But in the end it all comes down to:

where is the money going to come from to maintain the standards of a

school such as this?

283

Chapter 7

Discussion and Conclusions

From the historical research it is obvious that the Catholic Church in

America felt a strong need to build and maintain its own schools; an educational system where many of its roots and traditions were developed in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Under the leadership of Archbishop Purcell, the Catholic Church in

Cincinnati helped build the structure that was the foundation of American

Catholic schools. This leadership, which continued under the direction of

Archbishops Elder, Moeller and McNicholas, created a Catholic school system which educated thousands of students in the Greater Cincinnati area for over one hundred years.

This accomplishment should not be underestimated; up until the last quarter of the twentieth century, the Catholic school system in America not only achieved the mission of educating students in the traditions and rituals of the

Catholic Church, cultivating an immigrant population, and preparing their children to compete in the secular world; but they accomplished these goals in an affordable way. This achievement occurred despite continuing religious intolerance, the Great Depression, a baby-boom, and an enormous rearrangement of where Americans lived after World War II. These facts are borne out in the literature and the history of Catholic schools across America. They can also be found in the history of Cincinnati neighborhood schools, such as Elder High

School. 284

But the success of the first hundred years of Catholic schools in America is not what this research project was ultimately about. This study is about what happened to Catholic schools in the United States after the Second Vatican

Council. It is this moment in history when these private schools changed; changes that can be found all the way to the core of what these schools were initially about when they were established in the nineteenth century.

Since Vatican II the rituals and traditions that the Catholic schools worked so hard to preserve were no longer applicable. The Second Vatican Council turned the old ways upside down. For the first time in the history of the Church the laity took on an important role inside the day-to-day operation of the Church, which, caused thousands of clergy to reexamine their vocation. As a result many of them eventually returned to laity. This fact, which is substantiated numerous times by the research, caused a domino effect that put the affordability of Catholic education in jeopardy and risked the mission of the faith to prepare all Catholic children to succeed in the competitive workplace.

This reality can be established not just by the research and literature, but is substantiated by the stories of the people who lived through the changes. They provide documentation of the transition from an education system supported in large part by the clergy to one supported by the lay people. The oral histories of educators at Elder High School, a traditional Catholic neighborhood school, bear witness to the experiences of the people living with the consequences of religious and political decisions made by the Catholic Church, and the influence these 285 decisions had on Catholic education. Chuck Knepfle put it this way in his interview:

So, I think the Church itself has a problem. Not just the activity of

some of the priests and their doing. Personality wise, but just they need to

get with it and say; “what’s the deal with no women and no married

people.” That’s where I am with that so that’s a problem I have with the

Catholic Church. I don’t think it affects me, I think it affects the system

though, by not having enough priests out there day in and day out going

into the schools; like when you and I were kids. The pastor was there

once a week, the assistant pastor was there all the time during lunch,

talking to you, and rubbing elbows with you.

It is obvious from the research that the Church is not the same. But how has it changed, and can the rich heritage that was the foundation of Catholic schools be defined? As Ken Laake, a co-chair of Elder’s Religion Department stated: “Oh goodness gracious, since Vatican II we’ve been reinventing the

Church.”

In concluding this research project it is important to study the individual issues facing Catholic education as we begin the twenty-first century.

Catholicism

The rituals and traditions

The history is very clear that initially the hierarchy of the early American

Catholic Church felt it was under attack, and in order for the Catholic faith to 286 survive in the United States a school system which would teach these rituals and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church was necessary. This was the most important mission of these schools. The question then becomes, what are the rituals and traditions of the modern Catholic Church, and how are they to be upheld?

In examining the oral histories of these fifteen individuals it is very clear that all of them have a great love for their faith, and believe what they are doing is important from a spiritual point of view. Almost all of them feel great passion for what they believe the Catholic Church stands for, and that the mission of Elder

High School, and for all Catholic schools is to preserve and enhance the Catholic belief. To many of these Catholic educators this is foremost the reason these schools were established, and what separates them from other forms of education.

This passion and excitement can be found in the words of Tom Bushman and

Katie Umberg.

That’s why it’s here today. Elder exists because of Jesus Christ.

And that’s the values that we try to reaffirm and pass on. Pass on to the

students that go here….It’s a great place for a young man to grow up

(Tom Bushman).

I really like the fact that religion has a part in the schooling here. I

love school Masses and the fact that everyone gets to go like that. I love

that you can hang a crucifix in your classroom without getting lawsuits.

That you can talk about things religious, talk about faith, morals, and that

sort of thing without the heat coming on. {I like the fact} that I can wear a 287

cross to school if I want to and be able to pass my faith on to other people.

I thought that was really neat. Retreats in high school were extremely

powerful for me (Katie Umberg).

What is not always clear from their oral testimonies is how that will continue to happen. Most of them believe the laity has done a wonderful job in the transition from a Church where the rituals and traditions were based on hard fast rules and sometimes mysterious traditions. In responding to the question on whether the mission of Elder High School has changed Roger Auer, Elder’s

Campus Minister and Director of Community Service states:

It continues on often because we have a lot of folks in the

{religion} department who are Elder grads or are from other parochial

secondary schools. Grads that have a feel for what it’s supposed to be,

and have a desire to pass it on. So all the products of the education are

still there, and they’re going to be educating still. Now I think in some

senses it is better, yes. With regards to religion. In fact it was even

acknowledged by Father Rudemiller {he is a graduate, former teacher, and

athletic director at Elder. He is currently a pastor at one of the feeder

schools}. He was here for my 1972; I guess it was my 30 year reunion.

He had the Mass and he acknowledged that some of the priests didn’t want

to be teachers; some of them were so involved in the parish at the time that

they didn’t have a whole lot of time to be educators and because of the

fact that our folks are full-time now and obviously dedicated to the school.

In some situations it is better. 288

That belief is not completely universal. There is a feeling by some that the

Church has gone too far in eliminating the hard-core structure to a more feel-good mentality of the Catholic religion. Father Rettig, one of Elder High School’s remaining priests falls into this category.

There’s a move with changes which will be coming out in the

parishes shortly of a more traditional approach, more reverence for the

Blessed Sacrament, moving back to some of the things that people have

gotten away from in worship. I think in the teaching of religion they’re

going to go back to more of a content approach rather than being an

experience or faith thing. But that’s in process now and it’s going to take

some while. For instance, the Kairos Retreats which they use right now,

I’m not the biggest fan of them. It kind of aims to give them as I perceive

it, an emotional high, but it doesn’t carry over; it doesn’t cause them to

want to go to Mass more. I’ve started to tell the couples I have for

marriage when you talk about your Sunday Mass attendance look at it than

more than just yourself, but it’s your way to make a contribution to the

Catholic community, your witness value carries over, and I think that will

come back in there. I would think these Kairos Retreats will either pick

up that element or fade away in the not too distant future.

This conflict and the lack of guidance by the religious leaders of the

Catholic Church need to be addressed.

Well, to be honest, when Jerry Schaeper {deceased former

principal} was still here I said, “hey, look at what’s happening around us 289

here, you’re still a man of the cloth, but hardly anybody else is. Can we

get the archbishop in, to kind of recognize that this change was being, was

going on.” So, we got him here, but that’s not what he said when he got

here, there was very little encouragement. It was basically, these are the

things that you folks are doing, and these are jobs that we are doing or are

qualified to do. Now I don’t know exactly what he meant by “we’re.”

There so few folks around, it was a very, very discouraging, very you

missed the point, or you missed the opportunity. Because the fact is the

lay folks, if we are not passing it on, it’s not going to get passed on, not at

Elder High School. So either you acknowledge that and support that. You

don’t keep pretending that is not the case. And that’s what I felt was

taking place (Roger Auer).

This problem will in all likelihood be settled over time, but the question then becomes, will parents and supporters of Catholic education provide for the schools when the spiritual mission of Catholic education is clearly defined one way or another. According to the oral histories the answer is very positive when the question of the future of Elder High School is addressed.

Absolutely, the strength of this community is so unbelievable that

there’s no question in my mind. There’s always a question, just as every

year the senior class has to meet the challenge; are they going to be able to

pass on the spirit on to the next {class}, are they going to be able to

uphold it. I’ve seen every year the answer is yes. However it’s going to

be done I think we hit the biggest obstacle when we went from the 290

relatively low paid clergy to an almost exclusively all laity faculty. If you

would’ve asked people 10 years before that happened; what’s going to

happen if you lose the priests or the nuns from some of the other schools.

Well, we’ll go out of business because we can’t afford it. The answer was

we saw the value, the community saw the value, and they did the hard

thing. Now it would be great if the government finally sees some way to

make this work a little bit more fairly I think, but people will do what they

see value in. I think our administration, our community, the alumni; I feel

sorry for other schools because we do such a good job, and I know some

other schools aren’t as lucky and I don’t know a system wide if it will last,

but I know we will. I’m absolutely confident (Ken Laake).

We have a tradition, people believe in the tradition, and I think

they’re going to continue to believe in the tradition even if it gets more

expensive. I think they’re still going to be willing to give the money for it

(Ed Menkhaus).

I feel like this family will be here 31 years from now. Exactly

what it will look like or what condition it will be in I don’t know. I think

the values will be here. I think the people will still have the love of

institution, and the love of the people who are in this institution. That’s

about all I could hope for (John Ploehs).

It is clear from all of the interviews that the participants felt the basic mission of Elder High School has not changed over time. They believe that their profession is to educate young men in the essential Catholic principles, and to 291 prepare them for life after high school. Elder High School was designed to be a comprehensive secondary school, and it still has that mission. Toby Heile defines a comprehensive school this way:

It’s one where you invite students of all academic levels and

you’re there, so you’re not strictly a college-prep school and you’re not

advertising that you’re a college-prep school, and 99.9 percent of your

kids go to college. You’re saying we’re open to all levels of students,

however, most of the kids; the greatest percentage is college prep.

However, you’re saying you are not going to close the door to the kids that

are the lower levels. They’re going to go out of here and get a job when

they leave; they’re going into the army, military, whatever….

It is this preparation piece that has changed over the last thirty years. For approximately the first three-quarters of the twentieth century students leaving high school had more options. They could go on to college, join the military, work in a factory or some other blue-collar job, or go to the seminary. Over the last several years many of these options have disappeared. Fewer students are able to live the “American Dream” without some sort of college. Fewer join the military, and almost no one goes to the seminary. Because of this students attend a high school like Elder usually end up going to college. This is a deviation from the early original mission of Catholic schools. Again the words of Toby Heile:

I think it is. It’s more difficult to maintain the . . . the

comprehensive school because it’s more difficult to get the kids from

around here that live in this area, and the lower income kids to come 292

here…. We have a million dollars worth of aid that’s given out this year,

but we could easily give out two million.

The research shows that these Catholic neighborhood secondary schools were intended to be comprehensive schools, a school that was designed for all types of Catholic students with all types of career aspirations. Therefore the question becomes, will Catholic schools be able to continue to provide the education and skills for students without interest in or ability for post-secondary education.

Cost has also become a factor that interferes with the ability of Catholic education to live out it mission. Originally these schools were free for the students. The parishes took care of the costs, but that this is not true anymore, and it will never again be true (Appendix F). Consequently, if the schools are not designed for a student who has no interest in college, or if they can not afford

$6,000 plus a year for tuition; the school has become an institution for the upper middle class, university bound student. This is not what the founders and designers of Catholic schools ever anticipated.

But is anyone noticing this change? According to Tom Otten they are:

I think the Catholic Church, in our archdiocese at least, is

beginning to notice there is a big problem, something we have been aware

of. The archbishop {Archbishop Pilarczyk, the current head of the

Archdiocese of Cincinnati} has talked to us about it, he is very concerned

that we are changing the mission of our schools that we are here for

everybody, and that was true in the fifties, sixties, and seventies. But 293

things have changed so dramatically. He is questioning, “Are we right,

can we continue to charge these exorbitant amounts to families who may

have $8,000 adjusted gross income.” How can you charge $6,000?

The problem with the high cost of Catholic secondary education has other ramifications for the future health of these schools. If the tuition of Catholic schools continues to increase many parents may have to make serious choices of how to spend dollars allocated for their children’s education. Recent economic conditions have resulted in the cost of going to state supported colleges and universities to sky-rocket. Because of this many parents may have to make the choice between sending their children to a Catholic educational system or to institutions of higher learning. There seems to some evidence of this already happening with parents beginning to make choices between sending their children to Catholic elementary schools (feeder schools) or Catholic secondary schools.

Toby Heile, the director of Development said this about parents reaching the point where they can’t afford to send their children to Catholic schools:

We’ve talked about that line since the 70s and 80s and we keep

saying where is that line; it just looks like it’s going to be broken slowly. I

don’t think it’s going to be a crash thing but we’re going to see that it’s

going to erode in the Catholic schools…. It’s just where do you stop, it

spirals and I think they’re having a lot of difficulty; and I think this year

we’re seeing more attrition in the grade schools that we really haven’t seen

in the past financially. 294

Again the concept that Catholic schools are becoming elitist looms on the horizon.

An additional challenge to the mission of Catholic schools is the lack of diversity. Many lower class families can not afford Catholic education. The

Second Vatican Council intended that the education system provided by the

Church would be available to people of all economic status and various religious faiths and cultures. As in the middle of the nineteenth century, this country is going through another wave of immigration. This country is seeing Hispanics, many of whom are Catholic, coming to America; and like the Irish they are taking low paying jobs while searching for a better life for their children. The path to that life can be only obtained through education. This upsurge is causing apprehensions that are not dissimilar to the issue of Irish immigration. The difference this time is that the Catholic Church may not be in a position to help pull or push these Catholics through the class structure. Elder High School maintains that it does try to be more diverse; according to John Ploehs:

I remember Jerry Schaeper saying he thought he was doing

everything in his power to attract diversity, whether it was minority or

other religions, or whatever it might have been. His opinion was, and I

guess I agree with it, that Elder has an image and other people’s

perception of that image is it’s a white male middle class institution. If

you’re not white, male, middle class you’re going to have a bit of a

disadvantage there. I don’t think anybody’s given a better or lesser chance

regardless of who they are; but the perception outside as far as getting 295

your foot in the door it that if you’re not Catholic, white, middle class,

male, that’s probably not for you.

But as the community changes and the demographics of urban America adjusts can Elder become more ethically and racially diverse, especially with the high costs of tuition?

Catholic schools are reaching an important crossroads as to whether their school systems are for everyone or whether they for those who can afford it. If the ultimate decision is that these schools are to remain for all Catholics, no matter what the students’ economic background; then Catholic schools must find a way to supplement student’s tuition. If instead Catholic schools are for those who can afford them, then they have gone outside of their original mission, and they have become a school system that cannot serve everyone simply because of costs.

It appears from the oral histories that Elder High School, under the vision and leadership of Father Schaeper and Tom Otten, has positioned itself to help most students who want to attend Elder, but the quest for dollars, over and above tuition, must continue. Elder High School has dedicated itself to finding the dollars, and the community of Elder seems to positively respond to this pursuit.

The current sex scandals

The contributors to this oral history believe that there is no immediate impact on their school from the sex scandals that rocked the Catholic Church and

Elder High School. The evidence appears to support this. Elder’s enrollment and 296 financial support is going up. However, if contributions are down in the neighborhood Catholic parishes, the feeder schools could find themselves hurting financially. This could cause a decrease in enrollment and a damaged reputation for these elementary schools, which could lead to problems for Elder and other neighborhood Catholic schools in the future. The other concern may be as tuition keeps going up (Elder has announced a $300 increase for next year) the sex scandals may be a convenient excuse for some parents to send their children to public schools. Roger Auer put it this way:

I haven’t seen it; it seems to be a non-issue to the kids who are

here right now. Not an issue. In the future, I’m not exactly sure how it’s

going to affect the parishes in the long run. Some parishes talk about

attendance down and so on. I think if it affects Elder it’s going to be in

that direction. That there’s going to be disillusionment with the Church,

there’s going to be less people involved in the parish and ultimately less

people involved at Elder. But I don’t see a rejection of Elder as an

institution. I think there has been a rejection of Catholicism that would

eventually show itself as a rejection of Catholic education. Haven’t seen it

yet but that’s where I think it would come from.

But a much more direct impact is the psychological impact on the educators themselves. Some of these individuals feel betrayed and abandoned by the archdiocese. At some point the archdiocese needs to address this problem.

The long-time educators believe they deserve some sort of explanation, and the younger faculty needs to be reassured. If the laity is taking over the religious 297 education of its youth; then the clergy, especially the hierarchy, need to make the lay administrators and teachers equal partners in developing and delivering the message of the Church and its schools. This strategy would in all likelihood help solve the distrust that Catholic parents may be developing toward Catholic schools. Given the authoritarian tradition of the organization, the sharing of responsibility for the direction of the educational system will happen slowly, if at all.

The Differences

The students

Students no matter what their background, reflect society has a whole.

This theme was a part of a number of the oral histories. More students are coming from some sort of broken homes. They are interested in the internet, and all of the other things young men in high school would be interested in.

I think if you want to say has society changed over the years, yes.

Have our students changed, yes. We’re thinking back in the mid-60s

when I came back here to teach and that’s when we had the boom, we

actually had 2000 students here, Paul. And they reflected society then,

and then you had Vietnam. If you look up on the third floor or maybe the

second floor of the building here and you see the hair styles {pictures of

the graduating class} and the protests and the whatever, we had students

reflected that as they came through here and now we have the same type,

students are dealing with the internet and MTV, and yes students have 298 changed some. But basically the students are, most of them, very good kids. Who really need and want what Elder has to offer. Yes, we’ve changed a little, society, again I don’t think we have 50 percent of the student body that is coming from troubled-homes but we certainly have more now today than we did when I first started here. When I first started here I would earmark maybe one or two students that were in that situation. So we do have more in that situation today (Tom Bushman).

They’re still good kids. One of the trade offs I was talking about was dealing with the kind of kids that we have here, and that’s a good trade off. It has been a very positive thing for me. I’m not saying we don’t have discipline problems, we do, but our discipline problems pale in comparison to some other schools that I hear about. Kids are different. I think they are a little different in what I would call intellectual curiosity.

When I first started here and really for the next 15-20 years or so, it would not be unusual for a kid to come up to me after class, and say, I really enjoyed this novel, what else did this guy write? Very seldom do you hear that anymore. Not that the kids aren’t as intelligent. They are in some way more intelligent, because they have been exposed to more. It’s a very complex issue; I think information is perhaps too readily available to kids these days, and again that sounds like an old-fogie. But you remember in the old days when you did a research paper you were weeks and weeks in the library going through card catalogs. Now you can sit down at a computer and in one three-hour evening have more research than you can 299

possibly use. I’m not saying that’s bad; I’m just saying sometimes when

information, especially educational information, is too available A) You

don’t appreciate it enough. B) You don’t ask enough intelligent questions

as to its validity. That is a real problem with stuff on the internet; kids

automatically believe it and C) I really believe that when you produce a

research paper; having put in many, many, many hours there is a certain

element of educational pride that perhaps the kids don’t have. It is a

complex issue; it would take me a long time to comment too much more

on it. If I see a difference in kids, and it’s not their fault, it is the fault of

technology. I think things are too easily accessed. To me that hurts what I

like to call intellectual curiosity. I think kids are programmed to the point

where they just kind of sit back and kind of allow things to come to them,

both in the areas of education and information, rather than say I’m going

to get up, go out, and find it do it for myself. I think that is not just

education; I think that’s culture. I think that’s the way the culture has

changed over the years (Joe Acito).

But this is no different than any other era at Elder High School. In Paul

Stryker’s interview he talked about students during World War II:

We did our bit; the boys would stay after school, and what we did was make model airplanes for the military service so those in training could use them for identification. We made some Jap planes, and German planes, all the different planes. I thought that was unique. I still remember all the boys leaving. They were leaving their class, not finishing really. {They were}probably drafted or 300 they volunteered, but they went into service and of course we got word of those who didn’t come back, that was kind of hurting I think too.

He also discussed the problems of drugs during the 1960s:

It was more difficult to keep discipline, the changing of the times

did that, in the 60s it was headache. There again you had to accept what

was going on and just make the best of it. But I know it was more difficult

for the faculty then any other time. Because the kids were always, as you

remember in the 60s-that was when everything was being challenged you

might say, and the students just didn’t give the effort that they should

have. Too much disruption.

If this theme of students being a mirror of society is true, then what does it tell us about the future? There really is no way to know, but an answer may be found in what the Catholic Church will look like over the next several years.

According to Peter Steinfels (2003) attendance at Mass is dropping and so are contributions, and this could be a problem in the future. If the rituals and traditions of the Catholic Church become less important to the future generations, they could be reluctant to send their own children to Catholic schools.

Students are also being altered by the growth of technology both at home and in the classroom. Ed Menkhaus, Assistant Principal of Academics, said this about the future of education:

That’s difficult to say, because I’m not sure what’s going to

happen to education in general with the internet. For example we had

summer school for years and years and last year we had a dramatic cut in 301

summer school. The reason is some schools allowing their students to

take their remedial courses on line. As soon as they answer a certain

number of questions right, and cover the material, they’ve got the credit.

They don’t need a teacher for this anymore. I think that is going to play,

have an impact on all of it, education. A lot of kids are going to become

more and more responsible for their own education and how that’s going

to affect Elder, I’m not sure. In the foreseeable future I don’t think it’s

going to affect it too much, but in the next 10 years, 20 years, or 30 years

down the road I’m not sure how kids are going to be educated, because

they can get every bit of knowledge that there is in the world from their

computer keyboard. It’s just a matter of how much do you need that

person to explain why, and how things fit together. The knowledge they

can get, and the other aspects they still need a teacher.

This phenomenon is happening to all students no matter what educational system they are attending. This transformation will not only affect how educators will teach students, but it will add more costs to the operation of the schools, because of the expense of keeping technology current.

The whole concept of how students are changing was addressed by many of the interviewees.

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The parents

Another reflection of changes in society as a whole is changes in parenting witnessed by these educators. Many of the interviewees talked about parents being more involved and concerned about their sons. Again Tom Bushman:

Yes, I think they have somewhat. Some are better, because I think

they can take a more active interest, now the way the school is. I think

more and more are involved with the education here. I think the alumni

are stronger now. I think those people who have been through here and

are willing to take their time and their talents and their pocketbooks to

help sacrifice for others to go here. We have many more students who are

on financial assistance than any other, . . . Good parents and the ones I

enjoy working with are the ones who realize their sons are human beings

and that they are going to encounter some difficulties as they go through

high school and beyond. And they’re willing to work through the problem

with them; they’re willing to accept their sons when they make mistakes

or when they do real well and still work with them. There are some

parents today who love their children so much that sometimes they get

into the enabling business and their sons you have to take away every

problem for them. I’m finding a few more parents along those lines and

maybe it’s me getting a little less tolerant of that, but I find a few more

getting a little more enabling, wanting everything to be perfect for their

son, and really it wasn’t perfect for me here at Elder and it probably

wasn’t perfect for you, and it’s not perfect anywhere. 303

There are positive and negative aspects to this. On the positive side, parents feel the need and the opportunity to be more involved. With the loss of the clergy, and the changes surrounding the Church because of the Second

Vatican Council, parents are in a position to have a much larger voice regarding

Catholic schools. The negative side is because the cost is so high some parents feel they are entitled to dictate to the school’s administration and faculty on policy and curriculum issues. They are less willing to accept discipline as delivered in the past.

I think the one big change is that when you pay more for the

education parents tend to think you ought to do a whole lot more for them.

They expect more, and they have more demands for you, more specific

things. They think basically you should hand lead the kid to an education,

and if he doesn’t get an education it’s your fault not the kid’s fault. I think

it’s true, the old adage back then, if a teacher swatted a kid, he’d get worse

when he got home, now when somebody even yells at a kid the parent

comes back and yells at the teacher instead of yelling at the kid. So, I

think they’re more protective of their kids, and they expect more from the

teachers than they ever did before, teachers and administrators (Ed

Menkhaus).

The faculty

Elder High School has been very blessed by the dedication and passion these individuals have shown for Catholic education and its mission. There can 304 be no mistake that all of the participants of this oral history project love their profession, their institution, and their religion, but can this fervor be maintained?

The participants believe it can. The new faculty members that took part in this project also love Elder High School and their chosen profession. The challenge that Elder High School and other Catholic schools face is whether or not they will be able to afford quality teachers in the future. Surprisingly, salary was not as big an issue as I thought it would be. For many of these educators the intangible benefits are far more important.

I guess this year, what am I making about $50,000 I’m not sure the

exact figure it’s just really nice to do your job, you enjoy what you’re

doing you just sign the contract every year and you just make do with

what you have (Tom Bushman).

I don’t know what it is now. I don’t pay all that much attention to

it. My wife’s working; we can pay the bills (Ed Menkhaus).

Well it would be this year, what is it $52 {or} $53,000. I should

know the exact figure, but I keep signing one-year contracts because I’m

happy; not because of the money (John Ploehs).

So little, I think it’s completely outweighed {salary}. That

probably has to do partly with the fact that I’m single, no family, and I

don’t have a lot of financial responsibilities right now. But I think it’s

definitely outweighed by the benefits that are from being here. Even the

extra time that I would have to be spending in a public school with all of 305

their requirements would definitely be paid for by the salary difference

(Katie Umberg).

During the interviews many of the veteran educators expressed tremendous concern about the retirement benefits provided by the archdiocese.

Joe Acito put it this way, “I know for a fact with our younger faculty the retirement is a very big issue. A much bigger issue than it was for me, when I was their age.” Craig James, a newer faculty member, expressed his concern for the whole financial package this way: “I think that they could make an investment in us, the way that we’re making an investment in the schools that comprise the system.” Finally Ed Menkhaus states his reasons why the retirement plan may be the key to the future of hiring younger quality faculty members, “I think the retirement thing is going to become an issue. I think the reason it wasn’t an issue is because we didn’t have older lay teachers when I was here who talked at all about it.”

The Catholic school system must find a way to invest in the future of its educators. Because of the passion and love the participants have for their chosen profession, salaries can be lower than their public school counterparts, but there needs to be a way for Catholic educators to retire gracefully. It is in the best interest of the teachers and the schools that improvement in the retirement system be a goal. For many teachers the prospect of burnout becomes greater after thirty years of experience. It only seems fair that Catholic educators should be able to retire gracefully, and putting in place a better retirement system might be cost efficient for the schools themselves. If you look at the salaries of the veteran 306 teachers who participated in this study the salaries are almost at the point where a school could hire two teachers for the price of one.

Attracting young teachers to Catholic schools needs to be an important part of the visionary process of Catholic schools. For better or worse, Elder High

School has a reputation of hiring teachers with strong connections to the school.

This philosophy allows the school to maintain its passion and close ties to the community, and it also creates an environment where people want to work. Much of this can be attributed to the principals; especially the late Father Schaeper and

Tom Otten.

I think the school does a really good job of making the teaching

experience good. Certainly our principal, Tom Otten, goes out of his way

to support the faculty, and of course as any teacher knows, support from

the administration is very, very important. Our administration does a good

job of that, they always have. I worked for {Father} Gruber, {Father}

Strittmatter, {Father} Kuhn, {Father} Schaeper, and now Tom Otten, so

five principals. All the principals I’ve worked for have been very

supportive; I got along with some better than others-just a personality

thing; but they’ve been very supportive so the school does a really good

job that (Joe Acito).

He {Tom Otten} solicits our opinions and gives them a lot of

weight. Not that we make the decisions, but his decisions are usually well

tempered with what we have to say (Rick Nohle). 307

I love Mr. Otten; he is so nice and caring. As soon as you walk in

he’s just so welcoming, they all are (Katie Umberg).

Timing was really important, when he came in here we didn’t

know what his agenda was at all, we thought he was going to clean house.

But it was one of the best things that happened to Elder at the time

because, for some reason, it was a mixture of him as a leader but also the

economy turning around that got us into where we are today and I think

Tom Otten really did a hell of a job in succeeding him and maintaining

that growth and strength…. Father Schaeper had a heck of an impact

(Toby Heile).

No matter how it is accomplished, Catholic school systems must come to the realization that attracting qualified new teachers in the future will take more than just finding those that are dedicated to the Catholic faith. The Elder High

School way of creating an atmosphere where teachers feel they are making a difference in young people’s lives may be the best way.

Final Thoughts, Observations, and Recommendations

It appears that Elder High School has positioned itself well for the future, but Elder High School is part of a much larger Catholic school system. Over one hundred years ago great minds and Catholic leaders came together to form what we know as the Catholic schools. To succeed these individuals had to have courage, wisdom, and perseverance. They had to be willing to look at events that were swirling around them and into the future. This process, with full input by all 308 of the stakeholders, must happen again in order to address the needs and concerns of Catholic education. Catholic schools have educated and inspired thousands of students, but there are questions of whether this can continue. The Catholic education system is in danger in becoming an elitist school system. Catholic schools need to rise to the challenge of educating a new immigrant population.

They need to decide how to find the resources to continue to train their students who are not interest or able to go to college. The leaders of the Church need to develop ways to attract and invest in young dynamic educators, and they find new teachers with the passion and love that their predecessors had for their profession.

The tensions between the traditions and the mission of the Church’s educational system and its need to meet the challenges of inclusion, openness, and financial strain will continue to test both clergy and laity as they face the future. There are no easy answers, but in doing this research I have some recommendations.

First, Elder High School must continue to try to find a way to be more ethnically and racially diverse. The atmosphere that has created the passion that these teachers and administrators feel about their profession should be commended and copied by not only Catholic schools, but Elder must guard against always hiring its own. Elder High School must make a concerted effort to try to hire minorities into some of their teaching positions. This would allow minority students to see members of their own race and culture in front of the classroom.

Second, Elder High School and the Archdiocese must invest in their future by investing in young teachers. A way to do this in the front end of young 309 educator’s career might be to assist them in paying off their student loans. This would allow new teachers to invest in their own future without the burden of the long-term debt now associated with higher education. Perhaps this could begin in partnership with Catholic universities. The high cost of just earning a college degree may cause good teachers to avoid Catholic schools because the financial tradeoff is just too steep.

Third, work with experts in putting together a retirement system so young teachers are attracted to Catholic schools as a career option, and older teachers can retire gracefully. Graduates of Catholic high schools have thrived since the

1950s, and many of these alumni are in a position to financially endow the alma maters. This philosophy has helped Elder enormously over the last ten years.

This was confirmed by Toby Heile, Elder’s Director of Development:

You know it’s hard to say I think probably the success and the

wealth of the alumni are felt much more now than it was before. Because

people are able to give more, I think that has helped us a lot. The whole

idea of giving has changed for people and that helps. That really makes a

big difference considering where we were back in the 80s.

Fourth, address the issue of what is happening to the Catholic elementary schools (feeder schools) before it is too late, and valuable resources are lost trying to save these schools on a case-by-case basis. If these schools fail it will have a large and long-term impact on the Catholic school system.

Finally, come to some kind of resolution of how the Archdiocese of

Cincinnati and its school system can be maintained without priests, nuns and 310 brothers. This has been the center of many of the issues that have caused enormous stress on Catholic schools for almost forty years. A resolution must be determined in order for Catholic schools to statically plan for the future. The fall out from the lack of dealing with this matter could ultimately spell the end of

Catholic schools. Over one hundred years ago wise people came together in

Plenary Councils where the Catholic school system in America were conceived and built. Maybe it is time for another one of these councils to be held. This time made up of experts, lay and religious, in order to reestablish and to determine the future of this extraordinary educational system.

311

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Appendix A

Interview Questions

How long have you been a Catholic school teacher?

What is your role here at Elder High School?

Why did you decide to pursue a career in a Catholic school?

Have you ever considered working in a public school?

If so, tell me about why you didn’t make the career change?

What was your starting salary in the Catholic school?

What is the highest salary you have ever made teaching in a Catholic school?

What could Elder or the archdiocese do to make your teaching experience better?

How is the institution of Elder different than when you started?

What are the reasons for the change in tuition costs?

Is the mission of Elder High School the same as it was when you started at Elder?

How have the students changed over the years?

How have the parents changed over the years?

How have the faculty and staff changed over the years?

What are the reasons for all of these changes?

How do you view the effect of the loss of teaching religious have on Elder and this community?

What can be done to attract young teachers to this career?

Does Elder do enough to attract a diverse student enrollment? Why or why not?

There are individuals in the African-American community who do not view Elder 318 favorably. In your opinion why is that?

How is Catholicism different than when you started your career?

What are the immediate effects and the long-term effects on Elder High School of the recent Catholic priest sex scandals?

Talk about Elder’s tradition of teaching its students to serve its church, school and community?

If you could predict the future, what changes would you predict for Catholic schools in general and Catholic school teachers in particular?

Will Elder High School still be here twenty-five years from now? Why or why not?

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Appendix B

University of Cincinnati Consent to Participate in a Research Project College of Education/Educational Foundations Paul William Davis (513) 936-0105 [email protected]

Title of Study: Labor Relations: The Catholic School Teacher in a Midwest Mid-Size City from 1960 to Present.

Introduction: Catholic schools in the Midwest have played an important role in educating thousands of children. The Catholic school teacher has been important part of that history often receiving low pay and little benefits for this effort. This study is an historical analysis of the professional lives of Catholic school teachers since Vatican II, and how this history will affect the future of Catholic education.

Purpose: The purpose of this research study is to explore the valuable experiences that veteran Catholic school teachers can offer in analyzing the history of Catholic schools since Vatican II. This study will also give us an opportunity to obtain a sense of the future of Catholic schools. This will be accomplished by answering questions such as: Has the role of the Catholic school teacher changed since Vatican II? Do Catholic school teachers feel they are fairly compensated? Can more be done to attract younger teachers to this career? What do you think is the future of Catholic education?

You will be one of approximately twenty teachers participating in this study.

Duration: Your participation in this study will last less than an hour.

Procedures: Your part in the study will be a general interview of approximately twenty questions. The research project will also include the gathering of information regarding the history of Catholic schools in your city, but will not include any specific information regarding any specific teacher, such as yourself. The interview will be audio taped, and the audio tape will be destroyed at the end of the study. This interview is for gathering general information about your experiences as a Catholic school educator. There will be no risk, nor any discomfort in participating in this project.

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Benefits: You will receive no direct benefit from your participation in this study, but your participation may help Catholic schools by giving interested parties a better understanding of what it might take to attract new generations of Catholic school educators.

Confidentiality: Every effort will be made to maintain the confidentiality of your study records. The answers you give to the questions will remain confidential. I will not use your name or give any indication of who you are unless you give me permission. If for any unforeseen reason that I want or need to use your name in this study I will ask for a written consent. Any reporting of anecdotal data will be presented in such a way as to preclude identification of individuals. Again, the interview will be audio taped, and the audio tape will be destroyed at the end of the study. If the study is published you will not be identified by name.

Payments to participate: You will not be given compensation for participating in this study.

Right to refuse or withdraw: Your participation is voluntary and you may refuse to participate, or may discontinue participation at any time. I have the right to withdraw from the study at any time. Your withdrawal from the study may be for reasons related solely to you or because the entire study has been terminated. Questions: If you have any questions about this study you may contact me at (513) 936-0105, or [email protected]. You may also contact Dr. James Koschoreck at (513) 556-6622, or [email protected]. Dr. Koschoreck is my advisor on this project. If you have any questions regarding your rights as a research participant you may call Dr. Margaret Miller, Chair of the Institutional Research Board – Social and Behavioral Sciences, at (513) 558-5784. Legal Rights: Nothing in this consent form waives any legal rights you might have nor does it release the investigator, the institution, or its agents from liability for negligence.

I HAVE READ THE INFORMATION PROVIDED ABOVE. I VOLUNTARILY AGREE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS STUDY. I WILL RECEIVE A COPY OF THIS CONSENT FORM FOR MY INFORMATION.

______Participant’s Signature Date

______Researcher’s Signature Date

321

Appendix C

Consent to Use Name and Interview in Dissertation

I hereby give Paul Davis and the University of Cincinnati permission to use my name and interview in Paul Davis’ dissertation.

The name of the dissertation is titled The History of Catholic

Education: the Experiences of the Secondary Catholic School

Teacher from 1960 to Present. Any questions you may contact Paul

Davis at (513) 569-1642 (work) or (513) 936-0105 (home). His e- mail is [email protected].

______

Name Date

______

Paul Davis

322

Appendix D

Approval from the Institutional Review Board

Paul Davis,

The Institutional Review Board - Social & Behavioral Sciences (IRB-S) of the University of Cincinnati has reviewed your revised protocol entitled, "Labor relations: The Catholic school teacher in a Midwest mid-size city from 1960 to present," and has granted approval.

Please note that this approval terminates one year from the date of this letter. Should your project extend beyond the expiration date, you must submit a request to the committee for renewal of this approval along with a Progress Report form. No research data can be collected without a current approval of the protocol, thus you must allow sufficient time for the request for renewal to be reviewed and approved before expiration of the protocol. If the project is finished before the approval expiration date, you may submit a Progress Report at the time the project is completed. The form and instructions may be found at www.med.uc.edu/irb/scontinueapp.pdf.

Investigators are responsible for complying with all Institutional Review Board - Social & Behavioral Sciences policies, decisions, conditions, and requirements. Investigators are responsible for insuring that the research is implemented as specified in the approved IRB-S protocol. Unless otherwise authorized by the IRB-S, investigators are responsible for obtaining and documenting informed consent in accord with Federal Regulations (45CFR Parts 46.116 and .117 and CFR Parts 50.25 and 50.27).

The principal investigator must report to the Chair of the Institutional Review Board - Social & Behavioral Sciences any changes affecting the protocol upon which this certification is based. No changes, except those necessary to eliminate immediate hazards, should be made without prior approval by the Board.

If you have any questions, please contact Claudia Norman, IRB-S Program Manager, at phone 558-5784, fax 558-4111 or e-mail [email protected].

Sincerely,

Margaret Miller, EdD, RN, CNS Chair, Institutional Review Board - Social & Behavioral Sciences Professor College of Nursing, University of Cincinnati P.O.Box 210038 Cincinnati, OH 45221-0038 Office: 513-558-5212 Fax: 513-558-2142 IRB-S: 513-558-5784 IRB-S fax: 513-558-4111

323

Appendix E

Oral History Evaluation Guidelines

Programs/Project Guidelines:

Purposes and Objectives: a. Are the purposes clearly set forth? How realistic are they? b. What factors demonstrate a significant need for the project? c. What is the research design? How clear and realistic is it? d. Are the terms, conditions, and objectives of funding clearly made known to

judge the potential effect of such funding on the scholarly integrity of the

project? Is the allocation of funds adequate to allow the project goals to be

accomplished? e. How do institutional relationships affect the purposes and objectives?

Selection of recording equipment: a. Should the interview be recorded on sound or visual recording equipment? b. Are the best possible recording equipment and media available within one’s

budget being used? c. Are interviews recorded on a medium that meets archival preservation

standards? d. How well has the interviewer mastered use of the equipment upon which the

interview will be recorded?

324

Selection of interviewers and interviewees: a. In what ways are the interviewers and interviewees appropriate (or

inappropriate) to the purposes and objectives? b. What are the significant omissions and why were they omitted?

Records and Provenance: a. What are the policies and provisions for maintaining a record of the

provenance of interviews? Are they adequate? What can be done to

improve them? b. How are records, policies and procedures made known to interviewers,

interviewees, staff, and users? c. How does the system of records enhance the usefulness of the interviews and

safeguard the rights of those involved?

Availability of materials: a. How accurate and specific is the publicizing of the interviews? b. How is information about interviews directed to likely users? Have new

media and electronic methods of distribution been considered to publicize

materials and make them available? c. How have the interviews been used?

325

Finding aids: a. What is the overall design for finding aids? b. Are the finding aids adequate and appropriate? c. How available are the finding aids? d. Have new technologies been used to develop the most effective finding aids?

Management, Qualifications, and Training: a. How effective is the management of the program/project? b. What are the provisions for supervision?

Ethical/Legal Guidelines:

What procedures are followed to assure that interviewers/programs recognize

and honor their responsibility to the interviewees? Specifically, what

procedures are used to assure that? a. the interviewees are made fully aware of the goals and objectives of the oral

history program/project? b. the interviewees are made fully aware of the various stages of the

program/project and the nature of each stage? c. the interviewees are given the opportunity to respond to questions as freely as

possible and are not subjected to stereotyped assumptions based on race,

ethnicity, gender, class, or any other social/cultural characteristics? 326 d. the interviewees understand their rights to refuse to discuss certain subjects, to

seal portions of the interviews, or in extremely sensitive circumstances even to

choose to remain anonymous? e. the interviewees are fully informed about the potential uses of the material,

including deposit of the interviews in a repository, publication in all forms of

print or electronic media, including the Internet or other emerging

technologies, and all forms of public programming? f. the interviewees are provided a full and easily comprehensible explanation of

their legal rights before being asked to sign a contract or deed of gift

transferring rights, title, and interest in the tape(s) and transcript(s) to an

administering authority or individual? g. care is taken so that the distribution and use of the material complies with the

letter and spirit of the interviewee’s agreement? h. all prior agreements made with the interviewee are honored? i. the interviewees are fully informed about the potential for and disposition of

royalties that might accrue from the use of their interviews, including all

forms of public programming? j. the interviews and any other related materials will remain confidential until

the interviewees have released their contents?

327

What procedures are followed to assure that interviewers/programs recognize

and honor their responsibilities to the profession? Specifically, what

procedures assure that? a. the interviewer has considered the potential for public programming and

research use of the interviews and has endeavored to prevent any exploitation

of or harm to interviewees? b. The interviewer is well trained to conduct the interview in a professional

manner. Including the use of the appropriate recording equipment and media? c. The interviewer is well grounded in the background of the subject(s) to be

discussed? d. the interview will be conducted in the spirit of critical inquiry and that efforts

will be made to provide as complete a historical record as possible? e. the interviewees will be selected based on the relevance of their experience to

the subject at hand and that an appropriate cross-section of interviewees is

selected for any particular project? f. the interview materials, including recordings, transcripts, relevant

photographic, moving, image, and sound documents as well as agreements

and documentation of the interview process, will be placed in a repository

after a reasonable period of time, subject to the agreements made with the

interviewee and that the repository will administer their use in accordance

with those agreements? g. the methodologies of the program/project, as well as its goals and objectives,

are available for the general public to evaluate? 328 h. the interview materials have been properly cataloged, including appropriate

acknowledgement and credit to the interviewer, and their availability for

research use is made known?

329

Appendix F Elder Tuition and Enrollment Scale Family School enroll portion # Teachers P/T Year Oct of tuition Lay Rel Ratio

1962-1963 1963-1964 $100.00 1964-1965 $120.00 1965-1966 $170.00 1966-1967 $170.00 1967-1968 $200.00 1968-1969 $200.00 1969-1970 1917 $232.50 1970-1971 1888 $267.50 1971-1972 1791 $407.50 1972-1973 1676 $417.50 1973-1974 1660 $440.00 1974-1975 1632 $490.00 1975-1976 1674 $550.00 1976-1977 1680 $595.00 1977-1978 1595 $650.00 1978-1979 1551 $700.00 1979-1980 1503 $760.00 1980-1981 1415 $830.00 1981-1982 $920.00 1982—1983 1332 $1,050.00 53.5 8 21.66 1983—1984 1253 $1,150.00 55 6 20.54 1984—1985 1203 $1,325.00 54.3 6 19.95 1985—1986 1166 $1,460.00 53.8 6 19.50 1985—1987 1097 $1,560.00 54.9 5 18.31 1987—1988 1032 $1,725.00 52.3 4 18.33 1988—1989 939 $1,895.00 46.7 3 18.89 1989—1990 843 $1,995.00 47.15 3 16.81 1990—1991 816 $2,200.00 46.16 3 16.60 1991-1992 847 $2,425.00 47 3 16.94 1992—1993 857 $2,625.00 48.75 3 16.56 1993—1994 917 $2,850.00 50.61 3 17.11 1994—1995 954 $3,050.00 53.61 2.5 17.00 1995—1996 972 $3,300.00 54.15 2.67 17.11 1996—1997 1014 $3,550.00 56.61 2.67 17.11 1997—1998 1034 $3,900.00 60.81 1.67 16.55 1998-1999 1019 $4,200.00 59 1.67 16.80 1999—2000 998 $4,500.00 2000—2001 1008 $4,800.00 2001—2002 981 $5,100.00 2002—2003 1002 $5,500.00 2003—2004 1036 $5,975.00 330

Appendix G

Enrollments in Catholic Secondary Schools City of Cincinnati 1907-1908

Springer Institute 26 All Saints 7 Assumption 19 Blessed Sacrament 13 St. Boniface 7 St. Francis Xavier 43 St. George 68 Holy Angels 12 Holy Cross 12 St. Lawrence 8 St. Patrick, Cumminsville 4 Sacred Heart 4

(Connaughton, 1946, p. 130)

331

Appendix H

Elder Graduates Who Gave Up Their Lives

During World War II

1st Lt. Robert W. Ahern Class of 1939 Pfc. Richard L. Axt Class of 1944 Ens. Clifford Ballhaus Class of 1941 1st Lt. Raymond J. Bockerstette Class of 1936 a/s Thomas D. Bradley Class of 1943 Lt. Joseph W. Brown Class of 1935 Av.C. Robert O. Brunner Class of 1940 Sgt. Charles R. Byrne Class of 1943 S/Sgt. Lee Dehmer Class of 1941 S/Sgt. William O. Donnelly Class of 1936 Pvt. Roger Dooley Class of 1941 1st Lt. Robert H. Drennan Class of 1938 S/Sgt. Bernard Duwel Class of 1941 Lt. Jerry Eiseman Class of 1940 Lt. Otto C. Ernst Class of 1936 Sgt. William J. Gallagher Class of 1927 Lt. Robert J. Gunther Class of 1942 1st Lt. Edward F. Hautman Class of 1937 Cpl. Robert Hempelman Class of 1939 Lt. Edward F. Kenney Class of 1939 Pfc. William Kerkhoff Class of 1944 Lt. Hubert Knapp Class of 1941 Sgt. Carl B. Lengerich Class of 1935 1st Lt. Carl Meiser Class of 1940 Cpl. Robert A. Miller Class of 1942 Lt. Edwin Monning Class of 1939 P.O. 3/c Don Morgan Class of 1941 T/4 Paul E. Neumann Class of 1936 Sgt. William H. O’Shaughnessy, Jr. Class of 1940 S 2/c Ralph A. Priestle Class of 1944 Pfc. Leonard E. Rapien Class of 1941 Lt. Frank Remke Class of 1940 2nd Lt. Leo H. Robinson Class of 1938 Av. C. Charles Neil Roddy Class of 1939 Pfc. Raymond Ruberg Class of 1939 T/4 Louis Sander Class of 1933 Lt. Urban Schroeder Class of 1939 Pvt. John L. Spieker Class of 1942 Lt. Ralph Stueve Class of 1939 332

Lt. Robert L. Traut, Jr. Class of 1933 Lt. Norbert J. Vehr Class of 1935 MM/2 Arthur Weidman Class of 1936 FC 2/c Paul L. Weimer Class of 1938 Sgt. Donald P. Westendorf Class of 1944

(Plagge, 2002, pp. 82-83)

During the Korean War

Charles Altenau Class of 1950 Howard Moran Class of 1947 Ray Wellbrock Class of 1948

(Plagge, 2002, p. 111)

During the Vietnam War

Cpl. David R. Caruso Class of 1965 Pfc. Paul P. Davis Class of 1966 Pfc. Michael Faulkner Class of 1966 Pfc. Michael F. Huwel Class of 1966 Sgt. Thomas Kindt Class of 1958 Sgt. Robert J. Oates Class of 1963 Cpl. William Reiter Class of 1966 Captain Albert F. Sayer Class of 1955 Pfc. Donald L. Schnee Class of 1964 Commander Leonard F. Vogt Class of 1943 L/Cpl. Michael R. Witt Class of 1967

(Plagge, 2002, p. 226)

333

Appendix I

Elder State Champions

1943 - Baseball 1948 - Swimming – Jim Trefzger - 100 Yard Backstroke 1948 - Tennis – Ron Ryan and Carl Gross – Doubles 1952 - Baseball 1955 - Baseball 1956 - Baseball 1958 - Baseball 1959 - Baseball 1960 - Baseball 1973 - Baseball 1973 - Basketball 1973 - Cross Country 1973 - Wrestling – Dave Shuler 1974 - Basketball 1978 - Baseball 1982 - Cross Country 1984 - Baseball 1986 - Cross Country 1988 - Cross Country 1989 - Cross Country 1993 - Basketball 1999 - Baseball 1999 - Volleyball 2000 - Volleyball 2002 - Football 2003 - Track – Tim Roa – Pole Vault 2003 - Football

(Plagge, 2002, p. 97)

334

Appendix J

Elder High School Principals

Rev. William G. Schmitt 1922-1929 Rev. Peter J. Schnuck 1929-1932 Rev. Francis J. Bredestege 1932-1939 Rev. Basil A. Haneberg 1939-1944 Rev. Urban J. Stang 1944-1961 Rev. J. Paul Gruber 1961-1970 Rev. Lawrence R. Strittmatter 1970-1981 Rev. Thomas A. Kuhn 1981-1988 Rev. Jerome A. Schaeper 1988-1997 Mr. Thomas R. Otten 1937-Present

(Plagge, 2002, p. xiv)

335

Appendix K

The Participants of the Research Project

Joe Acito Began teaching at Elder in 1968. He is a member of the

English Department and Alumni Director. He is a graduate

of Elder High School. (Page 148)

Roger Auer Began teaching at Elder in 1977. He is a member of the

Religion Department, Campus Minister, and Director of

Community Service. He is a graduate of Elder High

School. (Page 208)

Ray Bachus Began teaching at Elder in 1969. He is a member of the

English Department and Business Manager of the Athletic

Department. He is a graduate of Elder High School.

(Page 219)

Tom Bushman Began teaching at Elder in 1966. He is the Guidance

Director. He is a graduate of Elder High School. (Page

132)

Toby Heile Began teaching at Elder in 1966. He is a member of the

Business Department, Director of Development, and 336

Director of Planned Giving. He is a graduate of St. Xavier

High School. (Page 169)

Craig James Began teaching at Elder in 2001. He is a member of the

English Department and an assistant football coach. He is

a graduate of Elder High School. (Page 141)

Chuck Knepfle Began teaching at Elder in 1969. He is a member of the

Mathematics Department and the keeper of Elder’s web

page. (Page 160)

Ken Laake Began teaching at Elder in 1969. He is the Co-Chair of the

Religion Department. He is a graduate of Purcell High

School. (Page 179)

Ed Menkhaus Began teaching at Elder in 1966. He is the Assistant

Principal of Academics. He is a graduate of Elder High

School. (Page 186)

Rick Nohle Began teaching at Elder in 1977. He is a member of the

Computer Science Department. (Page 226)

337

Tom Otten Began teaching at Elder in 1968. He is the Principal. He is

a graduate of Elder High School. (Page 266)

John Ploehs Began teaching at Elder in 1973. He is a member of the

English Department. He is a graduate of Elder High

School. (Page 196)

Father Don Rettig Began teaching at Elder in 1971. He teaches German and

is the pastor of Saint Aloysius in Saylor Park. He is a

graduate of Purcell High School. (Page 247)

Katie Umberg Began teaching at Elder in 2002. She is a member of the

Mathematics Department. (Page 239)

Paul Stryker Taught at Elder for over forty-seven years. He taught

drawing. He graduated from Elder in 1928. (Page 256)

338

Glossary of Religious Terms

Archbishop A bishop of high rank.

Archdiocese Diocese of an Archbishop.

Bishop A member of the clergy ranking above a priest and

typically governing a diocese.

Brother A man who is a religious but not a priest.

Cathedral The principal church of the diocese.

Catholic A member of the church claiming historical continuity from

the ancient undivided Christian church.

Coadjutor An assistant bishop having the right of succession.

Encyclical A papal letter to the bishops of the Catholic Church.

Diocese The territorial jurisdiction of a bishop.

Feeder Schools The Catholic elementary schools whose graduates are

designated to certain neighborhood Catholic high schools.

Franciscans The Franciscans were founded by Saint Francis of Assisi

and Saint Clare of Assisi. The Franciscans is a term used

to designate the members of the various foundations,

whether men or women, professing to observe the Rule of

Saint Francis of Assisi. It is customary to say that Saint

Francis founded three orders; the Friars Minor, Poor Ladies

or Clares, and the Brothers and Sisters of Penance. 339

Kairos Retreat The Kairos retreat program is an adaptation of the Curisslo,

a Jesuit initiated adult retreat program for teenagers, but

one extraordinarily appropriate and cohesive in its

theology, philosophy, and psychology. Kairos as a retreat is

a three-day lived experience of Christian community for

high school juniors/seniors.

Pastor A minister or priest serving a local church or parish.

Plenary Council Councils that took place in Baltimore the original see in the

United States.

Provincial Council Meetings that take place inside a grouping of dioceses

amongst the clergy.

Second Vatican Council Popularly called Vatican II, 1962-1965. The

twenty-first ecumenical council of the Roman

Catholic Church convened by Pope John XXIII and

continued under Paul VI. Its announced purpose

was the spiritual renewal of the Church and

reconsideration of the position of the Church in the

modern world.

See The jurisdiction of the bishop, or the seat of the Catholic

Church in a country. In the early history of the United

States this would have been Baltimore.

Shrove Tuesday The day before Ash Wednesday when the Christian season

of Lent begins. 340

Sister A member of a religious order of women.

Sisters of Charity Under the authority of the first American bishop, John

Carroll the Sisters of Charity were founded in 1809 in

Emmitsburg, Maryland by Elizabeth Seton. This order

established parish schools, hospitals, academies, day

nurseries, orphanages, and baccalaureate degree granting

colleges for women.

Sisters of Notre

Dame de Namur The Sisters of Notre Dame were founded in 1804 by Marie

Rose Julie Billiart to educate poor girls in the aftermath of

the French Revolution.

Society of Jesus Also referred to as the Jesuits. It is one of the largest

religious orders in the Catholic Church. The Society of

Jesus was founded in 1540 by Saint Ignatius Loyola, a

Basque nobleman and soldier, who found God in all things.

There are over 20,000 Jesuits serving the Church in 112

nations on six continents.

Synod A religious governing body.