Degrees of Devotion

Are graduates of parochial schools better Roman Catholics than those who receive a purely secular education? Yes--but not by much, is the unenthusiastic conclusion of a new survey of U.S. parochial schools called The Education of Catholic Americans (Aldine; $8.95). Financed by a $250,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation, the four-year study was conducted by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center and edited by two of its sociologists: the Rev. Andrew M. Greeley, a Catholic priest, and Peter H. Rossi, a self-styled "devout agnostic."

By a purely quantitative measurement of piety, parochial-school graduates rank statistically higher than those with a secular education. For example, 86% of U.S. Catholics who went to church-run schools attend Mass regularly, compared with 64% of Catholics schooled secularly. While 66% of parochial-school Catholics are inclined to accept the church's ban on contraception, only 46% of Catholics who went to secular schools do so.

Forest of Faith. The Chicago survey also suggests that a disturbingly high proportion of parochial-school graduates cannot see the forest of their faith for the trees. Only 53% of U.S. Catholics with a church-sponsored education agreed that Christ's command to "love thy neighbor was more important than not eating meat on Friday," as against 61% of secularly schooled Catholics.

Catholic schools also appear to be disappointingly ineffective in combatting religious and racial prejudice. For example, only 45% of the parochial-school graduates disagreed with the questionnaire statement that "the Jews have too much power in the U.S."

To some Catholic critics of parochial schools, the N.O.R.C. survey adds up to a damaging indictment of church-sponsored education. Commonweal's Associate Editor Daniel Callahan complains that "a school system which cannot manage to get over to students an essential part of what Christ called 'the greatest commandment' deserves hardly any Christian respect." Sociologist Greeley answers that it is naive to expect that any system of education could automatically produce model Christians. At best, he says, church schools can merely develop the spirit of faith that must be first instilled in the home.

No Better Answers. Whether or not Catholic education is effective, Greeley and Rossi conclude that it is not about to disappear. For one thing, the church could ill afford to abandon a multibillion-dollar investment. For another, the opinion survey showed that most Catholics, regardless of their educational background, approved of parochial schools and preferred that their own children attend them. Finally, the survey editors believe that the church in the U.S. has not found a better way to teach children what it means to be a Catholic.

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