Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of the Archdiocese of Atlanta will speak in Toledo this month on the importance of central city Catholic education and the impact that education had on his own life.

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory (Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Atlanta)

The archbishop addresses the 17th Annual Central City Ministry Urban All-American Celebration, a fundraiser for Central City Ministry of Toledo (CCMT) school, May 19 at 7 p.m.

Archbishop Gregory, 60, was in the sixth grade when he and his two younger sisters enrolled at St. Carthage School in Chicago in 1958. He joined the Catholic Church the following year at age 11, and soon decided he wanted to become a priest.

Archbishop Gregory was ordained for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1973. Ten years later, he became the auxiliary bishop of Chicago. He went on to serve as the bishop of the Diocese of Belleville, Ill., before being installed in Atlanta in 2005.

While serving as the first African-American president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2001-2004, the archbishop led the church through the clergy sexual abuse crisis and implemented the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

In an April phone interview with the Catholic Chronicle, Archbishop Gregory reflected on his experiences at St. Carthage and shared some of his thoughts on Catholic education.

Q. Archbishop Gregory, what can you tell us about your personal experience with Catholic education in the inner city as a child?

A. My two sisters and I were put into St. Carthage Parish School on the south side of Chicago.

It was a time when the racial change in the neighborhood was going through rapidly, so white families were moving out of the parish and being replaced with a rapid turnover of African-American families. The Catholic school was staffed by the Adrian Dominican Sisters from Adrian, Mich., — your neighbor there in Toledo. And they, along with the pastor, decided to invite the non-Catholic kids who were moving into the area to consider coming into the Catholic school.

My grandmother, my maternal grandmother, who lived with us, had attended Catholic school when she was a young woman up in Milwaukee, Wis., — St. Benedict the Moor Catholic Boarding School in Milwaukee at the turn of the last century. [It] was one of the few Catholic schools in the United States that would take African-American kids. So my grandmother had an experience of Catholic education, which she prized. And she had actually entered the Catholic Church while she was a student at St. Benedict the Moor. And she spoke very positively about the quality of education that she had gotten there.

So when the opportunity for the three of us to go to a Catholic school presented itself — and my family was very concerned about the quality of education that was available in the public schools at the time — they jumped at the opportunity. So we were entered into Catholic school primarily for the quality of education that we could receive there.

It was a wonderful experience. The Catholic schools at the time were still predominantly Catholic in their enrollment … although with the new kids enrolling, the percentage between Catholics and non-Catholics began to shift.

I found it to be absolutely mesmerizing. It was one of the happiest moments in my life to learn about the Catholic Church, to benefit from an excellent educational program, to come to know the Adrian Dominican Sisters, the priests in the parish — it was just a wonderful experience, which I hope is still possible for kids in inner-city schools everywhere. And it is a clear understanding of the Catholic Church, an excellent educational program and a very productive relationship between parents and faculty and priests. That’s what makes for a good education for any kid in a Catholic school.

Q. What drew you to the Catholic faith?

A. I was drawn by the liturgy, but I was also drawn by the very positive presentation of the Catholic Church in the school. The nuns were proud to be Catholic, the Catholics that were there were proud to be Catholic [and] spoke positively, openly, enthusiastically about the church. It was a good marketing approach.

Q. In recent years in our country we’ve seen so many inner-city Catholic schools closing and consolidating, including here in the Diocese of Toledo. What factors do you see contributing this trend?

A. The cost! When I entered Catholic school, the tuition — the family rate — was $40 a year — $4 a month. The single child rate was $30 a year — $3 a month. A $10 a year book fee, and a $2 a year testing fee. So what’s driving it? Well obviously, there were eight Adrian Dominican Sisters who staffed the school. They got only a small stipend.

Our schools are now … staffed largely and, in most cases, predominantly by lay staff, and they have to be paid. Even though many of our wonderful lay staff make less proportionally than they might make if they were teaching in public school. So they are a great group of dedicated teachers. But it’s the cost.

Q. In light of that, what steps need to be taken to preserve central city Catholic education?

A. I think one of the most important things is, the parents who enroll their children need to know the honest, upfront, full dollar cost of educating a child in a Catholic school. And they need to know where those costs come from, and they need to know who’s picking up the slack between what the tuition is and what the full cost of educating is. There has to be full disclosure of what it costs to send a kid to Catholic school … and I think people will respond if they know the real cost, and who’s paying the excess.

Two, I think that there has to be creative ways of raising funds for endowments. I think there has to be a full-court press on getting subsidies, tuition vouchers. We have to put all of those things out in the public forum. Because Catholic schools also save taxpayers millions and millions of tax dollars.

So there has to be a full public disclosure of the cost, and why it’s to the benefit of corporations, public institutions and philanthropists to support Catholic schools. … I think the public sector, the corporate sector, the business community should be engaged in helping to ensure that Catholic schools are available, because the Catholic schools across this nation provide a workforce that the business and corporate world need.

Q. What other reasons underlie your passion for central city Catholic education? Why is this a cause worth fighting for?

I think the Catholic schools provide a moral context for young people that is desperately needed. So it’s not merely a good education, but it’s a moral, religious voice and vision that are sorely needed by young people — not only in the inner-city, in the suburban community and in affluent communities across the nation.

We have a great product! We need to know how to market it better.

Q. What message will you be bringing when you speak at the Central City Ministry of Toledo celebration this month?

A. Certainly I’m going to applaud the work of the people who are making Catholic schools available for kids in the inner-city. I’m going to certainly thank them, I’m going to thank the parents, I’m going to thank the educators, I’m going to thank the diocesan folks who work on it. And I’m going to urge them not to lose heart — not to be overwhelmed by the challenges they face. And to be creative.

Q. Do you have any other thoughts, Archbishop Gregory?

A. I’m just very grateful that Bishop [Leonard P.] Blair extended the invitation, and I certainly hope to applaud the good work that’s going on in the Diocese of Toledo, and the parents and the business community and the diocesan teachers, and above all the students. They’re worth it. They’re worth the struggle.

Tickets for the Urban All-American Celebration May 19 are $100 each, and sponsorships are available ranging from $500 to $2,500. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and dinner is from 7-8:30 p.m. at Gladieux Meadows, 4480 Heatherdowns Blvd., in Toledo. Call 419-244-6711 ext., 216 for tickets and more information.