I attended Catholic schools for 12 years between 1954 and 1966. In terms of academics, those schools taught me how to read, write and compute as well as anyone. However, the Catholic schools did not prepare me for any type of work other than white collar managerial careers. Many of the skills I learned in Catholic education, such as diagraming sentences, had no use in the real world. Hopefully, the Catholic schools can retool and deliver more pertinent education for the children of this and future generations at a reasonable price.
With that being said, I am astonished to hear the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Baltimore is experiencing a financial shortfall resulting in the closures of Catholic schools (and some churches) in the Baltimore area ("Baltimore Archdiocese to close three schools and merge two others," Oct. 26). They have used nuns and brothers who take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to teach for room and board. Also, the Catholic Church has never paid taxes on income or on their gigantic land holdings throughout the region. I don't even know how many thousands of church-owned acres in the state of Maryland have gone untaxed. Much of the land was either given to the church or they flat out took it from the original inhabitants, the Native Americans. Today, much of this land sits untaxed and is basically unused.
Look at the land occupied from the Cathedral of Mary our Queen. Look at Saint Mary's Seminary that occupies 40 acres for currently 300 candidates for the priesthood. A campus that size is a bit opulent, don't you think? This area is in the upper-upper class area in Baltimore City. I wonder what the land occupied by the seminary would sell for? Those 300 priests could be educated at much more modest digs. How about the 60 acres-plus occupied by Stella Maris in Dulaney Valley? The interest income on the proceeds of that sale, as well as other similar locations, would serve to keep up a perpetual funding source to maintain Catholic education as a viable option.
About 50 years ago the Catholic Church realized that they had to stop the Latin and face the congregation during Mass. Why? They knew they were in competition for the religious dollar. Now they are going to have to restructure and adapt, yet again. They must realize that they must divest themselves of some land holdings. Those holdings would be a hot ticket in this land-starved region to ensure the church's future stability and perpetuate their message. The church can't expect that shortfall to made up through contributions. The taxpayers have already carried them throughout the centuries.
If tax dollars are used to keep them afloat, I believe that would be reprehensible and just plain wrong. Let the Catholic Church start paying all of its taxes, especially on land they have owned that they got for free and establish a trust fund to pay the costs of having a privileged Catholic education.
George Hammerbacher, Catonsville