JANUARY 27, 2023
mississippicatholic.com
Historic Catholic school enrollment rise holds steady as U.S. enters fourth year with COVID-19 BY GINA CHRISTIAN
– a feat made even more impressive by the fact that “the annual number of births in our archdiocese has been plummeting," at Catholic schools across the U.S. continhe said. ue to hold steady following a bump at the According to Richmond, annual births onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. After within the Chicago archdiocese declined data released last summer by the National from 90,000 to 65,000 over the last 15 years. Catholic Educational Association showed "So there are a lot fewer kids than there a 3.8% nationwide increase in enrollment used to be, but our numbers went up and for Catholic elementary and secondary stayed level," he said. schools during the 2021-2022 school year, In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, numbers going into the 2022-2023 year Catholic schools marked a 4.2% uptick continued to look strong. in enrollment last year, jumping from "This year we had stable enrollment, almost 64,700 to just under 67,500, accordand to me that means schools already did ing to senior director and superintendent a great job of retaining students and famPaul Escala. ilies," Annie Smith, NCEA vice president Escala told OSV News the gain – their of research and data, told OSV News. fi rst in 27 years – was realized while comCountering a 6.4% enrollment deplying with California's stringent COVID cline from the previous school year, the prevention protocols. 2021-2022 enrollment spike in Catholic "We advocated and worked closely schools was the first in two decades, and with public health partners to allow for the largest ever recorded by the Leesburg, reopening in person, with masking, disVirginia-based NCEA, which represents tancing, desk shields and no visitors," he some 140,000 educators serving 1.6 million students. NATCHEZ – Teacher, Justin Johnson goes over an assignment with stu- said. "It was a tremendous challenge." Those efforts have paid off by attractSmith also said the rate of U.S. Catho- dent, Ella Moak at Cathedral School in Natchez. The U.S. average of Cathing new families to Catholic education, lic school closures had declined. olic school enrollment is holding steady as country enters fourth year with said Escala. "We used to have about 100 per year," COVID-19. (Photo by Cara Moody) Smith attributed the growth and subshe said, noting 209 schools closed or sequent steadiness to "a combination of merged prior to the 2020-2021 academic things," including Catholic schools' ability to "pivot in meeting the needs of stuyear. "This year we had under 50." In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Greg Richmond, superintendent of schools, said dents" throughout the various phases of COVID restrictions. that their numbers had stayed steady for the first half of the 2022-2023 school year – Continued on page 6 –
(OSV News) – Enrollment numbers
'We are not yet done': March for Life holds first national event after overturn of Roe v. Wade BY KATE SCANLON
WASHINGTON (OSV) – Tens of thousands of prolife advocates descended upon the nation's capital for the 50th March for Life Jan. 20 – the first national march since the overturn of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that initially prompted the annual demonstration. Standing on the event stage at the National Mall, with the U.S. Capitol visible in the background, Jeanne Mancini, March for Life president, told attendees at a rally prior to the march that "the country and world changed" when Roe was reversed in June 2022. But she said the annual March for Life would continue in Washington until abortion is "unthinkable." "While the March began as a response to Roe, we don't end as a response to Roe being overturned," Mancini said. "Why? Because we are not yet done." The march took place on a sunny and unseasonably warm day in Washington. A headcount of attendees was not immediately available, as the National Park Service does not release crowd size estimates. The national March for Life first took place in Washington in 1974 in response to the Roe decision legalizing abortion nationwide the previous year. The protest has taken place in Washington each year since, with a smaller-in-scale event during the COVID-19 pan-
demic in 2021. The 2023 event was the first national March for Life since the high court’s June 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe and returned the matter of regulating or restricting abortion to state legislatures. At the pre-march rally, the Christian band "We Are Messengers" performed, followed by a number of speakers, including Jonathan Roumie, known for his role as “Jesus” in the television series "The
Chosen," former Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy, Democratic Connecticut State Rep. Trenee McGee, and Gianna Emanuela Molla, the daughter of St. Gianna Beretta Molla. Canonized in 2004, St. Gianna gave her life for Giana Emanuela, choosing to move forward with her fourth pregnancy even after doctors discovered a tumor in her uterus. Molla told the rallygoers that she thanks her "saint mom" for the gift of life. "I would not be here now with
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