In 1965, American Catholic schools taught about 5.6 million children, staffed by more than 100,000 sisters paid near a third of lay wages. Within a generation the sisters were gone, tuition rose, and enrollment fell by roughly 70 percent. The episode covers the schools that competed with the public system, from the 1884 Baltimore council to Pierce v. Society of Sisters and the private boarding tradition.
Who's who
- John HughesNew York bishop who resolved Catholics would build their own schools
- James GibbonsArchbishop who presided over the 1884 Baltimore council
- Madeleva WolffCollege president whose 1949 address exposed sisters' thin training
- Endicott PeabodyFounder of Groton School in 1884
- James C. McReynoldsJustice who wrote the unanimous Pierce opinion
- Rania GihlebEconomist who studied the post-Vatican II collapse of teaching sisters
- Osea GiuntellaEconomist who studied the post-Vatican II collapse of teaching sisters
Where it happens
- Baltimore, Maryland+5 more episodesSite of the 1884 Third Plenary Council
- Oregon+2 more episodesState whose 1922 school law was struck down in 1925
- Groton, MassachusettsLocation of the elite boarding school founded in 1884
Timeline
- 1840-1842Hughes's New York school fight ends public money for church schools
- Nov.-Dec. 1884Baltimore council orders a school in every parish within two years
- November 7, 1922Oregon voters pass a law requiring public school attendance
- June 1, 1925Pierce v. Society of Sisters strikes the law unanimously
- 1964-65Catholic enrollment peaks near 5.6 million with about 103,000 teaching sisters
- 2017Gihleb and Giuntella publish study of Vatican II's effects on Catholic schools
Still debated
Vatican II is the standard hinge for the sisters' exodus, but it coincided with widening career options for women. Researchers also disagree on whether Catholic schools were better, since the selection critique now challenges earlier findings of advantage.