Enrollment in Archdiocese of Boston schools has increased by about 4,000 students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Combine that with a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court case that makes it easier to support the schools and it adds up to a well-deserved glimmer of hope for Catholic schools that have fallen on hard times despite their outstanding performance.
The number of Catholic schools in Boston has fallen from 225 in 1942 to 100 in 2020. Statewide, Catholic school closings have had a disproportionate impact on poor and working-class communities like Boston, Chelsea and Lowell.
There are a number of reasons for the decline. Expenses rose when numbers of nuns and priests, who once provided almost free labor, dropped precipitously in the 1960s and ’70s. Schools are now staffed with laypeople who depend on their wages to live.
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