Parochial education a matter of values

Catholic education has been a part of Southeast Missouri since 1818, when St. Vincent's seminary opened in Perryville.

For years, Catholic school students were taught by nuns wearing black robes and habits, not lay teachers wearing sweaters and dress pants.

It is just the opposite today with the number of lay teachers on the rise and the number of nuns dropping to only one or two, if any, per school. Some of today's Catholic schoolteachers are Protestant.

Even though the appearance of Catholic schools has changed by the decrease in religious teachers, the education students receive has not. Leaders in the schools and the church say the education students receive in today's Catholic schools is just as good, if not better, than the education Catholic students received five decades ago.

During the past 10 years, the number of teachers in religious orders has declined in Southeast Missouri from 15 to only four full time, and the number of students has risen by 180.

Marilyn Vydra, communications director for the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese, said similar trends can be found throughout the diocese, which spans 39 counties and includes 86 parishes.

"The main reason we are seeing growth is because of the quality of education," Vydra said. "People feel the values that are taught in Catholic schools agree with their own values -- basic human values."

More non-Catholics

Over the past decade, the number of non-Catholic students has increased annually. Of 221 students at St. Mary's Elementary School in Cape Girardeau this year, 50 are not Catholic.

Principal Carol Strattman said the rise of non-Catholic students and teachers is noticeable, but it hasn't affected the way students are taught.

"We all work together to maintain the Catholic identity of the school," Strattman said. "People just want to teach and learn in a prayerful atmosphere. They want the moral teaching, the spiritual teaching, the academics and the discipline."

Strattman said regardless of religion, all teachers must have a catechist certificate. It shows the teacher has the basic knowledge and understanding of Catholicism.

St. Mary's has one non-Catholic teacher, Jim Hindman, who teaches music, band and computers. Hindman is an active member of the nondenominational Cornerstone Church in Cape Girardeau.

"Even though he's not a Catholic, he's a very Christian man," Strattman said. "With his classes, he doesn't teach religion as such, but he teaches by example and is very good at that."

Prior to joining the staff at St. Mary's 10 years ago, Hindman taught in Chaffee, Mo., and Meadow Heights, Mo., public schools for five years.

When he started at St. Mary's, he was unsure of the reception he would receive from the other 15 teachers because of his religion.

"I was apprehensive at first that the other teachers wouldn't accept me because of my beliefs," Hindman said. "But they were very accepting then and continue to be now."

75 years of education

Notre Dame Regional High School serves students in Cape Girardeau, Scott and Perry counties. The high school has a 75-year history that includes over 100 School Sisters of Notre Dame. It began Sept. 1, 1925, when the high school opened under the name St. Mary's High School.

The first school was at Sprigg and William streets and housed grades seven through nine. The first class of eight students graduated June 9, 1929.

Over the next several years the school continued to grow. On Sept. 13, 1954, a new Cape Girardeau Catholic High School opened on 15 acres north of Broadway on Ritter Drive. It was built to accommodate 350 to 400 students.

Six years later the school was accepted as a member of the North Central Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges, and its name was changed to Notre Dame High School.

For almost 35 years the school remained in the center of town before increasing enrollment and a need for more advanced technology forced administrators to look into a new building that could meet the growing needs.

In 1998 the school moved again, this time to its current location, and the name changed to Notre Dame Regional High School to reflect its widespread student base. Today the school serves students from Cape Girardeau to Villa Ridge, Ill.

Principal Brother David Anthony Migliorino said even though the sisters left the schools, the religious spirit still penetrates the building and enhances the students' learning.

"We've done everything to keep the spirit of the sisters in the building. The children know that's the heritage," he said. "In every class, even math, religion permeates the building."

Notre Dame has 35 lay teachers, four non-Catholic teachers and Migliorino.

"Just having Brother David makes it all the more special," said sophomore Brittney Little. "If there were more it would be like just another brother.

"Brother David is serious about what he is doing but he's like a big kid," Little said. "I'm glad he's the only one."

Sophomore Stacey Seyer said she learned more in Migliorino's theology class than she did in lay teachers' theology classes because Migliorino had a more personal connection to the subject.

Other students are glad that Migliorino is the only religious teacher in the building because they have heard stories about how Catholic schools were when nuns taught the classes.

"I've heard stories about sisters slapping your wrists with rulers," said sophomore Steve Wissinger. "I wouldn't want to be in a class like that."

Migliorino said that stereotype rarely existed in Catholic schools.

"The sisters I remember were women who worked for very little but gave much," Migliorino said. "I learned every times table because Sister Ellen stayed with me after school on her own time.

"Sister Lucile at St. Mary's -- the woman never stops," he said about the sister who taught at St. Mary's for 27 years. "She works with the elderly and collects supplies for the poor and needy. She works 22 hours a day and feels guilty about the other two. That is the kind of sister I remember."

Migliorino attributes the decline of nuns in schools to the growing need in other areas of work.

"They felt they did everything they could in the schools," he said. "A lot went to soup kitchens and prisons and worked in social work where there is a tremendous need."

Another factor is that not as many young men and women are going into the religious vocations.

Migliorino said there are six students at Notre Dame who have approached him seeking information on becoming a brother, priest or a sister. Migliorino works with those students one-on-one until they reach a decision.

Other schools

The importance of having ordained ministers or religiously trained teachers in the classroom differs with other religious schools in the area.

Alan Lipke, principal at St. Paul Lutheran School in Jackson, Mo., said leaders of the Lutheran school system prefer to have teachers who studied at Concordia colleges and universities. There, they are instructed with an eye toward church doctrine.

About half of the teachers at St. Paul, which has 293 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, didn't attend a Concordia school.

"We have had problems coming up with synodically trained teachers," he said, referring to the church's Missouri Synod. "If we can't find them, we try to get someone with a strong Lutheran background."

The two pastors at St. Paul Lutheran Church teach religion classes at the school four days a week.

At nondenominational schools such as Eagle Ridge Christian, formal religious training isn't a factor in hiring. Principal Janice Margrabe is an ordained minister, as are two others of the 16 teachers who instruct 204 students in pre-school through 12th grade.

"Ordination is a piece of paper," Margrabe said. "I think the point is to have a Christian teacher, a teacher who has a relationship with Jesus Christ."

The school is a ministry of Christian Faith Fellowship Church, and the two share a building. The Rev. Mark Carbaugh, who is in the building should students need religious counseling, is considered the "superintendent," Margrabe said.

Managing editor Heidi Hall contributed to this report.

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

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