Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, May 28, 1990                   TAG: 9005280092
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ENROLLMENT DROPPING AT CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

Across the country, Catholic school enrollment has dropped 43 percent since 1970 from 4.3 million students to 2.5 million, according to the National Catholic Educational Association in Washington, D.C. In the Richmond Diocese, which covers 33,000 square miles in southern and western Virginia, overall enrollment has dropped 12 percent since 1984 from 9,429 to 8,322.

As parishes take on added responsibilities, their financial support for schools is waning. And as the number of nuns continues to drop, schools must expand their payrolls to hire more lay teachers.

But there is a bright spot for Catholic educators. Elementary enrollment in the diocese increased 3 percent last year from 6,100 to 6,272, officials said.

"The better part of the elementary schools are real solid, which is a good sign for the future," said Brother John Fox, acting school superintendent of the diocese. "I'm very optimistic."

Enrollment at St. Gregory in Virginia Beach has topped 500. But the Rev. John E. Leonard, assistant superintendent for Hampton Roads, said the fact that the school is the largest in the city "is a message from Catholic families that they're not supporting Catholic schools."

The real problem, Leonard said, is that too many Catholics have abandoned the spiritual values that used to make sending children to Catholic school a given for which no sacrifice was too costly.

Catholic officials say the key to averting further declines is marketing.

At Holy Trinity in Norfolk, where enrollment has dropped from 324 students five years ago to 186, "there's almost no time where there's not a fund-raiser," such as an auction or dance, said principal Karen LaBonte.