Miracle in Memphis: reopened Catholic schools bring life back to inner-city neighborhoods

National Catholic Reporter, April 4, 2008 by Michael Humphrey

Like many of the Jubilee teachers, Niedzwiedz came to St. John from a suburban Catholic school. She was prepared from an educational point of view, both as a teacher and eventually principal, but she was not ready for the social realities her students face on a daily basis.

"I've been to funerals for parents of students who died violently," she said. "I've heard stories about kids going home [and finding] nothing to eat. You see everything here."

And out of those tragedies, an inspirational figure often appears, Niedzwiedz said. Take Shirley McCay for instance. She was suddenly the guardian of four grandchildren when her son Jason was shot and killed in his driveway. McCay is determined to see her grandchildren avoid the violence that took her son's life. And she said the Jubilee Schools are a key to their success.

"A day doesn't go by that they don't mention their daddy," McCay said. "And I remind them that he wanted the best for them. He was there for them and so is this school."

Jubilee Schools serve 86 percent African-American students, 6 percent Hispanic. 5 percent Caucasian and 3 percent Asian. Like many American cities, much of the inner-city depletion stemmed from white flight and Catholic schools were part of that flight. But their return to the Memphis inner city, led by a black bishop and white superintendent, could be a model for healing a city's racial divide, McCay says.

"The situations that these children are facing shouldn't ever happen to them," McCay said. "They are being uprooted, they are raising themselves. And people are turning their backs on it. This school does not. There is not a child in this school whose need will not be met."

In some ways, the work has been much harder than McDonald could have imagined. But overall, Jubilee has been a success that has begun the slow process of reclaiming neighborhoods for families.

"One day I was walking into a school that's attached to a parish that serves meals to the homeless," McDonald remembers. "The line was already forming for the meal and this man in line called out to me and waved me over to him. He didn't want to lose his place in line. He said to me, 'Save those children. It's too late for me, but it's not too late for them.' I will never forget that."

A model worth replicating

Steib insists the Jubilee formula is worth consideration by U.S. dioceses with struggling or disappearing inner-city schools. But he is quick to point out that Catholic education must be reimagined for it to work.

"There is an old model of Catholic education, which basically follows Catholic families wherever they go," Steib said. "This is a new model, one that looks for where the needs are. The point is evangelization, to be a light for those who need us the most."

Only 19 percent of the students enrolled in the Jubilee Schools are Catholic, compared to 65 percent Catholic enrollment in all of the Memphis diocesan schools.

"Yes," said McDonald, "I know it's historically considered Catholic schooling for Catholic children." And then she restates what may be the Jubilee Schools most repeated mantra: "We don't teach these students because they are Catholic. We need to teach them because we are Catholic."