NEWS 2
THE BUGLE JANUARY 27, 2011
Scenes from St. Andrew
submitted photos
CATHOLIC Continued from page 1 schools within the diocese was needed. The desire for a strong and thriving Catholic school system for the future as well as concerns about declining enrollment, demographic shifts and financial strains provided the impetus for the decision. This past November, that strategic plan was unveiled and according to Superintendent Fr. John Belmonte, who is charged with implementing the plan, progress is ready to be made. The Diocese of Joliet is the 21st largest district and among the top 40 in the country. The diocese is comprised of 170 Catholic school systems in seven counties including DuPage, Will, Kankakee, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, and Kendall. “This is an exciting time for us, we haven’t had a plan like this put in place in the history
of the Catholic Schools Office,” said Belmonte who took on the position of superintended in July 2010. While the business world typically operates off such a plan, the concept was foreign to this diocese. Mirroring the plan of other dioceses across the country, the strategic plan sets out to build enrollment, increase retention, improve facilities and better serve the underserved populations of the diocese; and that required a broad consensus around a comprehensive plan. One of the most intriguing issues facing the Catholic schools is the change in population, says Belmonte who points to the fact that enrollment in Catholic schools peaked in the late 1960s at about 4 million nationwide and is now at 2 million. One area that poses a difficult growth edge is to engage the Latino population, 400,000 strong but not registered with See CATHOLIC, page 3