1. What is The St. Katharine Drexel Catholic School Fund?

The St. Katharine Drexel Catholic School Fund was established to benefit parishes that are financially challenged to provide a Catholic education to the youth of the parish. The fund is overseen by an advisory board, which receives and administers all gifts professionally and objectively on the basis of need.

Charitable gifts to the fund are received at the Diocesan Office of Development and Planned Giving and will be used as directed by donors.

Diocesan parishes that could potentially benefit and participate in the fund are:

Sacred Heart Parish, Arkansas City
St. Patrick Parish, Chanute
Holy Name Parish, Coffeyville
St. Joseph Parish, Conway Springs
Mary Queen of Angels, Fort Scott
St. Cecelia Parish, Haysville
Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Hutchinson *
St. Teresa Parish, Hutchinson *
St. Andrew Parish, Independence
St. Patrick Parish, Kingman
Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Newton
St. Mary Parish, Newton
Holy Savior Parish, Wichita *
St. Anne Parish, Wichita
St. Joseph Parish, Wichita
St. Jude Parish, Wichita
St. Margaret Mary Parish, Wichita *
St. Patrick Parish, Wichita *
Holy Name Parish, Winfield

* Parishes having greatest need

2. What criteria must parishes meet to be eligible to participate in The St. Katharine Drexel Catholic School Fund?

In order to be eligible to participate in The St. Katharine Drexel Catholic School Fund program, parishes should meet the following criteria:

• At least 30% of students from the parish must come from low-income households as defined by the National School Lunch program.
• The priority in allocating unrestricted funds will be parishes with:

i. At least 50% of the students being from low-income households;
ii. A minimum of 25 low- income students or 50% low social economic status (SES) and,
iii. At least 50% of the Sunday offering income allocated to Catholic education.

• Have in place an effective Stewardship program.

3. What are the benefits of participation in The St. Katharine Drexel Catholic School Fund for the parish?

By participating in the St. Drexel fund, parishes will receive all gifts which have been directed to their parish. In addition, parishes will be eligible for any income disbursement  from endowment earnings or from undesignated gifts.

4. What must a parish do to participate in The St. Katharine Drexel Catholic School Fund?

• Assemble a committee of dedicated and focused volunteers to work on various aspects of the program, i.e. assembling mail solicitation materials, solicit donors, acknowledge donors, follow-up on gift solicitations, etc.
• Provide a list of names and address of all alumni graduating from the highest-grade level from the parish school (typically, this is the 8th grade) to the Office of Development and Planned Giving annually. Once the initial list is provided, updates would be those leaving the school.
• Provide a list of "friends" or others who may have an interest in supporting this fund.
• Write an annual appeal letter and article each fall to send to all constituents
• Identify possible major donors whom the Office of Development and Planned Giving could solicit, in collaboration with parish leadership, on behalf of the school and the fund.

5. What is the role of the Catholic School Office and the Office of Development and Planned Giving in The St. Katharine Drexel Catholic School Fund?

The responsibility of the Catholic School Office is as follows:

• Convene the advisory board to oversee the operations of the St. Drexel fund
• Provide overall leadership and structure to the program
• Assist schools in determining eligibility criteria for participation

The responsibility of the Office of Development and Planned Giving is as follows:

• Pastor and principal orientation meeting
• Provide education and training for parish committees to solicit and cultivate donors
• Create and mail a semi-annual newsletter
• Assist pastors and parish committees in the writing of solicitation letters
• Prepare all St. Drexel fund promotional and solicitation materials
• Prepare the mailing of all materials (parish to assemble mail solicitation materials)
• Provide parish committee materials for solicitation mailings with instructions for mailing
• Provide parish committee with all materials and education for follow-up contact with donors

6. Our parish has enough financial problems. Why should I help another parish?

In the early 1950's there was a young father with three children who worked in a gas station making seventy-five cents an hour. His wife's only brother contracted polio and could not live at home any longer. The family held a meeting. Where should Andy live everyone asked?

"He’ll live with us," the young father answered.
"Where?"
"He can sleep on the couch."
"What will he do?"
"He’ll work for me at the gas station."
"But you work alone."
"I’ll pay him out of my salary."

And so he did.

Stewardship is not stewardship if it is given from our surplus. It is best when it is given from our substance.

There are always things in our parish that we could spend more money on – salaries, facilities, repairs, or enhancements. But when we look across the Diocese and see where average salaries are $5,000 to $10,000 less than the diocesan average, where teachers teach all day without a break with obsolete resources, we need to find the balance between what we want and others need. In the last analysis we share our gifts with other not because they are Catholic, but because we are.

7. I paid my way. Shouldn’t today’s parents pay their own way?

The burden of supporting our Catholic schools cannot be placed exclusively on individual parishes that have schools. It will require all Catholics, including those in parishes without schools, and those who no longer have school age children, to join us in this endeavor. Catholic schools are worthy of everyone's support to ensure that they not only survive, but thrive.

We should take pride in knowing that there is no time in the history of the Diocese of Wichita when parents were expected to pay the full cost of their children's Catholic education. In this Diocese, our parishes have always paid at least 80% of the cost of both Catholic elementary and high school education.

There was a time when parents paid their own tuition, and that tuition may have seemed substantial. However, since at least 1963, the Diocese has had a subsidy system in place to defray the cost of education. Currently that high school subsidy in Wichita is over $8.0 million. In Hutchinson and in Pittsburg, it is over $1 million. Parish support of Catholic elementary and secondary education in 2003 – 2004 totaled more than the $25 million.

Before the 1960's, the cost of Catholic education was underwritten by the living endowment and contributed services of teaching sisters, vowed religious and diocesan priests who taught in Catholic schools for a fraction of the salary received by lay educators.

8. Is this a program only for Wichita?

No. The Diocese of Wichita has Catholic schools in Arkansas City, Augusta, Chanute, Coffeyville, Conway Springs, Fort Scott, Goddard, Hutchinson, Independence, Kingman, McPherson, Newton, Parsons, Pittsburg, Winfield, Derby and Haysville. Many of these parishes serve high percentages of low-income families.

9. Why should the larger community care about what happens to schools supported in part by the St. Drexel fund?

• Catholic school students excel. Our Catholic schools regularly score among the highest of all school districts in Kansas on the ACT and the Kansas assessments.
• Nearly every Catholic school student graduates.
• More than 90% of Catholic school graduates go on to college.
• Catholic school students have a strong value system that embraces family, community and respect for all life.
• Catholic school graduates are found in every profession and sector of the work force and are particularly prominent in the service professions.
• Catholic schools serve more than 2,000 low-income students every day, and comprise the only non-public school system in the United States to charge no grade or high school tuition.
• Catholic schools have always served the immigrant, and today there are more than 1,400 Hispanic students and over 600 Asian students.
• With 1,000 employees and a payroll of more then $25 million, Catholic schools are one of the largest employers in Kansas.
• Taxpayers are saved more than $70 million in educational costs for more than 10,000 students that instead are absorbed by the Catholic community.
• Catholic schools anchor inner city neighborhoods and offer all families a viable alternative to public education.