U.S. Catholic Schools and the Religious Who Served in Them: Contributions in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Abstract

This article, the first in a series of three articles surveying the contributions of the religious to U.S. Catholic schooling, focuses upon their contributions during the 18th and 19th centuries.W ith the colonists establishing a life for themselves on North American soil, the Spanish Franciscans commissioned friars to minister in the New World.In 1606, the first band of friars opened the first Catholic school in the New World, located in St. Augustine, Florida, dedicating it "to teach children Christian doctrine, reading and writing" (Kealey, 1989).Not long afterward, other religious communities followed in these pioneering Franciscans' footsteps.Over the next 294 years-an era during which the colonies revolted against the crown to become the United States of America, citizens fought a civil war to abolish slavery, and millions of Catholic immigrants journeyed from the Old World to the New World-the successors of these pioneering religious contributed mightily to establishing Catholic schooling in the United States.The religious not only staffed schools, they educated the poor and marginalized, solidified the schools' institutional purpose, and provided students with effective values-based instruction.Furthermore, they established teacher preparation programs to better assure quality teaching for the young.

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