In an area where the demographics of parish populations are estimated to be approximately 50 percent Hispanic, efforts are growing among educators, advocates, and families to ensure that same robust diversity is eventually reflected throughout diocesan schools and their 18,000-plus students.
It’s all part of a plan — two plans, really.
Among the six pillars of the diocesan strategic plan is a pillar inscribed with the goal to “Invigorate Catholic Education for All.” And the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved the National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry in 2023, and designed to respond to the pastoral needs of the close to 30 million Hispanic Catholics in the U.S.
Diocesan Superintendent of Schools Joseph E. Vorbach is keen to both launch and enhance initiatives to ensure “we have the connectivity that’s needed, and that we can overcome whatever challenges Hispanic families might believe exist. Basically,” he added, “to be there for them, answer their questions, and see what we can do.”
“Being there” can take the form of a bilingual school website, Spanish-language school admission forms, tuition assistance, or just a welcoming atmosphere that accompanies prospective student parents, Vorbach said.
Current estimated Hispanic enrollment in diocesan schools is around 10 percent.
“The number of students enrolled doesn’t reflect the amount of Hispanic young people that we have in the diocese,” explained Joel de Loera, director of the diocesan Hispanic Apostolate. “We still have a way to go.”
To de Loera and his colleagues, the future of Catholic schools is also the future of the church.
“A lot of Hispanic young people are leaving the church. Catholic school is not a guarantee that they’re going to remain,” de Loera said. “But at least it gives them the resources, the tools, that support their faith.”
For Luisana Bethencourt at St. Rita School in Alexandria — school secretary, Family Formation Liaison, and website-described “face and voice of the school” that has more than 260 preschool-Grade 8 students — a familiar barrier to Hispanic enrollment is the damaging perception that a Catholic school education is a privilege reserved for only a few.
“I think that is something that is very important to break, to open the doors of our schools and have at least two similar profiles,” she said.
A parochial school should reflect its parish, Bethencourt said. And as a grandmother of several St. Rita students and a 2008 immigrant from Venezuela, her interest is personal.
St. Rita has a bilingual parent leader family liaison; holds Spanish-specific parent meetings; provides training for the school’s online tools; offers interpreter services and translates materials; coordinates transportation support; collaborates with local agencies; and more.
“It’s not a simple solution,” Bethencourt said, noting there is not a single, monolithic Hispanic population. “We’re talking about human beings with hugely different backgrounds,” she said.
David E. Conroy Jr., principal of the 465-student, pre-K-Grade 8 All Saints Catholic School in Manassas, also has explored various solutions.
“One of the ways that we’ve been able to more effectively welcome and encourage these families at All Saints is by having translators at our open house events and bilingual staff who can provide assistance with the student application process,” Conroy said. “These efforts provide tangible support and convey that the families are an important part of our school and parish community.”
At St. Ambrose Dual-Language School in Annandale, Principal Aranzazu Ascunce leads nearly 150 students in one of only 130 dual language Catholic schools in America.
“On a national level, Latinos are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. Catholic Church,” Ascunce said. “But they’re the most underserved in Catholic schools.”
Now in its third year of bilingual instruction — building by grade from preschool and kindergarten, first, and second grades — St. Ambrose has become an educational magnet for the diocese.
“We are pulling in people from all over the place,” said Ascunce, noting several nearby towns and cities. “People are coming to our school because they want their kids to be bilingual.”
By 2030, the entire school — from kindergarten to eighth grade — will be dual language.
“By being able to work, study, play, and pray in two languages,” said St. Ambrose pastor Father Andrew Fisher, “St. Ambrose students have skills that will help them to become leaders in the world and the church.”
Ascunce is firmly committed to the potential of dual-language instruction not just at St. Ambrose, but throughout the diocese.
“This is the future and we want our future priests to be able to be bilingual as well,” she said. “We know that we’re a hub for that, and that we are an incubator for that, and we are committed to academic excellence.”
Pausing, Ascunce extended an invitation. “I just want people to know that even if they think that they can’t afford it, please come knock on our door,” she added. “Because God is good — and anything is possible with him.”
Heatherington is a freelancer in Alexandria.
