Honoring the Contributions of Catholic Schools

Floor Speech

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Michigan for yielding me this time, and I rise to recognize the contributions of Catholic schools to Chicago and to the Nation.

Children all across America have benefited from Catholic education. I applaud these schools for their long commitment to education, to a value system and character development, and to developing the kind of lifestyles that students as well as adults need to seek.

There are almost 8,000 Catholic schools nationwide. Illinois is one of the 10 States with the highest enrollment of Catholic students, with over 181,000 students in 538 schools in the State. In Chicago, as in other urban areas, Catholic schools play an important role in providing quality academic training for children and youth.

Indeed, the archdiocese of Chicago is the second largest Catholic school system in the Nation. There are 34 outstanding Catholic schools in my congressional district, and I recognize all of them as being outstanding, as a matter of fact, some of the very best schools in the Nation, such as Saint Ignatius Prep, known nationally as an outstanding school. But all of them are outstanding schools. They do an exceptional job.

Catholic schools, however, like all other components of education, Mr. Speaker, are facing difficult times. And almost every time I meet with residents and students and staff, we are all trying to figure out how do we keep the resources available to keep these educational institutions intact. So I would hope that as the year goes on and as we discuss and debate education, that we will find ways to put as much resources into education as we possibly can, knowing that the investment will pay off in the end.

Again, I salute the Catholic schools for their outstanding contributions, and I would like to recite for the RECORD those in my district, which are as follows:

Chicago Jesuit Academy, Divine Infant Jesus School, Divine Providence School, St. Bernardine School, St. Edmund School, St. Jerome School, St. Stanislaus Kostka, St. Elizabeth School, St. Helen School, Children of Peace School, Santa Lucia School, St. Pius V School, St. Therese School, Visitation School, St. Domitilla School, Ascension School, St. Giles School, St. Luke School.

St. Vincent Ferrer School, Old St. Mary's, St. Angela School, St. Malachy School, St. Nicholas Cathedral, San Miguel-Comer Campus, Frances Xavier Warde, Our Lady of the Westside, St. Catherine/St. Lucy, Immaculate Conception School, Archbishop Quigley Preparatory, Fenwick High School, Holy Trinity High School, St. Ignatius College Prep., St. Joseph High School, Trinity High School.

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