By Bonnie Washuk,Staff Writer
As consolidation looms, parishioners say Catholic schools are essential.

LEWISTON – Every day before she drives from her Sabattus home to work in Auburn, Yvette Pouzol drops off her daughter at Holy Cross School in Lewiston.

Julia DeLong, 13, is the third child Pouzol has enrolled in parochial schools.

It’s not convenient, and the costs aren’t covered by property taxes.

Tuition at Holy Cross is about $2,000 a year, the same as at the other two Catholic elementary schools in Lewiston-Auburn.

Soon, there will be only one.

The Catholic diocese of Maine has announced it will consolidate the elementary schools by this fall or next because of declining enrollment and increasing costs.

Pouzol was not surprised to hear that St. Peter and Sacred Heart, St. Joseph’s and Holy Cross schools will soon be one.

But she was saddened.

“Catholic schools have been such a tradition,” she said. “It makes me wonder whether kids who leave the schools, do they lose out on a way of life?”

That way of life has been essential to her family and many others for generations.

Pouzol, 48, grew up in Lewiston and attended Holy Family School. At her stepfather’s insistence, she went to St. Dominic Regional High School.

She wanted that experience for her children, too.

“Catholic schools support the religious values and morals I believe in,” she said. “Praying, unfortunately, doesn’t happen in public schools.”

Pouzol’s mother, Lilly Gagnon, went to the now-closed St. Mary’s school. Her stepfather, Richard Gagnon, went to Saints Peter and Paul’s, then to St. Dom’s.

Catholic schools strengthened religious convictions – and there was little tolerance for bad behavior, said Gagnon, 71.

“We had total discipline,” he said. “I remember one guy who wouldn’t buckle down.” That student had to leave the school.

Today, rising tuition keeps many parents who share those values from enrolling their children in Catholic schools.

When Gagnon attended St. Peter’s parochial school, families who could not afford tuition didn’t pay. Parishes didn’t have to hire lay teachers. “It was all nuns and brothers,” he said.

When he graduated from St. Dom’s in 1954, tuition was $50, up by $10 from the year before. When his children attended high school there, tuition was $200 to $300 a year. Tuition at the high school today is $5,430.

That means some parents have to choose between paying for either elementary or high school tuition.

However, parish scholarships are available for people who can’t afford to pay the full amount, said the Rev. Mike Seavey, the parish priest of St. Joseph’s.

Franco tradition

In the 1950s and ’60s, there were eight parochial elementary schools in Lewiston-Auburn: Holy Family, Holy Cross, St. Mary’s, Saints Peter and Paul, St. Joseph’s and St. Patrick’s. in Lewiston and St. Louis and Sacred Heart in Auburn.

“Every church had its own school, and they were populated,” said Rita Dube of the Franco-American Heritage Center.

When Gagnon attended grade school in the 1940s, 2,000 youngsters were enrolled at St. Peter’s, including his seven brothers and two sisters, he said. This year, a total of 656 students attended all three of L-A’s Catholic elementary schools. Ten years ago, enrollment was 935.

Sixty years ago, Franco-American children, who were often treated as outsiders at public schools, found a haven in Catholic schools.

“They were being ridiculed and laughed at,” Dube said. “They were not allowed to speak French. Many times, they didn’t know any other language.”

At Catholic school, they spoke French in the morning and English in the afternoon. Virtually all students were from French-speaking families.

“Catholic schools were the force behind the education of 90 percent of the Franco-American children,” Dube said. The largest enrollments were from the 1940s through the 1960s, she said.

She credited one priest as being the most responsible for the schools: the Rev. Herve Drouin.

“He was a genius in many ways,” Dube said. “His personality was outstanding. He was able to get money for the schools like you wouldn’t believe. He had followers, was totally charismatic. He deeply cared about the French children.”

Committed to improving the education of French children, Drouin founded St. Dominic high school.

“He was a friend of the family,” Dube said. “My father died when I was 5. We grew up poor. But Father Drouin always told my mother, Don’t worry Jeannette. Your children will be able to go to St. Dom’s. I’ll take care of it.'”

She teared up as she spoke. “He was like that with so many families. He would not refuse anybody.”

Empty pews, less money

Drouin had something that is gone today: pews filled each Sunday by parishioners.

In the past 20 years, attendance at Catholic churches has dwindled.

Dube remembered what Sunday services used to be like at St. Peter’s. Five Masses every weekend, three upstairs, two downstairs. “They were always packed, and it’s a massive church,” he said. Attendance is now about one-fourth of what it once was, she said. “And it’s mostly gray-haired people.”

Life used to revolve around church and prayer. “You don’t see that today,” Dube said. It’s not as important to send children to Catholic schools. “That has a lot to do with declining enrollment.”

In announcing the consolidation last week, the Most Rev. Richard Malone, bishop of Portland, said paying for the three schools puts too heavy a burden on the four parishes. For example, St. Joseph’s School costs the parish $160,742 a year, which accounts for 40 percent of its expenses.

The schools need more money to cover the bills, but increasing tuition would burden parents. Parishes are already contributing significantly and cannot afford more, said the Rev. Daniel Greenleaf of Holy Cross School.

If creating one new school means the survival and betterment of Catholic education, Dube is all for it, she said. But to see the numbers diminish, “when you think at one time there were nine Catholic schools (including St. Dom’s), and now there’ll be two, it’s heartbreaking.”

Seavey believes the consolidation will evoke both sadness and hope. People will grieve, but the new school will be stronger and healthier, he predicts.

Like other local pastors, he officiates at more funerals than baptisms. It’s not that way everywhere, he pointed out.

His uncle was ordained last year in Georgia. In that parish, the church is packed every weekend. The school is so full that they are building a new one, Seavey said.

When his uncle was introduced to the parish, the congregation was asked how many were from the North. “Two-thirds raised their hands,” Seavey said. “Our young people are having a hard time staying in Maine,” he said.