Vatican II

This is the school my Momma went to, St. Bernard's, at the corner of Mack and Fairview, before she moved to the house on Wilshire. It is still being used as some kind of community center, although the parish closed in 1990. Why am I putting this picture up here? I suppose the posts look better with a photo, don't they?

I drove by there after work today and was amazed at all the new construction of houses on Fairview, on the same block as the school building. Everywhere you look in Detroit, you see vacant lots from where houses either burnt down or were demolished. This block had half the block demolished, at least, and new houses built. These new houses look kind of like the old houses, but they have aluminum siding, that kind of thing, without much ornamentation. Another feature is that these new houses are spread further apart so there is room for a driveway with each lot. This neighborhood was originally built before most people had cars, so the original neighborhood was much more dense than the new neighborhood being built now. Density is great for kids, there are more friends within walking distance. I am saddened by the destruction of the old houses, which often have some decorative features; those houses still standing today are a monument to the people who made Detroit a great city a long time ago. But I am glad these new houses are being built, too; I am just glad that "somebody" is investing in Detroit to make it great again. But I swear, these new houses look just like houses in the suburbs do.

I was thinking out loud to my Mom about my idea why everyone moved out of the old neighborhood. Over time, white hillbillies and other non-catholics moved into the neighborhood, and St. David's school attendance dipped. Then the diocese had to close the school because of declining enrollment. Then more of the white catholic families moved out, creating space for the new black families to move in. Once the first black family moved in on a block, the process accelerated because of the blockbusting techniques used by the realtors. But my Mom says, no. She says the reason everyone moved out of the old neighborhood was because of the Vatican II reforms. In her mind, all of the world's ills can be traced to Vatican II (and Hillary Clinton). But what she says makes sense, this time. She says that one of the Vatican II reforms was that catholic schools had to start paying their teachers (especially nuns) a better salary. This salary increase, in turn, drove up the price of the catholic schools so fewer families could afford to send their kids there, thus the declining enrollment.

Let's think this out and assume she is correct. If she is correct, then not only would the city catholic schools suffer, but so would suburban catholic schools, unless the white families are getting an increase in salary when they move to the suburbs. So that would be really interesting to see if there is data available for "Metro Detroit" catholic school attendance, 1940-2005.