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San Rafael School second graders are pictured in a reading class during the first week of the school year. Student demographics at the parish K-8 school are diverse, with at least half of the students from Latino families. The school encourages students to be inspired by the words of St. Catherine of Siena: “Be who God meant you to be and you can set the world on fire.” (Photo by Christina Gray/Catholic San Francisco)
Sept. 9. 2019
Christina Gray
Every morning at 7:45 before the bell rings at St. Raphael School, faculty huddle together in the same brief prayer: “God send us the children we are meant to serve, and send us the means to make it all possible.”
The K-8 school tries to “thinks outside the box” to make a Catholic education accessible to students who may not be admitted to other schools on academic or financial grounds, longtime principal Lydia Collins told Catholic San Francisco.
“I feel that’s what we are supposed to do as a Catholic school,” Collins said. “We have to find ways to make them welcome here.’”
The Veritas program, started four years ago, has been one way. It encourages students to be inspired by the words of St. Catherine of Siena: “Be who God meant you to be and you can set the world on fire.”
The program helps students flourish by encouraging them to realize their unique, God-given gifts and background and learn how to put them into service for the world.
“The child who moves to a different apartment every year may have adaptability skills that someone who has always lived in the same house might not have,” Collins said. “You speak Spanish at home? You have cross cultural communication skills that other children don’t have. It’s a strength.”
Collins said that more than half of the students at St. Raphael School come from Latino families. These same families pack the historic Mission church for the Spanish Mass at noon on Sundays.
Collins said she has heard pastors of other Marin parishes lament about how few Catholic school families come to Mass. St. Raphael has the problem in reverse.
“Here, we have families coming to Mass,” she said. “The question was, how do we get them to come to our school?”
Collins said the school decided a number of years ago to offer a direct invitation to all parish families.
During what was called the Parish Enrollment Push campaign, Collins went to all Masses and asked families not to dismiss the school outright as an unattainable option for their children.
“This is your church, this is your school,” she told them. “If you want your children to be here, please talk to us.”
Leaders in the Latino community also came forward to say a few words about why they chose St. Raphael School, Collins said.
Collins emphasized that the invitation included all parish families.
“It is not just our Latino families who are concerned about tuition costs,” she said.
Collins was careful to avoid the suggestion that “all Latino families need tuition assistance or that our Caucasian families do not need financial aid.”
Combining scholarships from a number of different sources, Collins put together an assistance package for qualified families that brought the per-student tuition down to almost one-half.
Some years ago under former pastor Father Paul Rossi, St. Raphael Parish launched an Adopt-a-Student Fund. Collins said the supportive parish community has historically collected $75,000 and often much more toward educating parish children.
St. Raphael has also quadrupled the scholarship money it receives annually from The Basic Fund, a nonprofit organization that partners with private schools serving low-income populations. It is the second-largest Basic Fund recipient next to St. Peter School in the Mission District, Collins said.
“Nobody comes for free,” said Collins, who acknowledged that even reduced tuition is out of reach for some families.
Many, though, are thrilled to make great sacrifices to give their children a Catholic education.
It’s not just the nice private school education and academic piece they want, said Collins. “They want God.”
St. Raphael School students lead the morning assembly and prayer Aug. 29 on the first week of the school year. The parish school “thinks outside the box” to make a Catholic school education accessible to students from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds, principal Lydia Collins said. (Photo by Christina Gray/Catholic San Francisco)