NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      CHICAGO, 20 (NE) "So much of our energy has gone into maintaining the present system that we have not imagined something quite different. The work of imagining has begun in earnest now," said recently Cardinal Francis E. George, Archbishop of Chicago, facing the difficult situation in relation to the funding of catholic schools of the archdiocese. The funds obtained by the Archdiocese, which maintain the Catholic educative system, are becoming insufficient to sustain the education of the 131.000 students that actually benefit from this system.

      Seeking to solve this difficult situation, Cardinal George has presented to the archdiocese a 1-year program in order to investigate all the possible means to raise funding -private, governmental or other- that will allow Catholic schools in the archdiocese to continue running. "The ongoing education of the 131,000 students now in Catholic schools in Cook and Lake counties, as well as the other students in Catholic schools statewide, is a public concern," said Cardinal George. According to recent statistics received by the archdiocese, if the Catholic school system ceased to exist in Cook and Lake counties, government would be forced to absorb the education of 131,000 students at a cost to taxpayers of slightly under $1 billion.