Roman Catholic Bishop of Chicago - Office of Catholic Schools

Office of Catholic Schools

See also: List of schools of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago

The Office of Catholic Schools operates, manages, and supports diocesan and Catholic primary and secondary schools. Catholic education in the Chicago area began on June 3, 1844 with the opening of a boys' school. Chicago parochial schools served various ethnic groups, including Irish, Germans, Poles, Czechs and Bohemians, French, Slovaks, Lithuanians, African Americans, Italians, and Mexicans. Many local nuns living in convents established and operated Catholic schools.

The school construction boom ended when Cardinal John Cody, the archbishop at the time, decided to limit construction of Catholic schools in Lake County and suburban areas in Cook County. Due to changes in demographics, the archdiocese has since closed more than half of its urban schools since 1966.

Between 1984 and 2004, the Office of Catholic Schools closed 148 schools and 10 school sites. An August 17, 2000 article by the Chicago Sun-Times refers to the Archdiocese of Chicago Office of Catholic Schools as the largest private school system in the United States.

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