Bob Schaffer: “Mr. Speaker, I appreciate all the speakers today who have articulately spoken about the value and benefit of Catholic…”

“Mr. Speaker, I appreciate all the speakers today who have articulately spoken about the value and benefit of Catholic education and the contributions Catholic schools have made throughout the history of our country, right up to today and also that which we anticipate beyond. There are a number of interesting statistics that I would like to remind the body about. First of all, just in terms of faith, I am Catholic and was educated in a Catholic high school in Cincinnati, Ohio, Moeller High School, and also Catholic University. It was my observation while I was there that clearly the majority of students who I attended school with were Catholic, but we had a great number of students from a wide variety of different Christian and non-Christian faiths who attended our school as well. Almost 11.5 percent of Catholic elementary school students are from other faith backgrounds throughout the country. In some inner-city schools, the majority of students are non-Catholic. I think it speaks to the mission of Catholic educators to reach out to all students and provide academic and spiritual-based services to all those who wish to achieve a superior education in many settings throughout the United States of America.”