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Archbishop Cupich Backs 'Strong Schools' Over Many 'That Are All Bleeding'

By Ted Cox | February 4, 2015 4:02pm | Updated on February 4, 2015 4:03pm
 Archbishop Blase Cupich said, "We have to make sure we always have strong schools, not just a group of schools that are all bleeding."
Archbishop Blase Cupich said, "We have to make sure we always have strong schools, not just a group of schools that are all bleeding."
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DNAinfo/Ted Cox

RIVER NORTH — The city's Catholic leader Wednesday suggested tax credits for all forms of education to strengthen schools, but said he would "stay totally out of" the upcoming decision to merge Catholic schools on the Northwest Side.

"We have to make sure we always have strong schools, not just a group of schools that are all bleeding," said Archbishop Blase Cupich after addressing the City Club.

The head of the Archdiocese of Chicago told reporters after the speech that when it comes to Catholic schools, "We're not really using our resources wisely."

His aim, he said, was to "strengthen the schools that we have." Earlier school closings ordered by his predecessor, Cardinal Francis George, were meant to address shifting populations and demographics within the archdiocese.

 Archbishop Blase Cupich addressed the City Club for the first time Wednesday.
Archbishop Blase Cupich addressed the City Club for the first time Wednesday.
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DNAinfo/Ted Cox

"We can't do this alone anymore," Cupich said of providing education outside the public school system, suggesting "maybe a tax-credit system ... that will benefit all of our children, all of our families, no matter what school they decide to send their children to."

As for the upcoming decision to merge Catholic schools on the Northwest Side, Cupich said, "I've decided to stay totally out of it," but immediately set conditions for those decisions.

Cupich said decisions can't just be based on numbers, whether on finances or student population, but that "we also have to look at the ethos, the history, the legacy, the alumni, the traditions of a given school to make sure that they're preserved in whatever entity they're going to join in a regional venture."

During his lunch speech to the City Club, Cupich called on state and federal governments to "embrace comprehensive immigration reform." He called President Barack Obama's executive order on immigration that would shield many from deportation "a Band-Aid on a gaping wound."

"Chicago is a city of many languages, yet no one seems to be a foreigner or considers himself a foreigner," he said. He added the city "welcomes newcomers to call Chicago home."

Cupich added that "Chicago is a city that impresses the imagination," and that fueling that imagination for the city's children, through education, was key to easing crime, which he later called "a result of people having no hope and no options."

Borrowing heavily from the poetry of Carl Sandburg, Cupich said, "We are a city that's not constrained by the natural topography around us," in that the world's first skyscrapers had sprung from the prairie flatlands, reflecting the city's expansive spirit in mixing "altitude and the attitude."

Cupich also explained that he chose to live in the rectory at Holy Name Cathedral rather than the Cardinal's Mansion in the Gold Coast because "I wanted a place with access to people on a regular basis" and that it was "two minutes to the office," meaning the city's main Catholic church.

"My decision was for something, not against something," Cupich said.

Finally, he declared himself "ecumenical" when asked that enduring Chicago question about whether he was a fan of the Cubs or the White Sox.

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