Education Quote by Mark Foley

Parochial schools show up here less as a religious institution than as a quietly political fact on the ground: they educate lots of American kids, and not just the ones you’d expect. Mark Foley’s line is doing two jobs at once. On the surface, it’s descriptive, even bland. Underneath, it’s an argument for legitimacy and public regard. If Catholic schools serve “a wide range of ethnic backgrounds” and “many who are non-Catholic,” then they can be framed as civic partners rather than sectarian enclaves.

The specific intent is to widen the moral and policy umbrella around private religious education. Foley’s phrasing telegraphs inclusion without wading into church-state controversy. “Responsible for educating” is a loaded verb: it suggests obligation, public service, and a kind of burden-sharing with the state. The detail about non-Catholic students is strategically chosen to blunt the suspicion that parochial schools exist to indoctrinate or segregate. It’s also a subtle appeal to pluralism: these schools can be cast as practical engines of integration and opportunity, especially in urban areas where Catholic school systems have historically enrolled immigrant and minority families when public options were failing them.

Context matters because a politician rarely praises parochial schools in a vacuum. This is the language of voucher debates, tax-credit proposals, and “school choice” coalitions that need religious schools to look broadly beneficial. By emphasizing diversity and cross-faith enrollment, Foley is trying to shift the conversation from theology to outcomes, from doctrine to demographics. The subtext: supporting parochial schools isn’t favoritism; it’s pragmatism.