We, the undersigned parents and guardians of students at Saint John the Beloved School, are writing to formally express our deep concern regarding the newly announced policy that ties weekly Mass attendance to students’ tuition rates, eligibility for extracurricular activities, and academic assessments.

While we respect the importance of nurturing our children’s spiritual lives and supporting their participation in the Church, we believe that enforcing church attendance through punitive academic or financial consequences is not aligned with the values of inclusion, compassion, and pastoral care that the Catholic Church is called to embody.

Our concerns include:

• Inequity and Unfairness: Many families in our school community are navigating complex life circumstances, including divorce, co-parenting, shift work, and varying levels of faith participation among parents. Children should not be penalized—financially, academically, or socially—for situations beyond their control.
• Damage to Evangelization Efforts: Linking participation in faith life to penalties risks creating resentment and alienation rather than fostering authentic engagement. We believe the Church should welcome families into deeper relationship with God through invitation, not coercion.
• Undermining Parent Contributions: Parents and guardians already make countless sacrifices to support Saint John the Beloved through volunteering, ministry, fundraising, and daily involvement. This policy diminishes those efforts by suggesting that attendance alone defines commitment to the school’s mission.
• Financial Pressure and Disparity: Tuition costs have already risen substantially. Introducing additional financial burdens based on attendance introduces inequity and places undue stress on families doing their best to support Catholic education.
• Potential for Community Harm: We fear this policy may have unintended consequences, including lower enrollment and diminished trust in school leadership. Several other schools in the Diocese of Wilmington do not have such requirements, and families may begin to seek out those alternatives.

We urge the parish and school leadership to reconsider this policy and instead find ways to inspire greater faith engagement that reflect the Church’s mission of mercy, hospitality, and accompaniment.

We remain committed to our children’s Catholic formation and education, and we are ready to work in partnership with you to foster a spiritually vibrant and welcoming school community. However, many of us will not finalize our tuition contracts until this matter is revisited.

Respectfully,
The Undersigned Parents and Guardians of Saint John the Beloved Students