Roman Catholics: Trouble in the Classroom

Until recently, the lay teacher in a Roman Catholic parochial school was regarded as something of a necessary evil. Thanks to a decline in the number of nun teachers and a rapid growth of Catholic schools, laymen now constitute one-third of the parochial teaching force—and they are no longer content to accept second-class citizenship. In the past six weeks, teacher walkouts have hit three Chicago high schools, while last-minute negotiations narrowly averted similar strikes in New York City and Philadelphia. In the Los Angeles suburb of Mission Hills, 32 male lay teachers...