Spokane's teaching nuns are history

SPOKANE — After the final bell rang, Sister Jackie Welch and Sister Loretta Giampietri headed into retirement, leaving the Spokane Catholic Diocese without nuns in its classrooms for the first time.

"It's a sad time," diocese school Superintendent Duane Schafer said Friday. "They have been such an important part of Catholic schools in Spokane and Eastern Washington."

The loss will be felt at Assumption Parish School, where Welch taught fourth grade for 19 years, and at St. Paschal's, where Giampietri has been the principal for 23 years.

Schafer, like many older Catholics who went to parochial schools, remembers when nearly every class was taught by a nun or priest.

Now, among the more than 163,000 full-time staff members who teach at Catholic schools nationwide, only 5.6 percent are nuns, brothers or priests, according to the National Catholic Education Association.

The loss of nuns in the classrooms reflects the nationwide drop in the number of Catholic clergy. As priests and nuns reach retirement age, not enough men and women are entering seminaries and convents to replace them.

About 250 nuns live in Eastern Washington, but most are over the age of 60 and have retired.

Dozens of former students and hundreds of parents and parishioners at both St. Paschal's and Assumption organized goodbye parties for both sisters recently.

"Having our kids in a Catholic environment has reinforced our value system at home," said Assumption parishioner Patricia Quinn. Four of her 10 children were taught by Welch, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace.

Joe Quinn, 20, said he was one of those unruly kids who often got into trouble. That changed when Quinn advanced from the third grade to Sister Jackie's classroom.

"She straightened me out," said Quinn, who was home from college in Kansas last week to visit his fourth-grade teacher. "She was always there to help."

The sisters have seen many changes in both education and the Catholic Church over the years. Priests no longer hand out report cards, and girls can wear shorts to school instead of the uniform skirt.

But despite new curricula and technology, some things did not change. The sisters continued to educate while instilling a firm foundation in the Catholic faith.

While some tears have been shed, this shouldn't be a sad time, said Giampietri, a member of the Franciscan Sisters order of nuns for 48 years.

"We should also be joyful because we have handed down a legacy."