Closing Chaptersattempts to explain the disintegration of urban parochial schools in Youngstown, Ohio, a onetime industrial center that lost all but one of its eighteen Catholic parochial elementary schools between 1960 and 2006. Through this examination of Youngstown, Welsh sheds light on a significant national phenomenon: the fragmentation of American Catholic identity.

Thomas G. Welsh, PhD is an independent scholar, community organizer, and journalist based in Youngstown, Ohio.

1 Acknowledgments2 DedicationChapter 3 Chapter 1: IntroductionChapter 4 Chapter 2: Rise of a Parochial School SystemChapter 5 Chapter 3: "The Immaculate": One School's ExperienceChapter 6 Chapter 4: Urban Exodus: Depopulation and Urban Parish SchoolsChapter 7 Chapter 5: Demographic Change and Urban Parish SchoolsChapter 8 Chapter 6: Out of These Ashes: Vatican II and Catholic IdentityChapter 9 Chapter 7: A House Divided: Conclusions10 Epilogue11 Bibliography