Reflections on Catholic education in the USA: a dialogue across generations from the 1950s to the 2000s

This study sought to construct rich accounts of the remembrances of Catholic grade school and high school graduates in the USA related to their school experiences and the continuing impacts of these experiences on their lives. Ten former students (comprised of five males and five females) who graduated from Catholic schools in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and early 2000s were purposely selected using criterion sampling in order to gain an understanding of their perceptions and experiences as well as to compare and contrast these perceptions and experiences across decades and generations. Although not strictly based on a phenomenological approach, this study did try to elicit the lived experiences of these graduates in order to identify compelling concepts and themes.