Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, and while it has become the catalyst for ushering in the holiday shopping season, its original purpose as a day to give thanks has been sadly muted.

One of the factors in my life that I will always be thankful for is my parochial-school education, which in the 1950s and ’60s was virtually free of charge. Today, for children in New York’s inner city, the options for private education are dependent on their parents’ sacrifices and the educational institutions’ strong commitment and support from donors. In Brooklyn and Queens, those options will become even slimmer next year.

The Archdiocese of Brooklyn has announced the possible closings of dozens of parish schools, and that will have a considerable impact on our overcrowded public school system as well. Enrollment in the Catholic elementary schools has fallen by nearly 6,000 students. Donations to parishes supporting those schools were adversely affected by the priest sex-abuse scandals, and children are paying the price.

The Archdiocese of New York covers Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island, and seven counties north of the city. I met with the archdiocesan secretary of education, Catherine Hickey; Michael Keegan, who heads a new department dealing with inner-city schools; and Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the archdiocese.

When I asked if the Archdiocese of New York planned any closings, Dr. Hickey explained that each school is looked at differently to determine if the needs of its children are being served. “Cardinal Egan is committed to ensure that every Catholic child who wants a Catholic education will find a place in the system,” she said. If a school has inadequate enrollment and faces possible closure, a place will be found in a nearby school to accommodate that child.

In three separate cases, the archdiocese took over the school operation in parishes with dwindling population but strong enrollment in their school.

One of those schools is St. Brigid’s, in the East Village. Mr. Zwilling explained that the church building has been condemned and must be razed. The school is thriving, however, and has now become a diocesan school.

It always amazes me that Catholics seem to think the church will always be there for their needs when they make no effort to support it with their presence at Mass except on Easter and Christmas. When a church that has very poor attendance or support from its community is closed, we hear the protests that “the church is just out for the money.”

There are few religious communities now to teach the children. People don’t attend church every week as they did years ago, and, when they do, they toss only nickels and dimes in the collection basket. When the Mass is over, the parishioners drive away in their SUVs and late-model cars.

The buildings need to be heated and cleaned, and lay teachers and workers need to be paid in real dollars. Every student in a Catholic school is already on scholarship, because tuition does not cover costs. It ranges from $1,900 to $2,500 a year in grade schools, substantially lower than other private schools.

A friend of mine made the comment that the church has plenty of money. Yes it does, and it spends most of it on schools, hospitals, hospices, charitable endeavors, and, lately, lawyers. Each time we get a new archbishop to take over the New York archdiocese he expresses shock that most of his time is spent begging for money.

This is a rich city and a generous one. The Department of Education has a $14 billion budget, yet it even has a Fund for Public Schools to secure private donations.

The New York archdiocese’s budget is considerably less, yet it teaches more than 110,000 students, at half the cost of public schools. In the inner cities, about 40% of the students are non-Catholic. Schools have low dropout rates, and 99% of their high-school students go on to higher education.

The inner cities in New York are unlikely to get school vouchers anytime soon. The Blaine Amendment in our state constitution forbidding them is unlikely to get overturned by a Democratic Assembly, which receives major contributions from teachers unions.

Individuals and corporations can help, however, by going directly to the source. If there is a parochial school in your neighborhood, consider financing a scholarship there for a needy student. The archdiocese also has a program, Be a Student’s Friend, that is part of the Inner City Scholarship Fund. Donations can be made online through the Web site http://www.innercitysf.org.

Remember those “I survived Catholic Schools” T-shirts? Well, if you wore one, consider helping today’s students get a chance to wear one.