connected with a parish. Often these schools, such as those in the Philadelphia area, prefer to be referred to as "private Catholic schools," to distinguish themselves from the Archdiocesan parochial school system. In some Canadian provinces Catholic schools are publicly funded and in Ontario completely to the level of grade 12.

Generally within the Catholic parochial school system, parochial schools are open to all children in the parish. Thus parochial school systems function as quasi-public educational