Sure enough: All the fifth graders in the art studio at the Our Mother of Sorrows school were clutching pencils and rulers, each designing his or her unique African-style kinte cloth pattern of triangles, rectangles and diagonals.

"It's for Black History Month," Caileb explained.

Music courses, high-end computers and art classes - in a studio, no less - may seem extravagant for two West Philadelphia parochial schools struggling to stay open. But their pastor insists art and music are as essential to modern Catholic education as arithmetic, spelling, and those crucifixes on the walls.

"These are not frills," the Rev. Joseph Okonski said during a tour of Sorrows and its partner, St. Ignatius of Loyola parish school, a mile away. "A lot of our students find the arts a tremendous outlet that helps complete who they are."

It costs the two parishes $3,450 per pupil to run their schools, but that figure is so far beyond the reach of most surrounding families that they charge just $2,500 - and then give scholarships to 55 percent of their youngsters.

The schools, which twinned under a single administration two years ago, are turning to a fund-raising technique increasingly popular with parish schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. They are asking their parishioners, alumni, individuals and organizations to help boost enrollment by "adopting" a youngster's tuition.

"Some families just need help. They can pay some, but not all," Okonski said. "And if we don't get enrollments up, we're in trouble."

Our Mother of Sorrows, at 48th Street and Lancaster Avenue, was once the largest parish in the archdiocese, Okonski said. Its school now has just 200 students - the number at which the archdiocese begins to question whether a school can survive.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, at 43d and Wallace Streets, was made the archdiocese's first African American ethnic parish in 1926, and for decades its school flourished under the care of the wealthy benefactress, St. Katharine Drexel, and her Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.

But enrollment at St. Ignatius School is 140, still open thanks to its partnership with Sorrows.

"We want to keep these vibrant schools alive and well," Okonski said at a desk in Sorrows' library, "and some days we believe we can do it."

"Most days," interjected the principal, Sister Owen, who sat across from him.

Since the archdiocese launched its "sponsor-a-student" program in 2004, all 21 high schools and at least 23 parishes have tried it, said Jim O'Hara, a member of the archdiocesan school board. He helped the board's president, Jerry Parsons, develop and market the program.

"It's not a guarantee of a school's survival," O'Hara said Thursday, "but in a number of schools we've seen 15 to 25 students who couldn't otherwise afford it get help."

Yvette Darby, the mother of two youngsters at St. Ignatius, said she had been "having problems keeping up with tuition" since she lost her job several months ago. Her new job does not pay enough.

"I thought I'd have to pull them out," she said of her children, "but the school's working with me until things get better. I told them I'd do anything to keep them there. I've never seen my children so happy."

Twice a week, Sorrows youngsters board buses to use the gym and take music class at St. Ignatius. The Ignatius kids travel to Sorrows for art and computer science.

Twelve-year-old Jawan Singleton, who was making kinte cloth designs alongside his friend Caileb, balked when asked if he would rather be in public school.

"No!" he said. "I came here to be blessed."

"How do you get blessed here?" asked Tahira Short, 11, who sat across the table. "You're not Catholic."

"No," said Jawan, who, like Caileb, is a Seventh-day Adventist, "but we learn more about God here."

About 80 percent of the youngsters at St. Ignatius and Sorrows are not Catholic.

The archdiocese subsidizes the two schools in the amount of $300,000 a year, "and if the boiler goes, they'll help us," Okonski said. "But how many times can you go to them before they say, 'Look . . .'?"

About 20 of the 162 parish schools in the archdiocese have an enrollment below 200, said Bishop Joseph P. McFadden, who oversees its education program.

A school that drops below 200 does not face automatic closure, he said, "but once below 200, a couple of things come into play. First is the economy of scale: Can it pay its bills? And can it offer quality programs?"

The archdiocese discourages parish schools from cutting full-time arts, music and computer programs, McFadden said, "so if a school starts to make trade-offs there, we question whether it is really serving its students."

The archdiocese gives about $6 million a year in subsidies to poor parishes - most of it going to schools, McFadden said - plus $6 million in tuition subsidies.

McFadden urged older Catholics who attended Catholic parochial schools at little or no cost to subsidize poor students "as a matter of justice."

"Many of them have become very successful thanks to Catholic education," he said. "I think they have a responsibility now to reach back and help others."