Catholics Should Lead on Banning Porn

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Like many Catholics, I was encouraged by U.S. lawmakers’ plea for better enforcement of obscenity laws against pornography. What I find troubling, however, is that few Catholic colleges are leading by example.

As even companies like Starbucks and Tumblr move to block pornography on their internet networks—a rather simple thing to do—it seems like common sense that Catholic colleges would also install porn filters to avoid streaming smut to their students. But at the University of Notre Dame, students are the ones begging for a filter, and still the administration is unwilling to take a simple step toward decency and respect.

By contrast, several of the faithful Catholic colleges recommended in The Newman Guide block pornography on their Wi-Fi networks and go out of their way to encourage chastity on campus.

One of the arguments against such filters is that blocking porn would violate “free speech.” Social media has been abuzz with vigorous debate over the limits of government authority. But that has no relevance to a private college’s behavioral expectations, which are intended to form the character of young adults as much as they also protect the rights of those whose dignity and often safety are endangered by the sleazy porn industry.

College leaders also need to consider the health of their students. The severely damaging effects of pornography are well-documented by chastity advocates like Matt Fradd, a graduate of Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut. His book The Porn Myth explains the psychological effects, addictive properties and devastating impact on relationships that pornography can cause.

A representative at the University of Notre Dame has argued that students should be “self-censors.” It is true that students have plenty of opportunities to access online porn outside of a college’s Wi-Fi network, and so they must learn responsibility. But a Catholic college sends an important message about the absolute impropriety of viewing porn by installing a filer—and a college that rejects filters and willingly provides access to porn sends a terrible message to students that it is not a serious concern.

Blocking porn sends a strong message about a Catholic college’s priorities and expectations for students. It says that the college condemns porn and encourages its students to stay far away from it. It tells students that the college cares enough for its students that it would never willingly sponsor a near occasion of sin, leading students into temptation.

Pornography is “not the sort of relationship” that students should be “looking for,” said President John Garvey, who happily agreed to restrict pornography access earlier this year at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. “We’re not going to lend our system to help them find it.”

If Catholic colleges are not willing to help protect students from something as damaging as porn, what concern do they show for the good of their students? What is the point of Catholic education at all, if there is no effort at formation and teaching students to live as God intended?

Catholic colleges market their bold mission statements and claims, but they need to walk the talk. They claim to offer education for the “mind and heart” and to prepare graduates to be “powerful forces for good in the world.” An easy start would be to block porn and work hard to create campus environments that promote virtue.

The souls of students must be the top concern for Catholic educators. Catholic colleges have a great responsibility in preparing students not only for this life, but also for God. I pray that college leaders muster the moral courage to stand against porn and lead the way for the rest of society.

This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register.

Catholic College Scholarship Contest Invites Applications

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The Cardinal Newman Society is pleased to announce its fourth annual Essay Scholarship Contest. The winning essay writer will be awarded $5,000 toward the cost of attending a college recommended in The Newman Guide in the fall of 2020.

In addition, several Newman Guide colleges have agreed to supplement the Newman Society’s scholarship with additional $5,000 grants to the winner over three additional years.  

All of the details about the Contest can be found at this link: https://newmansoc.org/EssayContest

The $5,000 scholarship is made possible thanks to the generosity of Joe and Ann Guiffre, strong advocates of faithful Catholic education.

“We are grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Guiffre for enabling this scholarship,” said Cardinal Newman Society President Patrick Reilly. “They understand the unique value of a truly Catholic education, and they are thrilled to help students experience all that a Newman Guide-recommended college can provide.”

The contest is open to high school seniors in the United States who sign up for the Newman Society’s Recruit Me program, explore the Newman Society’s tips for navigating the college search, and check out the recommended colleges in The Newman Guide during their college search.

The topic for this year’s contest is to reflect, in 500-700 words, on the following question: “A recent Pew Research study found that only 26% of self-professed Catholics under the age of 40 believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. In light of this finding, why do you think that it is important to attend a faithful Catholic college?”

Essays will be judged by how well they demonstrate appreciation for faithful Catholic education, as well as the quality of the writing.

Last year, the Newman Society announced Landis Lehman, a homeschooled student from Lucas, Texas, as the winner of the Society’s third annual Essay Scholarship Contest. She received a $5,000 scholarship toward her education at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan. She may also be eligible for additional $5,000 grants from Benedictine College.

In her winning essay, Lehman related how she he searched for a college that “will prepare me not only for a career, but also for a life as a faithful follower of Christ.” And rejecting the moral laxity that is typical of campus life, Lehman looked for a college that “helps me, not hinders me, towards my ultimate goal of Heaven.”

Lehman described how a faithful Catholic education will form her in mind, body and soul. She wrote:

The education I will receive will cultivate in me a love of truth that will stay with me long after graduation. Likewise, the godly relationships that I will forge with the inspiring students around me will become an integral part of my adult life. Most importantly, at a college where every aspect of life is pervaded by a devoutly Catholic culture, I will be provided with a foundation that will inspire me to strive for holiness every day.

Ultimately, Lehman believed that “choosing to attend a faithful Catholic college is a decision that will affect more than my next four years—it will influence me for life.”

Lehman’s entire essay can be read here.

Last year, essays were submitted from students in 44 states, who together have applied to every U.S. residential college that is recommended in The Newman Guide.

Questions about this year’s Essay Scholarship Contest can be directed to Programs@CardinalNewmanSociety.org.

Archbishop Sheen

Archbishop Sheen’s Idea of Education

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This article by Patrick Reilly, President and Founder of The Cardinal Newman Society, was published at The National Catholic Register prior to the unexpected delay of Venerable Fulton Sheen’s beatification (originally planned for Dec. 21). Please continue to pray for his Cause for sainthood.

Education should teach us the “truth about man,” said Archbishop Fulton Sheen. A graduate of and longtime professor at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., before he was a television celebrity, Sheen should inspire Catholics to seek out authentic education.

For 23 years, Sheen taught courses such as “Philosophy of Religion” and “God and Society” at Catholic University, making frequent use of Caldwell Chapel on campus. After teaching, he moved into television and radio programs, reaching greater numbers—even until today—with his wisdom, wit and unparalleled teaching ability.

One of his former students, Father William Amann, said that Sheen’s strong faith was obvious in the classroom. “He was a very holy man and it came out certainly in the presentation of his class. His holiness was evident in his demeanor and the classes he gave, his belief in God, and his trust in the Lord.”

For Sheen, education was about training the “whole man—the intellect and will, not just the mind alone.” Related to the intellect, he described the educated person as one who will do three things: “seek truth,” have a “correlation of studies” and have “depth, particularly the deepening of mystery.”

For the first, Sheen urged that the “one basic truth we have to learn is the truth of our own existence.” He lamented that people live years of their lives without learning “why they are here, and where they are going.”

“When life is meaningless, it is very dull,” Sheen continued. “When you know the truth of life, then you are most free.”

On the second point, the correlation of studies refers to the idea that “there are certain subjects that ought to be regarded as essential, so that a man will be truly educated.” The tendency in education, Sheen explained, was to use the “shelf theory” and “take any course that you please.” This leads to a “disconnected and disjointed” understanding.

The “really educated man sees a relationship between various branches of knowledge,” said Sheen, urging against “overspecification” in universities. A well-rounded curriculum “will teach a man how to… know himself, know society, know his relationship to the universe, and above all, he will understand his relationship to God.”

Finally, a truly educated person will have a “philosophy of life that is solid” and will “deepen the mystery of things” rather than centering studies around various fads that come and go.

Sheen’s thoughts on education may sound lofty in our nation today, where many colleges, even Catholic ones, have become focused solely on job training. They lack the formation that Sheen insisted upon. Many colleges promote relativism, fail to provide a meaningful foundation in the liberal arts, and leave students empty and unprepared for life.

Sheen explains how a strong Catholic education can make life worth living. If families look carefully, they can find strong Catholic schools and colleges that are worthy of a saint.

This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register.

Curtis Martin

FOCUS Leader: ‘Renewal of Catholic Colleges is Critical’

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The Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) is a nationwide ministry to students at mostly secular colleges. But seeds for the project were planted while founder and president Curtis Martin studied theology at a faithful Catholic college, and the first FOCUS chapter was launched at another Catholic college. Both colleges today are recommended in The Newman Guide for their strong Catholic identity.

“My wife, Michaelann, and I were blessed to come to Franciscan University of Steubenville and study under Dr. Scott Hahn, to learn how to teach the faith and reach the world,” says Martin.

“The teachers I studied under and the students I studied with became the friends and partners who helped us launch FOCUS.”

Today, FOCUS is instrumental in bringing about the New Evangelization in the Catholic Church. There are more than 730 FOCUS missionaries on 170 college campuses, sharing the Gospel with college students and inviting them into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

“There is a Catholic Center within walking distance of almost every campus in the country, but most students don’t walk to the Center, so we needed to create an outreach that would walk to them,” Martin explains.

He found fertile ground for the first chapter of FOCUS at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan. In 1997, Benedictine Father Meinrad Miller watched Martin and Dr. Hahn discuss the idea of FOCUS on EWTN, according to the College. Fr. Meinrad worked with Dr. Ted Sri, who was teaching at Benedictine at that time, to bring Martin to campus.

Benedictine was the “perfect place to launch FOCUS,” says Martin, who explains that the “students were so very open.” The chapter was opened in 1998 with two missionaries.

“Great things begin at Benedictine College,” Martin said last year, as Benedictine’s commencement speaker.

“They’ve developed a reputation here for launching leaders into every area of the culture,” he continued. “Something unique is going on here that is not going on at very many other places.”

Indeed, Martin recognizes that Catholic colleges are not all the same. “Too many Catholic universities have chosen earthly success at the expense of the Lordship of Jesus Christ,” says Martin.

“Many Catholic schools have lost their Catholic identity,” Martin laments. “Until they return to Jesus Christ, and the Church that He founded, they will fail to be the agents of renewal and transformation that they were created, and exist, to be. The renewal of Catholic colleges is critical to authentic renewal.”

When asked about what message he thinks college students today need to hear most urgently, Martin reflects on how our “earthly life is brief,” and “this generation of Catholics is responsible for this generation of people.”

The greatest poverty is to not know God, and Catholics need to respond to “His amazing invitation.”

“I believe that Catholics, even faithful Catholics, lack a sense of urgency,” he says. “Only grace will equip us for the work of rescuing our brothers and sisters. Now is the time, and we need to beg our Lord, through the intercession of our Lady, that we are given the grace to cooperate with Him to rescue them.”

Study Science at a Faithful Catholic College

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Catholic high school students often ask: can I study engineering, medicine or the other sciences at a faithful Catholic college?

Or, to put it another way: can a college that teaches theology and philosophy be good at teaching science?

St. John Paul II thought so! He urged Catholic colleges to address the most pressing needs of society in science and technology, teaching students to see how faith and reason “bear harmonious witness to the unity of all truth.”

Today, America’s most faithful Catholic colleges are embracing St. John Paul II’s vision by teaching the sciences from an authentically Catholic perspective, and several of the colleges have announced exciting new developments in recent months. Students pursuing degrees in health, engineering, nursing, chemistry and other science- and math-related fields would do well to consider the differences in studying at a faithful Catholic college.

“We believe faith, morality and ethics are just as important in the sciences as in every other part of our lives. They cannot be separated,” said Stephen Minnis, president of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.

The College recently opened a new 100,000-square-foot state of the art STEM building, the culmination of an impressive three-year project. Students and faculty expect that the new facility will open the door to involvement in even more major research projects. But unlike students at secular and many other Catholic colleges, Benedictine’s students do “not have to check their faith at the door of the science building,” says Minnis.

Students can find the best of both worlds in a faithful Catholic college. They can receive a solid liberal arts education while choosing majors like chemical, civil and mechanical engineering.

Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio, has also announced expansions to its science offerings in recent years. This fall, Franciscan unveiled a biochemistry degree as one of its new majors. Students benefit in every subject area from a strong faculty, which is 94% Catholic.

“In this age of technology, we are in dire need of more truly Catholic scientists and medical professionals who can clearly articulate the proper use of science and technology in society,” explains Dr. Daniel Kuebler, biology professor and dean of the School of Natural and Applied Sciences. “The type of integrated science education offered at Franciscan produces just these types of graduates.”

In an increasing secular society, many ethical questions are raised about how scientific knowledge should be used, says Kuebler. “Should we clone humans? Should we manipulate human embryos? Should we develop embryonic stem cell lines?”

“At Franciscan, students not only learn the cutting-edge science through our array of academic programs, but they are also trained in sound Catholic moral and ethical principles so that they can competently and confidently defend the dignity of human life,” he says.

“Too often people see science and faith as being at odds with each other,” Kuebler adds. “Nothing could be further from the truth for a Catholic.”

Catholic students also find integration of faith and science at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina. The college recently announced that Caromont, a local health care system, will be building a hospital adjacent to campus. The lease agreement with the Benedictine monastery will ensure that “nothing contrary to the Church’s teaching will be done at the hospital,” says Dr. Heather Ayala, chair of the college’s biology department.

Additionally, any “cooperative programs the college undertakes with Caromont will be degree-granting academic programs and thus under the control of the college,” Ayala continues.

The Benedictine mission of Belmont Abbey is a “central piece” in the development of new science and health related initiatives, Ayala says. Her biology department is known for its high placement rates for graduates into medical, dental and veterinary schools.

Ayala says she has “enjoyed being able to speak openly” about her faith with students and “have conversations both inside and outside of class” that integrate her Catholic faith with the life sciences.

The University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, recently was given permission by the family of St. Gianna Beretta Molla to rename its School of Health Sciences after her. Saint Gianna gave up her life to save her unborn baby.

The sacrifice of St. Gianna witnesses to “all that we hope to pass on to our students,” says Lauren Emmel, associate professor of physical therapy at the university. She believes that students must be educated about how “God works through our vocation for our sanctification and the sanctification of those we serve.”

The University of Mary offers a variety of majors in the health sciences including physical therapy and biomechanics. Its nursing is especially popular because of its high national ranking. Students are taught from a Catholic perspective and take two theology and two philosophy courses.

“Our commitment to teaching the sciences, especially the health sciences, begins with a witness to Truth personally. Students know integrity when they see it, so a personal commitment to the faith is important for any teacher in a Catholic institution,” explains Emmel.

“Without a recognition of the other as a person with dignity,” Emmel warns, “we begin treating diseases and discarding the less-than-desirable parts… One can imagine how this potentiates discarding entire classes of people, especially those who are dependent: children, elderly, the weak, the poor.”

But at the University of Mary, “our programs begin, as they ought, with a recognition of the dignity and sanctity of life,” she says. Professors try to help students “see, consider, and view people first, with all the dignity God has provided to them” and then only afterward to “address the weaknesses and impairments in a manner which is helpful and truly healing.”

Other faithful Catholic colleges recommended in The Newman Guide—including Ave Maria University, the Catholic University of America, the University of Dallas, the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Walsh University—offer various science majors that integrate faith and ethics. John Paul the Great University in Escondido, California, offers several technical programs related to new media and the arts. Catholic liberal arts colleges like Christendom College, Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts and Thomas More College of Liberal Arts also provide math and science education.

The Great Books education at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California, and Northfield, Massachusetts, “requires knowledge of the principles of all the major disciplines, including math and science,” according to Dr. Thomas Kaiser, associate dean of the College in New England. Like Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, Wyoming, which also emphasizes the Great Books, students get a rigorous foundation in Euclidian geometry, mathematical reasoning, scientific reasoning, natural science and philosophy.

“Having a philosophical overview of the principles and methods of the sciences is excellent preparation for specialization,” says Kaiser. “Those who specialize without this preparation may unknowingly accept philosophical presuppositions without any opportunity to critically assess them.”

Kaiser explains how, in our world today, “scientists have displaced the theologians and philosophers as the supposed wise men.” He laments that “many of them are atheists, and even those that aren’t think that there is no compatibility between faith and reason.”

“Of course, this never has been the position of the Church,” says Dr. Kaiser.

At secular colleges and even many secularized Catholic colleges, Catholic families will find science education that is completely divorced from faith. Fortunately, there are faithful Catholic colleges where students can prepare for careers in the sciences while being educated from an authentically Catholic perspective. It’s a wise choice, if wisdom is the objective.

This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register.

University of Notre DameAnthony Melone on Unsplash.com

All-Night Dorm Visits at Notre Dame?

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A group of students at the University of Notre Dame recently staged a sit-in to protest “parietals”: rules prohibiting students of the opposite sex from spending the night in each other’s dorm rooms. But ending one of the few remaining protections for chastity on a college campus is a terrible idea.

For years, Notre Dame students have made arguments against parietals, but this new effort is driven by students who claim that the University is too “heteronormative” and promotes “sexism and queerphobia” by limiting visitation from opposite-sex students.

Whatever the motivation, doing away with parietals would be a disaster. It would invite higher rates of sexual activity, sexual assault, contraception, STDs, pregnancy and abortion. It would invite mortal sin—a concern that many today think old-fashioned, but hopefully the priests and leaders at Notre Dame care deeply about such things.

Ironically, the protesters seem not to be targeting Notre Dame’s single-sex dorms. The university’s steadfast commitment to men’s and women’s dorms is admirable, given that most American colleges—including most Catholic ones—switched long ago to coed residences. Studies find that coed dorms have higher rates of drinking and sexual activity.

But still, loose rules allowing opposite-sex visitors to stay in bedrooms until late-night hours can quickly undermine the benefits of single-sex dorms, especially with regard to sexual activity. At Notre Dame, opposite-sex visitors can be in student bedrooms until midnight on weeknights and 2 a.m. on weekends. These are hours when students are more likely to be sexually active and under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

The protesters are right, then, to target parietals if they want to dramatically change campus culture. Notre Dame should reject their pleas.

Even more, Notre Dame should consider further limiting nighttime visitation and insisting on open doors when someone of the opposite sex is present. Even better, the university would provide sufficient meeting spaces for students in other buildings and end opposite-sex visitation to dorm rooms altogether.

What if Notre Dame’s politically correct leaders feel compelled to appease the misguided students who find parietals to be too “heteronormative?” There’s a simple answer: end all visitation to dorm rooms, by any student who does not live in the room, throughout the day. This has the added advantage of promoting chastity among even the homosexual students at Notre Dame.

Reducing Sexual Assault

College-aged females have the highest rates of sexual assault, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, and Notre Dame has its share of such crimes.

Although studies show that most sexual assaults against college students take place off campus, about a third occur within student dorms. Reducing off-campus assaults is necessary but very difficult; reducing on-campus assaults could begin with simply reforming dorm visitation policies.

Studies show that two key factors are associated with sexual assault on campus: drinking and casual sex. When looking at the sexual assaults of college-aged females, one study found that 47% of victims perceived their attacker was drinking or using drugs. Additionally, the facts show that 78% of on-campus sexual assaults took place during what started as casual sexual encounters.

Also, a third factor seems to be the time of day. A study found that 52% of forced sexual assaults and 90% of assaults on incapacitated victims took place between midnight and 6 a.m. Most of the others occurred between 6 p.m. and midnight.

A survey of students at Notre Dame bears similar results to the national studies. In 2018, 7% of female students said they had experienced “non-consensual sexual intercourse” while studying at Notre Dame. Of the assaults that occurred during the last year, 58% were committed within residences on Notre Dame’s campus. And in nearly two-thirds of the incidents, the victim was familiar with the attacker prior to the day of the assault.

Is any of this surprising? Put unsupervised young adults in bedrooms, behind closed doors, in the evening or late at night, when they are more likely to be impaired by alcohol or drugs, and serious problems will result.

A Catholic college should be greatly concerned about the spiritual health of its students, as well as the epidemic of STDs and high rates of abortion among college-age Americans. But even a secular college that has no problem with premarital sex and abortion should see the obvious implications for sexual assault.

Not Just Notre Dame

When The Cardinal Newman Society looked at dorm visitation policies at Catholic colleges across the country, we were shocked to find that more than a quarter of residential Catholic colleges have no restriction on all-night opposite-sex visits. Most others are like Notre Dame, with weeknight visitation until midnight or later, and weekend visitation until 2 a.m. or later. Doors may remain closed.

This indicates that Catholic college leaders across the country are turning a blind eye to what is going on in dorms late at night. This needs to change, and Notre Dame could set a powerful example if it reformed its policies appropriately.

No policy change will completely change a campus culture, but stronger visitation policies could help prevent many sexual assaults and send a clear message about the college’s expectation of chastity among its students. Catholic college leaders should do all within their power to create safe and healthy environments on campus.

This is a golden opportunity for Notre Dame to stand up for Catholic values, and implementing a few common-sense measures could go a long way to help keep students safe.

This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register.

Catholic School Principal: ‘I Hope Our Students Discover Jesus Christ’

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Dr. Michael Pennell.
Dr. Michael Pennell

Dr. Michael Pennell is head of The Highlands School, a Catholic school in Irving, Tex., that is recognized by The Cardinal Newman Society’s Catholic Education Honor Roll for its strong Catholic identity. He has also served at another school on the Honor Roll: St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Greenville, S.C. 

It was during Dr. Pennell’s undergraduate years at the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, N.H., that the “doorway to classical and liberal learning” was swung wide open for him. He recalls that, in his freshman year, he wondered why “this treasure of learning and art” had been kept from him as a youth.

After graduating in 1987, he went on to earn his Master of Arts and Ph.D. from the University of Dallas in Irving, Tex., which is also recommended in The Newman Guide. Impacting everything from family life to career, Dr. Pennell believes that “nothing is left untouched by an authentic Catholic liberal education.”

Now students at The Highlands School benefit from Dr. Pennell’s leadership and especially the formation received at faithful Catholic colleges. Dr. Pennell urges that “faithful Catholic education is important, because arriving at the right destination is important,” and he strives to introduce his students to the “foundations of Christian wisdom.”

We are grateful for Dr. Pennell’s work for strong Catholic identity in education, and for his time in responding to our questions, as a part of our “Profiles in Faithful Catholic Education” series.

Newman Society: Can you share about your experience as an undergraduate at the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts?

Dr. Pennell: Having grown up in the 1970s attending Catholic schools – when classic literature and serious study of the liberal arts had mostly vanished, at least in my Catholic high school – I arrived at Thomas More College in the fall of 1983, suddenly reading with care and thought the encyclicals of Saint John Paul II, the documents surrounding the Protestant Reformation and the Church’s response to it, and among many other things the key works of comedy and tragedy of William Shakespeare under the tutelage of perhaps the greatest teacher of literature in any place and time: Dr. Louise Cowan.

A recent photo from The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, N.H., which is recommended in The Newman Guide.

We had guest lectures from John Molloy (friend and colleague of the great Catholic historian Christopher Dawson), Alice Von Hildebrand (from whom we learned of her husband Dietrich’s great works of philosophy), and a personal concert from one of the great violinists of the 20th century, Yehudi Menuhin. And in weekly “kitchen chorale,” I sang tenor some of the most beautiful polyphonies of our Catholic tradition of sacred music. And that was just freshman year!

My first thought that year was why this treasury of learning and art had been kept from me as a youth? The great light of faith inspired achievement in architecture, music, theology, great literature – and these gifts of human endeavor, I thought, were gathering dust in Catholic seminaries or houses of study, as attention was turned in schooling to the so-called relevant things desired in a progressive world. I recall our philosophy teacher Dr. Mark Roberts (now professor of philosophy at [Franciscan University of] Steubenville) talking about his acquisitions of classic works for our school library for pennies a box.

A doorway to classical and liberal learning was swung wide open for me at Thomas More College, for which gratitude – to my parents and to Dr. Peter V. Sampo (founder and president of the college at the time) – is my deepest and most joyous response. Gratitude. Thanksgiving. Although I recollect finding Thomas More College almost by happenstance, with a hope that this might be an education worth dedicating oneself to – for one can hardly choose deliberately in ignorance – I would traverse the same path again all the same.

Newman Society: After earning your bachelor’s degree, you also completed your Master of Arts and Ph.D. from the University of Dallas.  How has your own education influenced your work in Catholic education?

Dr. Pennell: A Catholic liberal education forms the mind and the heart in such a way that your actions and affections might be governed by (one hopes) the light of truth, both human and revealed, or perhaps natural and supernatural. When entering marriage, in living relationships with integrity and respect for the image of God in others, in raising children, or in doing one’s work with a supernatural outlook – nothing is left untouched by an authentic Catholic liberal education.

In my profession of Catholic school leadership, I see two sides to this influence. The first influence is on my understanding of academic learning. Epistemology, knowing something of Gnosticism and nominalism, reading Josef Pieper’s Abuse of Language, and I could go on: all these experiences with learning on the topic of language and its relation to what is real have affected how I think of young students’ acquisition of language, of meaning and of the habits of living in a Christian culture. By these I am better able to identify useful strategies for reading from early childhood to 12th grade. A Thomistic metaphysics helps guide my oversight of science learning, knowing that a rigorous study of the material world need not be reductionistic or lead to materialism or Marxism. These are examples, but I could offer many more. 

Second, as a Catholic leader, I hope I see better how to govern an organization of human persons in such a way that human dignity, the truth about men and women and the centrality of family life for children, and our work as both a response to a call and a means of our own sanctification, among so many other things, makes possible for my employees a life that can be rich in service and one of personal happiness and self-satisfaction too. I have never hesitated from saying that the things chosen for themselves or for their own sakes (Catholic learning and the virtues) can also be chosen because they are more practical and useful than what we imagine to be practical and useful without the learning and virtue. I can think of these things, be inspired by great works that I still continue to read, and govern our school in the light of the Catholic faith and the truth that can be so easily obscured in the fog of modernity.

In my field too, one sees the craziest theories about the end of human learning and the means (or arts) to achieve it, and successful navigation of the precipices I owe to my Catholic liberal education.

Newman Society: What role did teachers and mentors play in your formation? What kind of teachers and mentors do you hope students will find at the Highlands School?

Dr. Pennell: I recall my first Franklin-Covey planner. The exercise in the front of the planner asked me to record the names of those who influenced me the most and whose actions or achievements I wanted to imitate and strive for. After writing just a few names, I was not surprised to see that I was writing the names of my teachers. I remember clearly when I first learned what teleology meant and the four causes. I recall Lear holding the dead Cordelia in his arms in Act V of King Lear after receiving Cordelia’s profound but simple statement of his youngest daughter’s love for her father moments earlier. I still see the disobedience of Eve in Paradise Lost. C.S. Lewis’s recollection of the joy of his brother Warren’s discovery of a sprout in a tin container of soil or his mother’s reading of Beatrix Potter’s Squirrel Nutkin: these are memories both recounted in Surprised by Joy. 

Dr. Pennell hopes that The Highlands School will introduce students to the “foundations of Christian wisdom.” Photo via Dr. Pennell.

My teachers gave me a cosmos, or at least a vision of one. How does one not live a life that lives up to what has been transmitted? This is what I hope for students at my school. But since we are a PreK to 12th grade school, my hope is that we can introduce our students to these foundations of Christian wisdom even at their young ages. My own experience was one of waking up after a slumber of 1970s Catholic education.

Do our youth know or understand the depth of what they are receiving in a school that is intentional about the permanent things? Do the children’s parents? I’m not always sure, but I hope so.

Fundamentally, however, I hope our students discover Jesus Christ, the image of the Father, the source of goodness and grace, of eternal life and of eternal joy. All human learning and knowledge can support that path to Christ and reveal his face, as Benedict XVI says, the face of beauty I seek that is my Lord’s.

Newman Society: Why do you think that faithful Catholic education is important?

Dr. Pennell: When you have a destination and ask for directions, you want more than anything a true answer. To ask directions and then arrive at the wrong place should get one quite perturbed. Such is modernity: a labyrinth of wrong though seemingly attractive and choice-worthy answers to questions earnestly asked.

Faithful Catholic education points the way to ultimate and proximate goods and unveils for us the many possible pathways to it. We believe that one of those paths was meant for each of us: one meant for me alone. We pray that the wisdom of insight and choice be ours as we make our way. Faithful Catholic education is important because arriving at the right destination is important.

And bringing your loved ones along with you: that’s important too. Let’s go together!

New Book Offers Guidance on Living a Good Life

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Preparing for life’s journey is the mission of every young person. But too often, education is focused on accumulating skills and knowledge without fully developing the virtues and ethics that lead to sainthood.

Vaclav Rajlich, a computer programming expert with a deep love for Christ, helps refocus priorities with his brief but valuable book, How to Live a Good Life Following New Testament Ethics. He provides a roadmap through daily decisions, intricate challenges, and even outright obstacles with the timeless guidance of Scripture.

This highly readable book makes a perfect gift for people of all ages – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, spouses, friends and colleagues. It is ideal for book circles, discussion groups, dinner clubs and beyond. And it is well-suited for high school and college students, perhaps for summer reading, new student orientation or a retreat program. 

Each chapter concludes with open-ended questions. In less than 150 pages, the reader discovers a roadmap for life – how to drive safely, understand the rules of the road, and arrive at the destination. Throughout the journey, the reader is called to make friends, share meaningful experiences, and achieve goals while keeping in mind the biggest goal: to live a holy and exemplary life.

Along the way, there will be obstacles – which the author knows well. Raised behind the Iron Curtain in Communist Czechoslovakia, Rajlich lived in near constant fear. He was always on guard and suspicious of those around him, never sure when his conversations were being recorded – an oppressive reality of Communist rule.

One day, the author met Pavel, who at about 30 years old was dying and bedridden with terminal cancer.  He could barely move and experienced endless pain. Astonishingly, he radiated inner peace. With a wink or slight wave, Pavel comforted all who visited him, causing Rajlich to wonder how such peace is possible. Though a dying young man, Pavel exhibited no anger or resentment, only a joy about life. Rajlich, although fearful about a future crushed by the Communist regime, gained perspective from the dying man who was wise beyond his years. Pavel was far advanced in living a good and holy life.

Not long after meeting Pavel, Rajlich escaped to America and became renowned in his field of computer science. When he retired four decades later, he published this powerful little book. 

One might reasonably ask, what business does a computer programmer and professor have writing a book about ethics? The answer may surprise you.

Early in his career, Professor Rajlich realized that conveying complex software concepts to undergraduate students requires distilling information to the essentials. The fundamentals provide a firm foundation. With the fundamentals in place, Rajlich’s students created programs that have changed the world for the better. Hundreds owe their careers to his wise and patient teaching. 

In his book, Professor Rajlich tackles the fundamentals in the moral life. At Page 7, he explains the “story of the rich young man” as “an abbreviated version of the entire New Testament ethics, a kind of executive summary,” which St. John Paul II highlighted in Splendor of Truth. Rajlich draws other inspirations from the Catechism and the Splendor of Truth to present a series of practical, heartwarming and commonsense lessons – a wonderful recipe for life.

Rajlich explains, “Ethics or moral philosophy… answers the questions: ‘What is the right act in these circumstances?’ and ‘What is the best way to live?’”  He equips the reader with a reassuring way of seeing and a practical way of doing. With precision and simplicity, he offers a handy mnemonic for remembering the four pillars of living a good life: the four Ps of Prohibitions, Prescriptions, Priorities and Providence. 

Prohibitions are nonnegotiable rules of the road, while prescriptions are recommendations for a safe and fulfilling journey.  Priorities involve making wise choices.  Providence is the recognition that certain matters are beyond our control; with faith, we experience peace by relying on God’s grace and mercy.  Taken together, these ways of pondering and proceeding enable sound daily decisions, resulting in peace of mind and heart.  Rajlich’s approach sheds light and instills hope and confidence.

In an age of instant messaging and countless choices, this little book offers a timeless message at the heart of Catholic education: a celebration of the splendor of truth, as we grow in knowledge and strive to be co-workers in the truth. Rooted in faith and reason, a proper formation advances the fullness of wisdom and the realization that we are all made for more, formed in the image and likeness of God. Setting the reader on the straight and narrow path, this profound “how to” book addresses life’s most important questions in a clear and reassuring manner. 

Like all dedicated teachers, Professor Rajlich makes the complex accessible. He offers a passport for living a good life and pursuing big goals. He addresses the false routes along the way and sheds light on how to proceed with peace, fortified by authentic freedom. As a kind and wise mentor, he presents sound advice.  He encourages the reader to prioritize and live with kindness and courage amid obligations to family, neighbors and communities. 

The human journey includes suffering and setbacks, but these can be opportunities to be light and leaven. We can all learn from Pavel. Every day, no matter how challenging, is a gift. How to Live a Good Life Following New Testament Ethics presents a sound approach to living with purpose and good cheer. 

This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register.

How to Make a Good Campus Visit

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We cannot overstate the importance of making a thorough campus visit before choosing to attend a college! This visit should include an official tour, during which you can ask the questions that matter to you. Try to also talk to other students and professors off the tour to get their take on various aspects of campus life. If you can, spend at least one night in the dorms on a Friday or Saturday to get a clear idea of the campus environment.

Three key areas to explore:

  • Study the Academics

A solid core curriculum, including strong philosophy and theology courses, is essential to an authentic, well-rounded Catholic education and should prepare you for success in any field. Ask about what courses are included in the core curriculum, what’s required for your major, and try to meet some of your future professors. Ask for examples of graduates who are excelling in their careers.

  • Learn about the Dorms

It’s important to consider the quality of dorm life. You should look for single-sex dorms and dorm policies that either prohibit or greatly reduce opposite-sex visitation in the dorms. Studies have proven that single-sex dorms can help reduce binge drinking and the hook-up culture. Additionally, limiting opposite-sex visitation in the dorms can reduce the rate of sexual assault.

  • Consider Your Faith

College is a crucial time for students to either make the faith their own or lose their faith. Will this campus be a place where you will find friends who will support you in the faith? Check out what attendance is like for Mass on campus, and explore the schedule for Mass, adoration, confession and other spiritual opportunities.

library hour

Catholic College Graduate Fights Drag Queen Library Hour

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Christopher Jay

Christopher Jay studied at a faithful Catholic college and gained valuable understanding of the human person and God’s design for sexuality, but he never thought that one day he’d be fighting against a “drag queen library hour” at a New Hampshire public library. Yet, that’s exactly where he found himself just recently, not long after graduation.

“People knew that they were opposed to drag queens targeting children, but they couldn’t enunciate why,” says Jay. “They knew that this was wrong and damaging, but they haven’t received education that would enable them to analyze what is and what is not ‘freedom.’”

Jay graduated from Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, Wyo., in 2012 and from Ave Maria University School of Law in Naples, Fla., in 2018. After passing the bar, he worked with Cornerstone Action and Policy and the Massachusetts Family Institute as a legal advisor and lobbyist for pro-life and pro-family causes.

For Jay, the drag queen event was a “shocking ‘cultural thermometer’ incident.” “I issued a public records request and discovered that the drag queen, who also performs pornography, was suggesting that he and the library should hold a similar future event targeted at 2- and 3-year-olds.”

“One of the more eye-opening things about that situation was experiencing the ‘emperor’s new clothes’ dynamic — where everyone, both opponents and supporters, knew exactly what this was about, but almost no one would talk candidly about it, either because they were afraid of backlash or because they supported a disordered view of human sexuality,” Jay continues.

“Most ended up trying to oppose the event by pretending they had some purely procedural objection (‘this is a waste of taxpayer money,’ etc.) instead of being able to articulate moral dimensions that underpin the enacted policies and laws,” he says.

Wyoming Catholic, a faithful Catholic college recommended in The Newman Guide, teaches students to “read a text, analyze it, challenge it” and involves “critical thinking over and over again.” These are the same skills that are needed for law school and for work as a lawyer, Jay explains.

His senior-year classes on Catholic social teaching and political philosophy opened a “profound philosophical arena” for him and were “central” to his decision to start working in the public sphere.

He also values the conversations he had with the College’s Dr. Jeremy Holmes about “integrating his classical learning with raising a family.” Jay married a Wyoming Catholic classmate, and they are expecting their fourth child. “Everything you’re doing should be ordered towards your vocation.”

The College’s wilderness immersion program also played an important role in Jay’s formation.

“The wilderness experience brings you back down to earth and forces you to come to grips with reality,” Jay explains, remembering some “stressful situations” outdoors that led to community building.

He may never have expected that a drag queen library hour would become a part of his reality soon after graduation, but it has emboldened Jay and taught him that there’s “no such thing as a ‘neutral’ process or human action that can be arbitrated on its own by ‘pure reason.’”

“Every procedure, principle, or policy can only be understood in relation to that which we regard as good and evil,” he said. Mainstream secular education can actually “inhibit” our “ability to understand the world.”