CNS Joins Amicus Brief on Gender Identity Counseling – Chiles v Salazar, U.S. Supreme Court
Click here to read.
Tragic Anniversary: 60 Years of Decline in Catholic Schools
Six decades after the peak of Catholic schooling in the United States, a new report from the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) shows that Catholic school enrollment declined again this year.
It’s a sad way of marking one of the Church’s great accomplishments: a nationwide network of parochial schools that served about 5.6 million students in the 1964-65 school year. But over the next 60 years, enrollment plummeted 70 percent to fewer than 1.7 million students today.
What organization loses 70 percent of its clients over six decades and fails to reform?
Some dioceses are working hard to strengthen their schools, by adopting The Cardinal Newman Society’s curriculum and policy standards and seeking Newman Guide recognition. Individual schools and homeschooling parents are finding new ways of providing Catholic formation. Elsewhere, however, Catholic schools are doing things much like they did for the last few decades, with weak devotion to their Catholic mission.
Catholic families won’t come back to Catholic schools, without substantial reforms and total commitment to authentic Catholic formation. Newman Guide Recommended schools, colleges, and graduate programs are the models for the future.
A crisis ignored
Last week, NCEA quietly released its report, showing a decline of 0.6 percent from the prior year. While 24 new schools opened, 63 closed or consolidated. The takeaway: after a three-year partial recovery from losses during the Covid pandemic, Catholic elementary and secondary schools have once again fallen into decline, albeit at a slow pace.
That’s disappointing to those who believed the hype in the Catholic media, which dangled hope for a long-term recovery for U.S. Catholic education. When Covid struck in 2020, 209 schools closed and the number of students suddenly dropped 6.4 percent—and only about half those students returned in 2021-22. Nevertheless, pundits touted that year’s 3.8 percent growth as the first increase in Catholic school enrollment in more than two decades and the largest increase in more than 50 years. Never mind that the circumstances of a pandemic were quite unusual, and the 2021-22 increase was only a partial recovery from a devastating loss the prior year.
Again in 2022-23, when the recovery stalled and Catholic schools grew only 0.3 percent, school leaders and the Catholic media celebrated a second year of barely staying above water. And last year, when Catholic schools grew zero percent, the celebrations continued. “Catholic schools have emerged as beacons of stability, reversing years of enrollment decline,” NCEA declared.
“Beacons of stability”? Perhaps after six decades of bad news, zero growth seems hopeful. But as we warned last year, it’s perilous to ignore larger trends.
Let’s face facts. Catholic school enrollment across the U.S. took a tumble during Covid, and it never again approached pre-pandemic numbers. Three years after Covid, Catholic schools had gained back only about 60 percent of what they lost in 2020-21. And now, Catholic school enrollment is declining once again.
The 0.6 percent loss in 2024-25 is not nearly as bad as the rates of decline in the two decades before Covid, which averaged around 2 percent each year. But observe the regression from 3.8 percent growth in 2021-22—a partial recovery following a national disaster—to just 0.3 percent growth the next year, zero growth last year, and now a 0.6 percent decline. It doesn’t justify another year of hasty predictions, good or bad.
Hope in school choice?
With nothing good to say about the numbers, the Catholic media coverage is scant relative to last year. One article focuses on the expansion of school choice programs without even acknowledging the enrollment decline.
Sister Dale McDonald, NCEA vice president of public policy, told Catholic News Agency that more than 80 percent of Catholic school students in Florida and Ohio benefit from school choice. Choice programs are also helping more than 50 percent of Catholic school students in Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, and Oklahoma. Nationally, 18 percent of students benefit from school choice dollars, a substantial increase from 13.7 percent last year.
What’s not explained is why national enrollment is declining, even as school choice programs are growing. In the states where most students received aid from school choice programs, Catholic schools saw only modest gains, ranging from 2.4 percent in Iowa and 2.3 percent in Florida to just 0.5 percent in Arizona. In Indiana, enrollment declined 0.2 percent.
It would seem that the cost of Catholic education is not the only concern preventing Catholic families from returning to Catholic schools. Not everything can be reduced to dollars.
Trouble spots
Meanwhile, other trends deserve attention:
- Declining Catholic students: A faithful Catholic school’s strongest appeal should be to Catholic families, yet it’s the Catholics who are fleeing Catholic schools. Even while total enrollment declined 70 percent since 1964, non-Catholic students tripled in number since 1970 (the earliest date we could find data) and now represent 21.8 percent of students. That’s an increase from 21 percent last year, 11.2 percent in 1980, and only 2.7 percent in 1970. The portion who are Catholics (and some others who did not report their religion) has declined 69 percent since 1970 and an estimated 76 percent since 1964.
- Preschool padding: Since 1987, when NCEA started counting pre-Kindergarten children, their number at Catholic schools has grown more than 150 percent. Preschool children now account for more than 10 percent of what NCEA calls “elementary school” enrollment. Students in grades 1-8 alone have declined 78 percent since 1964.
- Poor retention: The retention rate for diocesan superintendents of Catholic schools declined from 73.4 percent last year to 70.5 percent this year. Three years of diocesan leadership is simply not enough to turn around failing schools. Why did 30 percent of superintendents leave?
Ultimately, the hope for Catholic schools lies not in more dollars or more students—these are band-aids for symptoms that point to a lack of appeal to the core constituency of Catholic education, which is faithful Catholic families. Dollars coming from the wrong sources, including government and woke corporations, can weaken Catholic education. Increased enrollment from families who do not treasure the Catholic faith and the blessing of solid Catholic formation will also weaken schools.
Our solution is to embrace faithful standards that lead to Newman Guide recognition and participation in the Newman Guide Network of model schools, colleges, and graduate programs. There is no compromise in Newman Guide education. It is formation that families can trust.
Your support promotes and defends faithful Catholic education!
The Cardinal Newman Society relies on the generosity of our supporters to promote and defend faithful Catholic education — which is the key to seeing the Church restored and our culture renewed. Will you partner with us today to ensure this critical mission continues and grows even as the culture becomes more hostile to Catholic values?
Newman Guide Colleges Lead the Way at Commencement
You can tell a lot about a person by the friends they keep. You can also tell a lot about a college by whom it chooses as its commencement speaker or honorary degree recipient.
To become Newman Guide Recommended, we review an institution’s policy on speakers and honors. A Newman Guide Recommended school or college invites speakers, hosts events, and honors individuals to advance its mission of forming young people in truth.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case at every Catholic college, as we have reported on scandalous commencement speaker choices since 1993. This year, Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind., has chosen Dr. Mary McAleese, a self-professed Catholic and the former President of Ireland who supported the repeal of Ireland’s pro-life amendment in 2018, as commencement speaker. Dr. McAleese has publicly supported same-sex marriage and is quoted as saying that a Church hierarchy that is “homophobic and anti-abortion is not the Church of the future.”
It was just last year that the same Saint Mary’s College, which is an all-women’s college, faced backlash for planning to admit biological males who identified as female. In contrast, if you’re looking for a college committed to the authentic mission of Catholic education, then look to The Newman Guide.
The distinctly faithful Catholic colleges recommended in The Newman Guide have chosen outstanding speakers for this year’s commencement ceremonies. Many are witnesses to the Catholic faith and the sort of people graduates should emulate.
Ave Maria University (Ave Maria, Fla.)
Michael Knowles
is the host of The Michael Knowles Show at the Daily Wire and The Book Club at PragerU. A devout Catholic, Knowles openly professes his faith and brings it to the public forum. Informed by his faith, he engages with contemporary society to further promote and defend the Christian values fundamental to our nation.
Benedictine College (Atchison, Kan.)
Sister Deirdre “Dede” Byrne
is a missionary, surgeon and retired U.S. Army colonel. She has been a fearless advocate for the unborn and the chronically ill and disabled, and she has worked tirelessly to defend conscience protections for medical doctors.
Belmont Abbey College (Belmont, N.C.)
Rather than an outside speaker, the “student of the year” serves as commencement speaker. Honorary degree recipients include Charlotte’s Bishop Michael Martin, who is quoted as saying, “Our Catholic schools, first and foremost, are here to breed, to help form, and grow disciples of Jesus Christ in the Church–that’s our primary, number one, unchanging, without-a-doubt mission.”
The Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.)
“Bishop Robert Barron has spent his life illuminating Catholic teachings and making them accessible to millions of people around the world through his books, videos, and social media presence,” said University President Peter Kilpatrick. “His ability to engage modern culture while faithfully presenting the richness of the Catholic intellectual tradition embodies what we strive to instill in our students. His call to evangelize through beauty, goodness, and truth will provide powerful inspiration for our graduating class as they prepare to lead with light in their future endeavors.”
Christendom College (Front Royal, Va.)
Francis X. Maier is a Senior Fellow in the Catholic Studies Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where his work explores the intersection of Christian faith, culture, and public life, with a particular focus on lay formation and action. “With his extensive experience in lay leadership and Catholic engagement in public life, Maier is an ideal speaker to address our graduating class as they prepare to bring Christendom’s mission—to restore all things in Christ—into the world in new and impactful ways.”
Franciscan University of Steubenville (Steubenville, Ohio)
Mary Rice Hasson is a lawyer, author, and public speaker; she co-founded and directs the Person and Identity Project at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Mary and her husband, Seamus, will receive honorary degrees for courageously serving God in the public square, uniting reason, faith, and charity, as they address vital issues of human dignity and religious liberty in the Catholic Church, the country, and the world.
Holy Apostles College and Seminary (Cromwell, Conn.)
James Wahlberg is the Executive Director of the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, which partners with other youth organizations to improve the lives of inner-city youth. He is powerful witness of the Catholic faith, not only through his conversion and personal story of redemption, but also through his tireless work to bring Christ’s hope into some of the darkest corners of human experience—addiction, poverty, and despair.
Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College (Barry’s Bay, Ontario)
Bishop Scott McCaig, CC, is Bishop of the Military Ordinariate of Canada. Having converted to the Catholic faith as a young man, McCaig joined the Companions of the Cross and became a priest in his twenties. He has carried out missionary activity in Africa, Europe, and Asia and is noted for his apostolic zeal, his fidelity to the teachings of the Catholic Church, and his impassioned and effective preaching.
Thomas Aquinas College (Northfield, Mass.)
Before entering the world of public policy, Dr. Kevin Roberts was a Catholic scholar and educator, who, after years of teaching at the collegiate level, went on to found John Paul the Great Academy in Lafayette, Louisiana, then serve as president of Wyoming Catholic College. As the onetime CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and now as president of the Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action for America, he has been a faithful champion of religious liberty, the defense of the family, and the pro-life cause.
Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, Calif.)
Dr. Michael McLean has dedicated his career to Catholic liberal education, having joined the faculty of Thomas Aquinas College in 1978 and served for 12 years as its president (2010–22). When he stepped down as president, he returned to the classroom. He has a special connection to the Class of 2025, as he has taught two sections of theology for seniors this year.
The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts (Merrimack, N.H.)
Dr. Kevin Roberts is a leader in conservative politics whose life’s work echoes many of the qualities of Thomas More College’s patron, St. Thomas More. Roberts has dedicated his life to education as the founder of John Paul the Great Academy in Lafayette, Louisiana, and former president of Wyoming Catholic College. Now, as President of the Heritage Foundation, he is a leading voice in the world of politics. His example is a testimony to the need for faithful Catholic voices in our public life.
University of Dallas (Irving, Texas)
Sister Josephine Garrett, a Texas native, entered the Catholic Church shortly after receiving a bachelor’s degree in politics with a concentration in business from the University of Dallas. She worked in banking for ten years, eventually attaining leadership roles before beginning formation with the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. She professed her final vows in 2020.
University of Mary (Bismarck, N.D.)
As a priest of Opus Dei and the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Relevant Radio, Father Rocky Hoffman is an exemplar of an evangelization that springs from knowledge of God and the discovery of Him in daily life. In his pastoral ministry, his leadership, and his deep devotion to the Eucharist, he witnesses to the charity and abiding trust that the Lord asks of all Christians.
Walsh University (North Canton, Ohio)
Samantha Kelley is an exemplary witness of the Catholic faith and embodies the values that Walsh University seeks to instill in its graduates. As the founder of FIERCE Athlete Inc., Samantha champions the integration of faith with athletic excellence. Her commitment to empowering female athletes to embrace their identity through faith and sport aligns with the university’s mission to form students intellectually, spiritually, and morally for lives of purpose and service.
Wyoming Catholic College (Lander, Wyo.)
“Chris Stefanick has been a clear and compelling voice on behalf of Catholic evangelization for many years,” said Wyoming Catholic President Kyle Washut. “I look forward to the wisdom and advice he will offer to our graduates… the ability to discern, to speak the truth, and to evangelize on behalf of their faith will be a vital part of their lives after graduation. And who is better suited to send them on their way than Chris?”
If you’re seeking a faithful Catholic college experience, take note of the college’s choice of commencement speaker. This choice allows you to glimpse inside the soul of a Catholic college, evaluating if its “Catholic ideals, attitudes, and principles penetrate and inform its activities.”
2024 Catholic college commencement round-up.
Your support promotes and defends faithful Catholic education!
The Cardinal Newman Society relies on the generosity of our supporters to promote and defend faithful Catholic education — which is the key to seeing the Church restored and our culture renewed. Will you partner with us today to ensure this critical mission continues and grows even as the culture becomes more hostile to Catholic values?
Pro-Life Leaders of Tomorrow
Newman Guide education is key to building a nation that is pro-life, pro-family, and pro-religious freedom. Faithful educators are preparing the next generation of pro-life leaders for our country. Here are just a few:
Jason Evert
Founder of Chastity Project
Graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville
More than one million people on six continents have heard about the virtue of chastity, because of the Chastity Project, led by Jason and Crystalina Evert.
The catalyst for the entire ministry? Jason’s experience at a Newman Guide college.
“Franciscan University of Steubenville prepared me for the ministry God entrusted us with and opened the doors for the ministry to become possible,” says Evert.
“I don’t know where I’d be today, or if our ministry would even exist, if I hadn’t attended Franciscan University,” he continues.
The Chastity Project is all about helping young people see that “chastity is the virtue that frees us to love.” The Project educates young people about the truth of human sexuality and tackles topics like dating, birth control, homosexuality and pornography.
Evert and his wife have given more than 3,000 talks to high school and college students about the virtue of chastity, but he still remembers his first talk, during a spring break mission trip in college. After that, one thing was clear: “I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life,” says Evert.
Katie Short, Esq.
Vice President Legal Affairs
Life Legal Defense Foundation
Graduate of Thomas Aquinas College
Katie Short and her husband Bill graduated from Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, Calif., in 1980. A homeschooling mother of nine children, Katie earned her law degree from U.C. Berkeley and has used her legal expertise to advance the pro-life cause. She has defended the rights of pro-life activists, including sidewalk counselors, and most recently defended David Daleiden of the Center for Medical Progress, who worked to expose illegal practices at Planned Parenthood.
When asked about how her TAC education prepared her for her work at Life Legal, Short responded, “It’s a no-brainer to say that four years arguing with one’s fellow students in the seminar-style classes at TAC is a great preparation for the legal profession.”
“But practicing law in the pro-life field brings its own set of challenges,” Short continued. “In most jurisdictions, one has to be prepared to lose not just the losing cases, or the iffy cases, but cases where the court has to contort well-established law to rule against the pro-life side. As for getting fair rulings on evidence, the backdrop of every pro-life free speech case is that ‘everybody knows’ that anti-abortion advocates are dangerous zealots out to terrorize abortion providers and their patients. Needless to say, this sharply tilted playing field can lead to discouragement, for which the surest remedy is the reflection that the justice of this world is not the final word.”
Jennie Bradley Lichter
President of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund
Former Deputy General Counsel and founder of the Guadalupe Project, a pro-life initiative, at The Catholic University of America
Jennie Lichter was a pro-life leader at Newman Guide Recommended college and now is the head of the March for Life organization, which draws tens of thousands of pro-lifers every year to Washington, D.C., to stand against abortion.
While serving as Deputy General Counsel at The Catholic University of America, Lichter founded and led the Guadalupe Project, an initiative to “go all-in on being pro-life,” explained Lichter. Catholic University is the “literal and figurative home” to thousands of people and the Guadalupe Project is a “set of initiatives to serve everyone who is building a family” at the University, including faculty, staff and students. These initiatives include extending paid parental leave, creating parking spaces for expectant mothers, sending gift boxes to faculty and staff members who welcomed a new child, and adding stickers in women’s bathroom stalls about the University’s pregnancy resources.
“Catholic education is preparing students to pursue a life of virtue and to live for the Lord throughout their lives, and for many students, that means in family life,” says Lichter. “And so, I think any formation that can be provided around family life is an incredible contribution that Catholic schools can and do make.” She also encourages Catholic schools and colleges to “continue bringing your students to the March for Life” because “that experience itself can be so deeply formative—as it was for me after attending my first March for Life as a college student!”
Clare Donohue
Development Associate at the National Catholic Bioethics Center
Graduate of Belmont Abbey College (undergrad) and the University of Mary’s Master of Science in Bioethics Program
Clare Donohue’s pro-life beliefs were “nurtured from a young age” but “became her own” through Newman Guide education. Now she shares the pro-life message with others through her work at the National Catholic Bioethics Center.
“My experience studying at Belmont Abbey as a member of the Honors College and at the University of Mary in the Bioethics Master’s program has encouraged me to approach life with a sense of wonder and curiosity at the orderly beauty of God’s creation,” says Donohue. “The beauty of the Abbey, the presence of the monks, the exceptional curriculum, and the excellent professors have guaranteed that I remain a student for life and will always see the opportunity to learn as what it is: a blessing.”
“The right to life is the most basic and fundamental right upon which all others are built and introducing uncertainty as to whether some individuals possess it in full or at all leads to abuse of human life and dignity,” she argues.
Katie Portka
Database Specialist at Students for Life of America
Graduate of Benedictine College
Katie Portka credits her faithful Catholic education at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, with strengthening her pro-life convictions. Portka learned about Benedictine through The Newman Guide, and then, while a senior in high school, saw the College’s students carrying the banner at the head of the March for Life.
“I loved how energetic they were — this huge group of young adults who were so full of life and passionate,” says Portka. She had been involved in pro-life efforts with her family, but she didn’t often see large groups of young people standing for life as a high school student. Shortly after the March for Life, Portka signed her acceptance letter to attend Benedictine.
On campus, Portka immediately got involved in the large Respect Life Ravens Group. “The school at large was a very pro-life campus,” she says, “in the dorms, in classes, and in the faculty.”
Benedictine “really did embody the Church’s teaching on life and the dignity and sanctity of life,” says Portka. “In college was when I realized why I was pro-life and why I wanted to be pro-life.”
Sister Mariae Agnus Dei
Sisters of Life
Graduate of The Catholic University of America
Sister Mariae Agnus Dei of the Sisters of Life is one of many religious sisters whose vocation was nourished by Newman Guide education.
Founded in 1991, the Sisters of Life now have more than 100 sisters serving across the country and in Canada. The sisters take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, plus a special vow to “protect and enhance the sacredness of every human life.”
“To those discerning colleges, all I can say is you will never regret choosing a place that is invested in forming, supporting and flourishing every dimension of your life — mind, body, heart and soul,” said Sr. Mariae Agnus Dei.
“The years you spend at college, the people you encounter, the culture in which you immerse yourself, will inevitably lay a foundation for the rest of your life. In choosing an authentically Catholic college, you will be on course to live the good life you desire and become who you were made to be.”
Timmerie Geagea
Host of Trending with Timmerie on Relevant Radio
Graduate of John Paul the Great Catholic University
Timmerie attended John Paul the Great Catholic University in Escondido, Calif., which is recommended in The Newman Guide, where she “fell in love with studying theology” and also had the unique opportunity to “fuse together communications, philosophy and theology.” She credits her faithful Catholic education with helping prepare her for her ministry and for her life, including her marriage to a fellow alumnus.
“Close proximity to the sacraments, my formation in theology, and my education in business and communications equipped me not only for my apostolate but most importantly for a life oriented toward the Cross of Christ,” says Timmerie about her undergraduate years at JPCatholic. “I sharpened my tools of communication, and I learned to appeal to the deepest desires of the human heart — authentic love and, ultimately, God.”
On her radio show, Trending with Timmerie, which is nationally syndicated, she discusses topics such as gender identity, abortion and pornography. She believes that it’s important to tackle controversial topics, especially those related to human sexuality.
“Society is parched for relationships that express authentic love and ultimately the sacrificial love of Christ,” Timmerie explains. “Our culture and the breakdown of the family doesn’t prepare people for sacrificial love anymore.”
Newman Guide Pro-Life Programs
K-12
The faithful Catholic elementary and secondary schools recommended in The Newman Guide are proudly pro-life. These schools integrate faith and science, teach students to think critically, and help deepen their understanding of God, creation, and life. The Newman Guide champions these schools and spreads the word about them to Catholic families across the country.
Here are just some of the ways Newman Guide Recommended schools live out their pro-life witness, from organizing diaper drives for moms in need to offering scholarships to large Catholic families to attend their school.
Students and families of Holy Rosary Academy in Anchorage, Alaska, prayed at the closing Mass of 40 Days for Life outside of a Planned Parenthood facility in the snow.
Gio Moceri (below, left) is a junior at Holy Rosary Academy and is one of the founders and current vice president of the School’s Students for Life chapter. The club has offered remarks at pro-life events and participated in last year’s first March for Life in Alaska.
The pro-life club at Holy Rosary Academy also hosted a “Rosary Walk and Chalk” event to leave positive pro-life messages on the sidewalk in front of Planned Parenthood.
St. Monica Academy in Montrose, Calif., collected donations and supplies for a local pregnancy clinic for this year’s Advent service project. The Academy also has an active pro-life club that attends a pro-life summer camp, prays in front of abortion clinics, and attends Walks for Life.
At Saint Rita Catholic School in Alexandria, Va., new life is celebrated! When Saint Rita families welcome a new child, an announcement is included in the school’s weekly newsletter and the child is given an adorable Saint Rita School onesie. The school also offers a significant tuition discount to second and third children, and children from the fourth onwards are provided with full tuition coverage.
St. Joseph Catholic School in Greenville, S.C., typically takes 50-70 students to the March for Life in Washington, D.C. Students from St. Joseph’s also attend the South Carolina March for Life and the South Carolina Student Life Summit. The school’s pro-life group is called the Knights for Life, as evidenced by the winter hats!
Knights for Life also started a project called “Our Best for the Babies.” Students use their talents and passions to create life-centered items to share with customers. As students “pitch” their items, they also hone their confidence and skills at “pitching” the preciousness of every life. One of the creations is “Paper People”; participants create their own individual, unique paper person, just like every baby from the moment of conception.
Regina Pacis Academy in Norwalk, Conn., has a book section in its library that is dedicated to pro-life literature. There are many books about babies and children becoming big brothers or big sisters and books that show the science and beauty behind the pro-life message.
“Our students witness every day the fact that we provide creative ways for our teachers and staff to work at the school with their children close by,” said Janice Martinez, principal of Holy Child Catholic School in Tijeras, N.M. “Holy Child Catholic School is not only committed to being pro-life but also wishes to recognize and affirm the feminine genius. This has led to an unprecedented collaboration whereby volunteers, staff and teachers are united in their commitment to help each mother faithfully live out her primary and secondary vocations without sacrificing the precious bond of closeness with her own children. Such a commitment requires joyful creativity and no day looks the same as the next!”
At The Lyceum in South Euclid, Ohio, students pray daily as a school community for the unborn in danger of abortion that day, that God will send His holy angels to protect them.
Everest Collegiate High School and Academy in Clarkston, Mich., uses the excellent Ruah Woods Theology of the Body/Christian Anthropology program to provide a pro-life education. The Cardinal Newman Society teamed up with Ruah Woods to develop Standards of Christian Anthropology which align with Ruah Wood’s curriculum.
Colleges
For decades, radical pro-abortion feminism has dominated higher education. But at the 27 colleges recommended in The Newman Guide for their strong Catholic identity, students find a much healthier respect for the dignity of women, men and children. Here are just a few examples of how Newman Guide Recommended colleges are pro-life:
Ave Maria University students at the March for Life.
Ave Maria University
At Ave Maria University, students pray for an end to abortion outside the local Planned Parenthood once a week in addition to attending the annual March for Life and helping host the local March for Life in Southwest Florida.
The university also sponsors the Jon Scharfenberger scholarship for Catholic pro-life leaders attending the university. The scholarship was created in honor of a 2011 AMU graduate who passed away in a tragic car accident a year following graduation while on his way home from a pro-life event. As reported in Ave Maria’s magazine, while attending the university, he volunteered frequently at a local pregnancy center without anyone else knowing — and he didn’t even have a car to get there, which increased the wonder of how he was able to do so. Such a scholarship holds up Jon’s life as a witness to the importance of pro-life work for every student who attends Ave Maria.
Finally, recognizing that being pro-life extends to all stages of life, student initiatives provide babysitting for fellow students and staff/faculty so they can attend classes, work, and complete their degrees, and spend time weekly visiting the elderly in the community.
Belmont Abbey College
Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C., is home to an innovative pro-life initiative: a residence named MiraVia for pregnant college students, which draws women from across the country. MiraVia not only provides free room and board but also all the help that expectant moms may need to continue pursuing their educational goals, such as childcare, life skills classes, and material assistance.
“The unique partnership between Belmont Abbey and MiraVia required a leap of faith for both organizations,” says Debbie Capen, executive director of MiraVia, which opened in 2013. “It began with a shared vision to make abortion unthinkable for college students who face unplanned pregnancies, and the results have exceeded our wildest expectations.” MiraVia has housed dozens of residents over the past 12 years, providing loving support and guidance to help them pursue their dreams.
“We have seen that there are countless benefits to creating maternity housing on campus for both our clients and the broader community,” explains Capen. “Not only do our clients receive the support they need to continue their pregnancies and their education, but the student body and community see the beauty of choosing life.”
Students from the college volunteer at MiraVia to help with childcare and other projects around the residence.
Benedictine College
Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., will be playing no small part in the future of pro-life medical professionals. Benedictine College announced that it plans to establish a new, independent medical school that “understands the essential role of faith and morality in the sciences.”
In the meantime, Benedictine is already contributing to forming pro-life medical professionals through its biology, pre-med, and nursing majors. The nursing program is housed in the Mother Teresa Center for Nursing and Health Education, and the College promised Mother Teresa’s order, the Sisters of the Poor, that Benedictine would remain committed to being a pro-life nursing school. Nursing students take courses on bioethics and on fertility-based awareness/natural family planning. The Nursing School has an annual White Mass for Nursing students, a student-led Bible study, guest speakers on pro-life issues, and is planning an annual retreat.
Christendom College
The faithful Catholic colleges recommended in The Newman Guide are always well-represented at the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. Students, presidents, faculty and staff members from these institutions peacefully march and pray for an end to abortion in our country.
Christendom College in Front Royal, Va., sets an impressive pro-life example. Christendom College has canceled classes every year since its founding in 1977 so that its entire student body can attend the March for Life. Christendom has also been chosen to lead the March for Life five times—in 1984, 1997, 2009, 2012, and 2022.
Franciscan University of Steubenville
Foundational to a pro-life college is providing a pro-life education: one that teaches the truth about man, woman, and human sexuality. Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio, is establishing an Institute for the Study of Man and Woman. This institute will undertake an interdisciplinary investigation into the nature of man and woman through philosophy, theology, neuroscience, biology, psychology, sociology, and family studies. The hope is to recover a “common understanding of the gifts of both man and woman,” explains Dr. Deborah Savage, a professor of theology and director of the new institute.
“The foundations of a truly human society are grounded in a coherent understanding of the person and a recognition of the central place the family has in building it,” Dr. Savage continued. “And so there is no way to recover our culture without reinforcing and expanding our grasp of who we are as embodied creatures made for relationship.”
“So much attention has been focused on women’s issues over the last decades, we have forgotten about the men! And in many ways, men and boys are struggling in our culture,” Dr. Savage explained. “So, in a very real sense, this is an effort to bring balance to the rather one-sided investigation that has been underway for years, one that arguably has only served to confuse God’s plan for the collaboration of man and woman as they work together to fulfill their mission.”
The institute will “sustain a public conversation” about issues surrounding the nature and gifts of men and women and will involve curricula and educational activities for Franciscan University students.
University of St. Thomas (Houston)
The University of St. Thomas in Houston, Tex., is offering a new graduate degree in Catholic Women’s and Gender Studies. While too many colleges offer degrees in gender studies that do not uphold the Catholic understanding of the human person, the program at the University of St. Thomas is a refreshing new option.
“Gender is today’s hottest issue, causing division and widespread confusion about one of the most fundamental aspects of human life – what it means to be man or woman,” the University argues. The graduate program at the University of St. Thomas will offer the “riches of Church tradition and an authentically Catholic philosophy and theology of the human person.”
University of Mary
In 2023, the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D., launched the beautiful St. Teresa of Calcutta Community for Mothers to provide single mothers with affordable housing, education, and trained, volunteer childcare sufficient for them to complete their degree. Thanks to the generosity of benefactors, seven mothers have been served through the St. Teresa of Calcutta Community.
“The University of Mary was founded to meet the needs of the people in our region and beyond, and it is in and through our mission that we, as a Catholic institution, are striving to emulate the love of Christ,” explained Tom Ackerman, media relations specialist at the University of Mary. “Christ comes into our lives and desires to meet us where we are most needy, alone, and helpless. Likewise, we desire to meet our single mothers in the joy of new life, but also in the difficulty of raising a child on their own.”
The first mother to join the program was Katie (Chihoski) O’Meara, who graduated from the University of Mary in Spring 2023.
“As a new young mother, I was understandably afraid and unable to picture what would happen next. During my time abroad at the University of Mary’s Rome Campus, I had to decide what would be the best for my sweet little baby. All I could hear were the voices of the world who made a surprise pregnancy seem like the start of a dull and stagnant life,” explained O’Meara.
Katie O’Meara was the first mother to join the St. Teresa Calcutta Community for Mothers at the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D. By taking advantage of the Year-Round campus, Katie was able to graduate in four years with her daughter Lucia at her side.
“Amid the chaos in my head, new voices entered my life,” she continued. “The residence directors who lived with me in Rome, as well as our chaplains, seminarian friends, and classmates. These voices told me things about myself and God that I had never heard before. They helped me to hear God’s voice in the chaos giving me the strength to do things I didn’t know were possible. These people encouraged me to not only return to college but to work hard to find joy in this new life.”
“One unique thing about UMary is how much the students and staff adore babies — and life. I never felt like I was intruding on an event or Mass because I had a chatty baby,” O’Meara continued. “One of the ways I saw the community’s obvious love for babies was the number of students who volunteered to watch our children when the mothers had class. New students were reaching out to us every week wanting to get involved and do what they could to make our days a little easier!”
“It needs to be said that I would not have been able to continue college while providing for my new baby if it weren’t for the financial help I received through the university’s St. Teresa of Calcutta Community for Mother’s scholarship,” O’Meara reflected. “The UMary community always gave us the belief that Lucia brought light to the campus. The joy she brought to campus definitely fits her name, Lucia, meaning ‘light.’”
O’Meara is now married to a former classmate and fellow University of Mary alum. She works as a hospital social worker in Minnesota and says she speaks “very highly of the University of Mary and the people who have made this program what it is.”
Teaching the Truth About IVF
The practice of in vitro fertilization (IVF) is so anti-life it astonishes people who believe it is a positive and compassionate scientific breakthrough enabling infertile couples and others to have children. Yet even as IVF grows in popularity, including support from the Trump administration, most secular schools and universities refuse to teach the truth about it. Catholic educators, then, must be public witnesses to the evils of IVF, enlightening their students about its dangers while standing firm and refusing to cooperate with IVF coverage in student and employee health plans.
How would any objective person evaluate a medical procedure that killed or left in suspended animation over 90 percent of its patients? IVF generally results in the live birth of only approximately 10 percent of the embryos conceived using this technique. “The IVF industry treats human beings like products and freezes or kills millions of children who are not selected for transfer to a womb or do not survive,” says the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraphs 2376-2378 makes it abundantly clear that IVF and similar artificial reproductive technologies are gravely immoral and “dissociate the sexual act from the procreative act.” The Church affirms that children have the right to be respected as a person from the first moment of conception/fertilization and not to be treated like an object.
A pro-life philosophy is one that affirms all human beings must have their right to life respected from the first moment of their lives. It is nonsensical to call IVF “pro-life,” as a few groups do, because it helps some couples bear children. Yes, assisting people to have babies is pro-life, but not when the price is the deaths of multiple children for every one that is born alive. Would one call a medical intervention that prevented the deaths of some sick patients “pro-life,” if it killed several people for each person that it saved?
The procedure euphemistically known as “pregnancy reduction” is obviously anti-life. Since IVF-conceived embryos frequently do not implant and develop, it has been common for technicians to put three or more embryos in the woman. (Thankfully, in recent years the trend has been towards the transfer of fewer embryos.) If, however, multiple embryos survive and go forward, IVF doctors often counsel their clients to abort all but one of the babies, in order not to have more than the one desired child and to reduce the increased health risks attendant on twin, triplet, etc. pregnancies. Eugenics also comes into play, since the doctor uses an ultrasound to guide the fatal needle into the hearts of the fetuses deemed the least healthy. One might think that a couple seeking to overcome infertility would be happy to welcome twins, but the most common “pregnancy reduction” abortions are the killing of one preborn child to prevent the birth of twins.
Some argue they could do IVF without conceiving large numbers of embryos, or they could transfer all of their children to the womb and avoid intentionally killing any of them. Would this be “pro-life” IVF? It certainly reflects a pro-life attitude, but it is not pro-life to expose one’s children to tremendous risk of death through IVF procedures. At each stage in the process, these tiny human beings are at risk. Their conception and early life in the artificial atmosphere of a lab results in some deaths. Freezing and thawing them for transfer kills many. The embryos frequently fail to implant in the womb or are fatally miscarried at higher rates than normal pregnancies. Children conceived through IVF are at greater risk of fatal and non-fatal genetic anomalies and health problems. Thus, beyond the ethical violations inherent in causing conception to happen outside of the mother’s body, IVF is also incompatible with the pro-life parental concern that refuses to intentionally place one’s future children in harm’s way.
The instruction from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dignitas Personae, sums up the anti-life nature of IVF: “The blithe acceptance of the enormous number of abortions involved in the process of in vitro fertilization vividly illustrates how the replacement of the conjugal act by a technical procedure—in addition to being in contradiction with the respect that is due to procreation as something that cannot be reduced to mere reproduction—leads to a weakening of the respect owed to every human being. Recognition of such respect is, on the other hand, promoted by the intimacy of husband and wife nourished by married love.”
My wife and I suffered from infertility until the conception of our daughter Therese, over eight years into our marriage. We explored and pursued many treatments for infertility. IVF, however, never tempted us because of our Catholic faith and our deep pro-life convictions. Couples faced with infertility show the sacrificial love typical of good parents when they refuse to agree to the “quick fix” of IVF that practically guarantees some of their offspring will die in pursuit of a slim chance of a “babe in arms.” Children and parents deserve better than IVF. Thankfully, ethically sound restorative reproductive medicine is available and helps couples fulfill their dream of parenthood, without incurring the guilt of sacrificing lives to attain the blessing of a family.
Joseph Meaney, PhD, KM
Past President and Senior Fellow of The National Catholic Bioethics Center
What Is Pro-Life Education?
Any student attending a Newman Guide institution can immediately discern a departure from the “Culture of Death” that pervades secular society and most college campuses.
In my experience, students and educators in faithful Catholic education are more joyful, generous, pro-family, and committed to pro-life values, behaviors, and public policies.
Catholic educators hoping to replicate such pro-life commitment may wonder where to begin. The influence and witness of a pro-life student club is laudable. A school leader’s pronouncements can help form the ethos of an institution. But these alone are not sufficient.
A pervasively pro-life education must be more.
Below are four marks of pro-life education. Not surprisingly, they align with The Cardinal Newman Society’s Principles of Catholic Identity in Education, which synthesize the main themes across Vatican teachings on Catholic education. If education is pro-life, it imparts respect for human life and an understanding of human dignity. Its graduates are motivated to protect and serve human life at all stages.
- Rooted in Catholic anthropology
Understanding the human person—What is man? For what purpose was man created?—is necessary for an integral Catholic education. It’s also necessary for a pro-life education.
In today’s culture, we greatly need graduates of Catholic education who can persuasively explain the dignity of human life and defend God’s divine authority to govern conception, birth, and death. Catholic anthropology provides students the only solid foundation for their pro-life views, in contrast to flimsy political and rights-based arguments rooted in Enlightenment thinking.
For Catholics, human dignity is found in our unique calling to be united with God. It is for this that we were made in His image with the gift of reason, by which we understand deeply, love deeply, and devote ourselves freely to Him. We know ourselves best by contemplating God, man’s beginning and final end:
In today’s pluralistic world, the Catholic educator must consciously inspire his or her activity with the Christian concept of the person, in communion with the Magisterium of the Church. It is a concept that includes a defense of human rights, but also attributes to the human person the dignity of a child of God; it attributes the fullest liberty, freed from sin itself by Christ, the most exalted destiny, which is the definitive and total possession of God Himself, through love. (Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith, 18)
A pro-life education does not simply assert a person’s right to happiness or a right to be free from violation, which pits the mother against her child. It teaches the justice and freedom of conforming to God’s will, which is our salvation in Jesus Christ. This is why a mother, even in a crisis pregnancy, has no right to end the life of her child—and why the life of every person, regardless of age or circumstance, is most precious to God.
Catholic anthropology also affirms that God made humans male and female, oriented toward union in marriage. The fruit of that marriage is family. Abortion, then, is a denial of the human love to which God calls every parent and spouse and a sin against marriage.
- Aimed toward salvation
“Catholic education is an expression of the Church’s mission of salvation and an instrument of evangelization: to make disciples of Christ and to teach them to observe all that He has commanded.” Thus begins the Principles of Catholic Identity in Education.
Recognizing that every human life has priceless value and dignity, because it is intended for communion with God, a Newman Guide Recommended institution must not only tend to the souls of its students but also teach them to love every other person. Faithful Catholic education—pro-life education—teaches students to respect every person’s equal dignity while refusing to measure worth according to age, disability, race, or other accidental traits.
A faithfully Catholic, pro-life education also guides students to make salvation their priority, even over physical suffering or death. A pro-life education should include much prayer for the souls of those who have gravely sinned by participating in abortion, contraception, in vitro fertilization, or other signs against marriage and children. Although babies are the bodily victims of abortion, we should be most concerned by the mortal sin of abortion, putting thousands of souls at the risk of Hell.
A Catholic, pro-life education teaches the wages of sin and the opportunity for redemption in Confession. We rely on our graduates to lead those wounded by sin to His mercy, which is what society needs to overcome the Culture of Death.
- Pro-life across the curriculum
A Catholic education is distinguished by its integration of the truths of revelation and the insights of our Catholic faith—including our understanding of the dignity of human life—within every course of study.
Pro-life themes can be addressed directly in catechesis and theology courses by reading Church documents on abortion, in literature with themes about human dignity, in history courses considering the politics of slavery, in civics courses concerning natural law and civil rights, and so on. Ethics courses across the curriculum teach respect for human dignity.
There are plenty of other ways to creatively instill pro-life values in students.
Pro-life essay and speaking competitions, guest lectures, research papers, field trips to pro-life organizations, etc. are great educational opportunities. A pro-life institution will generously support pro-life clubs, services, and fundraisers for mothers in crisis pregnancies, attending pro-life rallies and marches, and other student activities.
Catholic education should include substantial prayer for the lives of the unborn, the well-being of their mothers and fathers, the conversion of those who promote or engage in abortion, and God’s mercy upon those who have died in a state of mortal sin. Such prayer can be incorporated throughout the day, in Masses, and special prayer services.
- Critical of the Culture of Death
Although Catholic educators need to be cautious about turning education toward a social or political agenda, Catholic education is tasked with “a critical, systematic transmission of culture in the light of faith and the bringing forth of the power of Christian virtue by the integration of culture with faith and of faith with living” (The Catholic School, 49).
All education transmits to students the culture in which they live. Catholic education, however, which is ordered to the higher culture of God’s Kingdom, maintains a critical perspective on human culture with an eye toward building the Kingdom. It is appropriate that faithful Catholic educators display disgust with abortion and other threats to innocent life.
Pope St. John Paul II writes, “If need be, a Catholic University must have the courage to speak uncomfortable truths which do not please public opinion, but which are necessary to safeguard the authentic good of society” (Ex corde Ecclesiae, 32).
Scholarly research and publication can contribute greatly to the pro-life effort. Catholic scholars are called to “a study of serious contemporary problems in areas such as the dignity of human life…” (Ex corde Ecclesiae, 32).
A Newman Guide education strives to form students to fulfill God’s calling in them, to know Him and His creation, and to serve Him in this life and the next. When they do this, they provide the very best of pro-life education.
Georgetown must end its race obsession
(As featured in The Washington Examiner)
There is a saying in the Catholic Church that “error has no rights.” Yet William Treanor, the dean of Georgetown University Law Center, is claiming constitutional protection for the school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies under the guise of religious freedom. This is as flawed as it is hypocritical.
In a letter dated March 6 responding to interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin’s investigation into the school’s DEI ideology, Treanor said, “Given the First Amendment’s protection of a university’s freedom to determine its own curriculum and how to deliver it, the constitutional violation behind this threat is clear, as is the attack on the University’s mission as a Jesuit and Catholic institution.”
Newman Guide College Graduate Helps Make Prayer Accessible
Annie Foster
A graduate of a faithful Catholic college believes daily prayer is critical—and she’s sharing a new tool to help young people develop a prayer routine.
“Forming a strong daily prayer routine is paramount to building the spiritual armor necessary to face daily temptation as well as the destructive forces college students will be met with post-graduation,” urges Annie Foster, a graduate Franciscan University of Steubenville, which is recommended in The Newman Guide for its strong Catholic identity.
Now employed by the Catholic app named “Hallow” that hosts thousands of audio-guided prayers and meditations, Annie believes the tool can be a great resource for young people to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. The app has become the top Catholic app in the app store, with hundreds of thousands of five-star reviews.
“I believe Hallow’s success and why it is a helpful resource for young adults, lies first and foremost in the fact that prayer is where we come to know the person of Jesus Christ and where we invite Him into a personal relationship. The Catholic apologetics space is overflowing with catechetical resources to help us to know and defend our faith. Hallow’s primary purpose however is to serve as an instrument that our Lord can use to speak to our hearts and where we can speak to His.”
Hallow allows users to set-up alerts for prayer throughout the day, and then set time aside for audio prayers like the Angelus and Rosary. It “meets students where they are” both physically (on their phones) and spiritually (on their faith journeys), explains Annie. Schools and colleges like Franciscan University are partnering with Hallow to make the app available to students.
The app is also in high demand to respond to the mental health crisis that many young people are facing today.
“In recent years, young adults have been experiencing and openly sharing more and more the mental health issues they’ve been facing. The remedies of the world are often not only contrary to our faith but lead the youth into even greater confusion and desolation,” explained Annie. “Hallow responded to this reality by working with Catholic mental health professionals such as Dr. Bob Schuchts and religious such as Sr. Miriam James to create meditations to address the healing of wounds, addictions as well as various other topics.”
In her life and work, Annie draws the on formation she received at Franciscan University “on a daily basis.”
“Franciscan is where I fell in love with the study of philosophy, particularly Christian personalism and the thought of Dietrich von Hildebrand and his wife Alice. I worked as a student fellow for the Hildebrand Project, a non-profit dedicated to the dissemination of Hildebrands thought and witness,” explained Annie. “Christian personalism tints the lense with which I view my faith and my work because it is a philosophy rooted in an appreciation of the dignity of the human person and therefore a philosophy that can be lived.”
She was also an active member of Franciscan’s lacrosse team. “Coach Maura Carapellotti transformed simple exercises into spiritual exercises. Coach emboldened us to play our sport with total freedom and fearlessness because she convinced us that our identities were not based on the scoreboard but in our relationship with our Lord. We truly played for an audience of One [Jesus Christ].”
The women’s lacrosse team at Franciscan University of Steubenville.
“Attending a faithful Catholic college akin to Franciscan not only makes authentic Catholic teaching and the sacraments accessible, it makes accessible a community of peers who will support you in prayer and friendship for the rest of your life. That is no small thing. We often affectionately refer to Steubenville as a ‘bubble’ because it truly is a safeguarded haven for practicing Catholics.”
But “even within the ‘bubble’ the enemy never sleeps,” and the temptations are great after college, explained Annie. That’s why building a prayer routine is so critical—and why Annie is helping young people do just that.
This article was first published in 2022 and updated in 2025.
Ep. 38: Faith, Scholarship, & Community at Benedictine College with Steve Minnis
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Join us as Steve Minnis, president of Benedictine College, shares his remarkable journey of over two decades at the helm, driving unprecedented growth and fostering a community deeply rooted in faith and scholarship. Under his leadership, Benedictine College has not only doubled its student body but also enhanced its campus with modern facilities, all while strengthening its Catholic identity. From initiating a unique consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary to embedding faith deeply into the academic and communal fabric of the college, Minnis’ vision is a testament to the transformative power of integrating community, faith, and scholarship in higher education.
Click here to watch on YouTube