Going On Offense
We can use the next four years to advance Catholic education and secure it for decades.
Our Lord promises that the “gates of hell shall not prevail” against the Church. With these words, Jesus not only reassures us that He will never abandon his Church to evil, but He also extolls us to go on offense for the Kingdom of God. Saint Paul later calls on Christians to do the same thing. “Do not be conquered by evil,” he writes, “but conquer evil with good.”
In the wake of Donald Trump’s recent victory, the Church in America needs to be reminded of these words, and it would do well to heed them. This is especially true in the realm of Catholic education. For too long Catholic education in the United States has been stuck in a defensive posture, timidly defending its most basic rights while slowly secularizing and giving ground to radical progressives. This diffident approach has produced poor results and only invited further aggressiveness from the enemies of the Church.
In the past four years, Democrats in Washington have pushed far beyond the Obama-era policies of demanding contraception coverage in Catholic healthcare plans and mandating that Catholic schools open their bathrooms and locker rooms to students of the opposite sex. Most notably, the Equality Act that progressives attempted to pass would have effectively ended Catholic education as we know it. By making it illegal to discriminate because of “sexual orientation” or “gender identity,” the Equality Act would have allowed gay or transgender employees and students to sue Catholic institutions simply for standing by Catholic teaching, thus forcing many schools to abandon their faith or close their doors.
The fight for the religious freedom to provide truly Catholic education, hire faithful teachers and staff, and reject immoral practices like abortion and bodily mutilation is also ongoing in the states and the private sector. In Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan, for example — where the Equality Act is the law of the land — Catholic schools like St. Joesph’s outside Lansing and Sacred Heart of Jesus outside Grand Rapids are fighting for their lives in the courts.
Meanwhile, progressive activists are convincing more and more big corporations and athletic associations to put pressure on Catholic schools that refuse to comply with the latest pro-abortion, LGBT, or DEI policies. In 2020, for example, the Human Rights Campaign lobbied hard for Biden’s Department of Education to “tighten” its accreditation policies and encourage agencies to refuse accreditation to any Catholic schools that didn’t enforce “nondiscrimination policies” or meet “scientific curriculum requirements.”
Though the political and legal threats are great, they are not insurmountable. Indeed, despite them, there are good reasons to be hopeful. Since 2022, for example, ten states have passed universal education choice initiatives, which allow parents to use their children’s taxpayer-funded education dollars for the school of their choice, or even help cover certain homeschool expenses. These laws, in turn, have been a boon to Catholic schools, especially the burgeoning Catholic classical school movement. Since 2019, more than 264 new classical schools have been founded, and existing ones saw enrollments surge. And the momentum for classical education is only growing. According to some estimates, the classical school enrollment of 677,500 students this year is expected to more than double to 1.4 million by 2035.
Under these circumstances, Donald Trump’s recent victory offers not only a respite from the federal government’s total onslaught on Catholic education, but also a unique opportunity to advance our cause and secure the future of Catholic education for generations to come.
What does this look like in practice? For starters, it means dismantling the Department of Education, as President Trump has promised. Next, the incoming administration should seek to expand school choice with as little regulation as possible, get rid of common core standards as well as other career- and college-focused standards, and restore the original meaning of Title IX. Finally, the president-elect could take action to deregulate teacher preparation and de-link school accreditation and student aid from Title IX policies. The Cardinal Newman Society has helpfully provided details on how President Trump can make many of these changes and offered several more specific actions that the incoming administration can take to protect Catholic education.
But it’s not just the White House that needs to seize this opportunity. Catholic educators across the country should use the next four years to aggressively expand their operations, deepen their commitment to Catholic teaching, and fortify themselves against future attacks. Indeed, we should use every moral means at our disposal — from lobbying to lawfare — to push back against the radical Left.
In this fight, The Heritage Foundation stands ready to support you. As a proud partner of The Cardinal Newman Society, we provide essential guidance to Catholic schools on how to protect their religious freedom and confront contemporary challenges without shying away from their beliefs. We also have extensive resources for Catholic teachers and administrators, from a curriculum library to school models. And for all parents and students, we offer data-driven college recommendations so you can choose a school with confidence.
In conclusion, we must remember that our religious freedom doesn’t come free. God invites us to join Him in His suffering, but also in His triumphant victory. When we refuse to take an active role in securing our freedom, we are effectively rejecting that invitation.
The next four years are critical for securing the future of Catholic education in the United States for the next 40 years. Despite facing more serious attacks than ever before, with Donald Trump’s victory we have a unique opportunity to go on offense. Now is the time for action. In the words of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton: “When so rich a harvest is before us, why do we not gather it? All is in our hands if we will but use it.”
Kevin Roberts, Ph.D., is president of The Heritage Foundation, which formulates and promotes public policies based on traditional principles. He founded and led John Paul the Great Academy, a co-ed, K-12 Catholic liberal arts school in Lafayette, La., for seven years, and he was president of Wyoming Catholic College, a Newman Guide Recommended institution, from 2013-2016.