College-Bound? Try These Catholic Summer Programs

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What better way for a high school student to spend a week or two this summer, than to enjoy a fun and spiritual program at a Catholic college!

A faithful Catholic education can prepare students not only for a career, but for life. Whether or not you plan to attend a Catholic college, a summer program at one of the faithful colleges recognized in The Newman Guide can be enriching and will give you a taste of the benefits of a Catholic education.

Summer programs are a great opportunity for high school students to strengthen their academic and extracurricular skills, grow in their spiritual lives, get a head-start on college visits, learn from distinguished professors, make lifelong friends and experience what faithful Catholic education is all about. Here are some options:

Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Fla., is offering its 2nd annual Summer Leadership Program for rising high school juniors and seniors. “Called Higher,” which runs from July 24-30, is geared towards students “who are academically driven and committed to growing in their faith through the pursuit of higher education.” Participants will get an idea of AMU culture by touring the campus, attending classes and meeting faculty while also getting to explore southwest Florida.

Belmont Abbey College’s Schola program in Belmont, N.C., strives to cultivate a true life of leisure over a one-week session which runs July 16-22. According to the College, students are invited “to slow down, to spend a summer week cultivating the goodness of their souls by reading and discussing classic works of philosophy and literature with friends, having meaningful conversations about the fundamental questions of life, enjoying daily recreational and social activities, viewing films, contemplating beautiful works of art and spending time in prayer and worship with the monastic community of Belmont Abbey.” Videos on the Schola program webpage show some of the highlights of previous years.

The Benedictine College Youth Conferences (BCYC) Immersion program in Atchison, Kan., offers three sessions for students to choose from over 20 “tracks” including, but not limited to, computer science, engineering, nursing, faith and science, philosophy, graphic design, voice and art.  Outside of class, students participate in Bible studies, attend Mass and engage in a variety of social activities from dances to sports to scavenger hunts. Participants report that they come away from the week refreshed and inspired. Benedictine also offers a one-week session for “BCYC Leadership,” which will help students discover how Catholic leadership principles can transform the way they lead at school, in their parish and in their community. There is also a BCYC Encounter conference, led by current Benedictine students, for parish and diocesan groups that focuses on Benedictine spirituality. Finally, Benedictine is inviting rising high school juniors, seniors and graduated seniors to earn three hours of college credit while studying abroad on a “Journey with Dante,” a three-week trip in Italy.

The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., offers a wide variety of summer educational experiences with weeklong summer programs focused on architecture, performing arts, the sciences and theology, providing opportunities to rising juniors and seniors for an exciting educational experience in the nation’s Capital. Light the World! Summer Institute lets high school students witness faithful excellence in action in business, science, politics, sports and the arts while meeting professionals who live out their faith in everyday life. The Experiences in Architecture program is an intense two- or three-week, pre-college workshop that exposes students to both the academic and professional sides of the architectural arena, with the capital city as their classroom. Catholic University’s High School Drama Institute is a program for students who wish to study voice, movement and acting with experts in the field. For students interested in the field of Engineering, CUA offers two different summer programs, Engineering New Frontiers and Computational Biosciences Institute. These weeklong programs expose students to many of the engineering disciplines, including biomedical, mechanical, electrical, civil and computer science.

Christendom College in Front Royal, Va., is offering “The Best Week Ever,” a choice of five different one-week sessions throughout June and July. Intended for rising high school seniors, the program instills in students “a deep appreciation for the liberal arts, Catholic culture, true friendship, and the beauty of God’s creation evidenced in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.” Participants attend daily classes in literature, philosophy, history and theology; hike in the mountains; canoe on the Shenandoah River; sing Irish songs; learn to swing dance and forge new friendships. As one student said afterward, “When I first heard about it, I honestly thought the ‘Best Week Ever’ was just an advertisement, but I truly did have the best week of my life and I have made memories I will treasure forever. Not only did I learn so much during my short time at Christendom this summer, but I’ve met the most amazing people and made friends I am still keeping up with. In learning so much about Christendom College and meeting such dedicated Catholics, I grew much closer to Christ and left the program with a desire to continue growing my relationship with God.”

Franciscan University’s summer Steubenville Conferences are popular with Catholic high school students across the country. The three-day Catholic conferences bring teens into a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ. Conferences take place at multiple locations across the United States and Canada, including four conferences at Franciscan University’s campus in Steubenville, Ohio. The theme for the 2023 conferences is “Refuge” (Matthew 11:28 ). Dynamic speakers this summer include Sarah Swafford, Joel Stepanek, Fr. Leo Patalinghug, Mark Hart, Sr. Miriam James Heidland, SOLT, and many more. Interested students must apply to attend a conference through a parish, high school or youth ministry group.

High school students and recent graduates are invited to preview the academic community and life of Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts in Warner, N.H., through its Collegiate Summer Program, being held June 18 to July 1 and July 9-22. Students are taught by Magdalen College professors each day and are introduced to liberal education through classic texts from philosophy, literature, theology and political thought. Outside of the classroom, program participants attend daily Mass, climb Mount Kearsarge, canoe on a river, relax around bonfires, swing dance, visit local landmarks and much more.

Once again, Thomas Aquinas College is offering its Great Books summer program in two locations: its campus in Santa Paula, Calif., from July 16-29, and its second campus in Northfield, Mass., from July 9-22. These two-week programs engage students in seminars on Plato, Pascal, St. Thomas Aquinas and Kierkegaard, among others. In addition to daily recreational and liturgical activities, the program also includes day trips to nearby cities. A detailed day-to-day picture of what the Great Books program is like can be found on the college’s blog. This program is offered to rising seniors.

Thomas More College in Merrimack, N.H., offers a Great Books program for high school-aged students. This two-week session, offered June 25 to July 8 and July 16-29, will inculcate its participants in a “healthy balance of prayer, work and play” as they read authors like St. Thomas More, Plato, Aristotle and George Orwell. Along with academics, students will go on excursions throughout New England, including hiking mountains, visiting historic locations and visiting the coast.

The University of Dallas in Irving, Tex., offers several summer programs for high schoolers interested in classical texts, art and music. Rising juniors and seniors can experience life on campus during the two-week Arete: An Introduction to the Classics. Students as young as rising seventh graders can attend the Summer Art Academy or the Summer Music Academy to enhance their artistic potential. Both of these programs run for one week.

The University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D., offers a summer program for high school students. The Cor Christi Institute program runs for two sessions in July on the University’s campus. This program invites high school students of all grades to encounter Jesus and learn the foundational teachings and practices of the Catholic faith through serious study, good conversation and wholesome friendship.

The University of St. Thomas in Houston, Tex., is hosting a Young Diplomats and Global Affairs summer camp for rising 10th, 11th and 12th grade students from June 12-16, which will include a student-led diplomacy situation exercise modeled on the Diplomacy Center of the United States. That same week, the University’s master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program is sponsoring a Fearless Catholic Writers camp in which students will learn from published authors.

For those rising seniors with adventurous spirits and a love for the outdoors, Wyoming Catholic College’s PEAK program in Lander, Wyo., offers a unique experience. Running from August 1-12, students are given the opportunity to study the Great Books under the instruction of WCC faculty and to immerse themselves in the sacraments. Students are also engaged in a variety of outdoor activities, tailored to the experience and fitness of each participant, including horseback riding, canoeing and caring for livestock.

For students interested in traveling abroad, the University of Navarra offers Spanish Intensive Summer Courses at its language institute on campus, Instituto Lengua y Cultura Española, ILCE. ILCE is offered in-person, so students get to enjoy all the campus has to offer. ILCE will also offer three on-campus courses between June and July on their campuses in Pamplona and Madrid. Students taking these courses can earn college credit and will also have the opportunity to participate in cultural activities outside of class.

Gender Confusion in Australia’s Catholic Schools

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In September, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference released “Created and Loved: A Guide for Catholic Schools on Identity and Gender.” While the document has thoughtful and salient points regarding gender identity, it also recommends that Catholic schools use the preferred names and pronouns of children suffering from gender dysphoria, providing “flexibility with uniform expectations.”

As a lifelong Catholic educator, I have deep concerns about this approach, which is fundamentally at odds with the mission of Catholic education. The challenge for Catholic schools today is not that we work with gender-dysphoric children, but how. Children suffering from gender dysphoria can be admitted under certain conditions: The gender dysphoria is acknowledged as a disorder; the child’s family obtains proper counseling and treatment; and the child is able to function in an environment where gender expression is expected to match biological reality. However, Catholic schools do great harm by allowing children suffering from gender dysphoria to externally represent and even celebrate that disorder and requiring that others in the school support and participate in it.

The document’s injudicious recommendation stems from three misconceptions.

The first misconception is that it is unacceptable to ask children suffering with gender dysphoria to follow gender norms while in a Catholic school. It is, in fact, necessary for the good of the child as well as the integrity of the school. Eighty-four percent of children experiencing gender dysphoria will not continue to experience it through adolescence and adulthood, according to an oft-cited 2011 study from Sweden. We must therefore love such students through the challenge on our terms, not theirs. This is not unlike how we deal with children with anorexia who have a dangerous distortion of their sense of weight. We admit them to school but require that they receive care, and we refrain from supporting their bodily disorientation through false affirmation.

The second misconception concerns the implications of Christian anthropology and respect for the human person. The Australian bishops’ document correctly notes that Christian anthropology “demands that we respect the worth of each person at every moment of their existence—from conception to death—regardless of who they are or how they present themselves in the world. It also asks us to see each person holistically rather than seeking to define them by just one aspect of their identity.” It continues: “Any relevant educational programme and the care of individuals in a Catholic school must be faithful to this Christian Anthropology.”

However, the document goes on to mistakenly conclude that being “faithful to this Christian Anthropology” and promoting “a fundamental attitude of charity and respect, of care and compassion,” requires Catholic schools to conform their activities and policies to reinforce gender dysmorphia. This is neither caring nor compassionate. We must interface with children “holistically” as integrated beings, a unity of mind, body, and spirit, and not reduce them to “just one aspect of their identity.”

The third misconception is the assumption that, since Christian anthropology provides a basis for human worth and dignity—we are loved by God and created in his image—and since we are made for communion and flourishing in community, any exclusionary activity is an affront to Christian anthropology. With this argument, the Australian bishops compel Catholic schools to accept and placate children who have “transitioned” to a new name, pronouns, or way of dress.

The natural order has supplied children the family as the primary social unit and source of belonging and wellbeing. Formal institutions can assist in creating other environments of belonging, but a child not being admitted to a certain school, for whatever reason, is not deprived of human dignity or worth, nor of family, church, friends, or love.

We must not conflate attendance at a Catholic school with membership in the Church. Most Catholic children worldwide do not attend Catholic schools but are full members of the Church. The modern Catholic school itself has only been widely available for less than 10 percent of the Church’s history, with catechesis and Christian socializing taking place in the home and parish for most Catholics.

Catholic schools are in the business of integrally forming children in mind, body, and spirit. It is what we do, it is all we do, and we do it one way: in conformity with the will of God and with respect for children as mind-body-spirit unities. Those who seek a different type of formation are free to do so—but they cannot demand that we adapt to their differing goals and conceptions of reality and of the human person.

Using students’ preferred names and pronouns goes against the nature and goals of Catholic education. It casts Catholic schools as active participants in the child’s catastrophic quest for emancipation from the body. It has us (knowingly or unknowingly) participating in relativism, gnostic dualism, materialism, and the toxic fluidity of the modern world. It implicates us in destroying the differences between male and female and the dignity of sexual distinctiveness. It involves us in eroding the roots of the family, severing God from his creation, and distorting the nature of reality itself. And worse yet, by our personal example in forming those under our direct care, we invite our students and families to do the same.

Dan Guernsey is a senior fellow at The Cardinal Newman Society and a 30-year veteran of Catholic education.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the online edition of First Things on February 3, 2023.

After Roe v. Wade, Catholic Colleges Prepare Pro-Life Nurses

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Many people are asking, “What’s next for the pro-life movement after the overturning of Roe v. Wade?” One strategic answer coming from faithful Catholic colleges is to populate the medical field with more pro-life, ethical leaders.

More than half the colleges recommended in The Newman Guide offer nursing programs, and some also prepare students for other medical careers. These are colleges rooted in the truth of human dignity and Catholic moral teaching, and already many graduates have become pro-life leaders in the medical fields.

Now that commitment to pro-life healthcare is growing, with several exciting, new programs.

Continue reading at the National Catholic Register…

Bellarmine Fund: Sharing the Treasure of Faithful Catholic Education

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Three college students who first met while attending a Catholic high school in Florida have launched a scholarship fund to help others experience faithful Catholic education at a Newman Guide college.

“As we went off to different colleges, we kept in touch and found time to catch up whenever we returned home for school breaks. During one of those breaks, we began to discuss ways the three of us could work together to build up the Kingdom of God,” explained Matthew Uzdavinis. “We all wanted to serve the Church in some specific way.”

The fruit of the discussions between Uzdavinis, Justin Bailey and Andres Donovan is the Saint Robert Bellarmine Fund, which annually awards scholarships to 10 high school seniors who display both merit and need and wish to attend one of the Catholic colleges recognized by The Cardinal Newman Society for fidelity and strong Catholic formation. The $8,000 scholarships are renewable for four years. The fund is guided by the Bailey Family Foundation, a philanthropy devoted to improving the availability and quality of post-secondary education.

“When we started the Saint Robert Bellarmine Fund, the three of us were convinced we wanted to focus solely on promoting and making Catholic higher education possible,” said Uzdavinis. “However, we didn’t want to lead students to secularized Catholic colleges that do not teach the fullness of the Catholic faith and perhaps even purposely sway young people from what the Church has taught for centuries.”

“In such places, divine truth is set aside for radical ideologies and socially progressive propaganda, as if truth were somehow outdated and left behind for something better,” Uzdavinis lamented. “It’s a tragedy when this occurs, because when truth is abandoned, delusion sets in. We see this everywhere in our world today.”

“The Cardinal Newman Society’s list of recommended colleges is, in our opinion, the best catalogue of authentically Catholic colleges in the country,” Uzdavinis explained. “We decided to limit our scholarship opportunity to students who want that truly faithful Catholic education for themselves.”

The Saint Robert Bellarmine Fund will be an answer to prayer for many Catholic families eager to experience faithful Catholic higher education.

“We hope to help Catholic families throughout the country who could use the financial assistance,” Uzdavinis explained. “We know from personal experience higher education can be expensive, but we’ve discovered a treasure in faithful Catholic education and this fund is designed to share that treasure with others.”

Building from experience

The Bellarmine Fund’s founders recall their wonderful experience of Catholic education at Jesuit High School in Tampa, Fla.

“The bell rang and down the aisle came about 10 altar boys all neatly arranged with cassock and surplice, incense, golden torches—all the smells and bells of Catholic liturgy. At that time, I had just graduated eighth grade and wasn’t versed or interested in the faith, but this procession on my very first day at my new high school caught my attention,” remembers Uzdavinis.

“The beauty and reverence of the liturgy was unlike anything I had ever seen before, and it transferred into the way theology was taught in the classroom by our teachers,” Uzdavinis continued. “From that point on, the relationships I cultivated with priests, seminarians, teachers and other students grew because they were all grounded in an awe and love for the authentic Catholic faith.”

Uzdavinis became “great friends in the Lord” with Bailey and Donovan, who were impacted by similar experiences.

“I remember having teachers at Jesuit High School who would sit with me after school for long periods of time, explaining the faith. I was shocked to discover the Church always had answers to questions I thought problematic. It strengthened my faith immensely,” shared Bailey.

Donovan agreed: having teachers who were “firm in their faith” was instrumental in his life and in his decision to attend Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio, a faithful Catholic college recognized by The Newman Guide.

“All of my teachers since arriving at Franciscan have stressed the importance of allowing my faith to be integrated into every aspect of my studies. They have taught me to be proud that I am Catholic and to think for myself. I want every Catholic to be encouraged to integrate their faith into every part of their lives,” urged Donovan.

Launching Task Force for Eucharistic Education

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In support of the U.S. bishops’ three-year Eucharistic Revival, The Cardinal Newman Society is collaborating with Catholic educators nationwide to launch the Task Force for Eucharistic Education—an initiative to help solicit, identify, and promote inspiring efforts by Catholic schools, homeschools, colleges, and individuals to help revive:

  • Eucharistic literacy – teaching young people the truth of the Real Presence in the Eucharist
  • Eucharistic liturgy – improving music, prayer, and reverence in school and college liturgies
  • Eucharistic devotion – increasing prayer and adoration among young people
  • Eucharistic living – helping students live according to the reality of Christ within them

The project was announced today at Sacra Liturgia, an international conference on the liturgy that was supported in part by The Cardinal Newman Society and featured Society President Patrick Reilly’s public interview with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco on the renewal of faithful Catholic education. Several prominent Catholics and leaders of national education associations have agreed to help promote the Task Force and serve on its steering committee (see list below).

“Catholic education is the Church’s primary means of evangelization, and it is key to the success of the Eucharistic Revival,” said Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society. “Americans’ lack of belief in the Real Presence is a crisis of education, not dissent. Young Catholics are confused and need faithful Catholic education, not just flashy events and youth programs amid a culture that disdains religious belief and morals.”

The Task Force invites educators, parents, and students to sign up at EucharisticEducation.org and identify projects including academic conferences, research, publications, formative student programs, liturgies, prayer, and more—anything that strengthens understanding and devotion to the Eucharist within Catholic schools, homeschools, or colleges.

The Cardinal Newman Society will highlight and promote Task Force members and their projects through the Society’s magazine Our Catholic Mission—which is mailed to Catholic education leaders and bishops nationwide—and in Catholic media.

Already the Task Force includes many of America’s most faithful Catholic schools and colleges among its inaugural members. “We hope for an explosion of inspiring projects that help renew faithful Catholic education and form a new generation of young people deeply in love with Jesus Christ,” said Reilly.

For more information on The Cardinal Newman Society and how you can join the Task Force, go to EucharisticEducation.org


Steering Committee of Task Force for Eucharistic Education 
  • Mary Pat Donoghue, Executive Director, Secretariat for Catholic Education, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
  • Deacon Keith Fournier, Dean, Catholic Online School
  • Charlie McKinney, President, Sophia Institute Press
  • Father David Pivonka, T.O.R., President, Franciscan University of Steubenville
  • Dr. Robert Royal, President, Faith and Reason Institute
  • Dr. Michael St. Pierre, Executive Director, Catholic Campus Ministry Association
  • Patrick Reilly, President, The Cardinal Newman Society
  • Monsignor James Shea, President, University of Mary
  • Lincoln Snyder, President, National Catholic Educational Association
  • Father Peter Stravinskas, President, Catholic Education Foundation
  • sister Cecilia Anne Wanner, O.P., President, Aquinas College (Nashville)
Inaugural Institutional Members of Task Force for Eucharistic Education 
  •  Academy of Our Lady (Marrero, La.)
  • Ave Maria University (Ave Maria, Fla.)
  • Beckman Catholic High School (Dyersville, Iowa)
  • Belmont Abbey College (Belmont, N.C.)
  • Benedictine College (Atchison, Kan.)
  • Christendom College (Front Royal, Va.)
  • Father Gabriel Richard High School (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
  • Holy Apostles College & Seminary (Cromwell, Conn.)
  • Holy Child Catholic School (Tijeras, N.M.)
  • Holy Rosary Academy (Anchorage, Alaska)
  • John Paul the Great Catholic University (Escondido, Calif.)
  • Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts (Warner, N.H.)
  • Maur Hill-Mount Academy (Atchison, Kan.)
  • Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School Coraopolis, Pa.)
  • Regina Pacis Academy (Norwalk, Conn.)
  • Rhodora Donahue Academy of Ave Maria (Ave Maria, Fla.)
  • Seton School (Manassas, Va.)
  • St. John Vianney High School (St. Louis, Mo.)
  • St. Theresa Catholic School (Sugar Land, Tex.)
  • Thomas More College of Liberal Arts (Merrimack, N.H.)
  • University of Dallas (Irving, Tex.)
  • University of St. Thomas (Houston, Tex.)
  • Walsh University (North Canton, Ohio)
  • Wyoming Catholic College (Lander, Wyo.)

We Need ‘Eucharistic Education’

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As the U.S. Bishops prepare to kick-off a three-year revival on devotion and belief in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, I have been reflecting on how faithful Catholic education is key to the success of this revival. It is the Church’s primary means of evangelization.

Consider Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, where the truth that the Eucharist is the “source and summit of Christian life” is taught and lived. While many Catholic colleges spend time and resources on extravagant athletic or arts facilities, yet they neglect the formation and souls of their students, Christendom graduates smart, virtuous, and capable Christians and focused its latest capital campaign on building a magnificent new Christ the King Chapel to glorify God.

Many Christendom students attend Mass every day, and they don’t have to worry about “fitting it in,” because classes and activities are never scheduled during Mass times. There is a refreshing emphasis on beautiful, reverent liturgy in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms. Students have frequent opportunities for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Confession. The First Friday Holy Hour is popular, as well as the Eucharistic procession on the Solemnity of Christ the King.

That’s Eucharistic education. It places Christ at the center, with the Mass at the center of campus life, and students are taught to live as bearers of Christ within them.

Sarah Davis, a homeschooled student in Pennsylvania, who will be heading to Christendom College this fall, was drawn to study at a college which “keeps Our Eucharistic Lord at the center of campus life,” according to her award-winning essay submitted to The Cardinal Newman Society. She won a $5,000 scholarship in the Society’s Essay Scholarship Contest, in which high school students were asked how attending a Catholic college that is strongly devoted to the Eucharist will uniquely impact their religious, moral, intellectual and social formation.

Such a “devotion to the Eucharist, nurtured during college, will be my strong foundation as I continue to grow into the woman God has created me to be,” Davis predicted.

“In front of the Blessed Sacrament,” she wrote, “I will find the strength to conscientiously perform my duties as a student, treat others with true charity, and keep fighting for sanctity. If our Eucharistic Lord reigns over the college which I attend, I will be challenged to let Him reign over my own heart and life.”

While Sarah will find strong support for her faith at Christendom College — one of several colleges recommended in the Newman Guide and the Register Guide for truly Catholic education — the reality is that many of her peers students go off to college and lose their faith. After college graduation, nearly 75% of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

While this may seem a crisis of dissent, it is more a crisis of education and a failure of the Church. In that same study, about two-thirds (64%) of the young adults who denied the Real Presence admitted to being unsure or unaware of the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist. And 62% actually believed the Church teaches that the Eucharist is just a symbol of Christ.

We greatly need a revival of Eucharistic education. It is in faithful Catholic education that young people learn not to separate their lives and their knowledge from Christ, who enters into every study and every activity. We need this in our Catholic parish schools, lay-run independent schools, homeschools, hybrid programs, and colleges.

Christendom College is a shining example of the Eucharistic education that every Catholic child needs and deserves. It is a great feeling to help Sarah Davis get this sort of education — but the Church should be committed to ensuring it for every baptized child and young adult.

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

Graduation Honor for Cardinal Newman Society

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On Saturday, May 14, Patrick Reilly, president and founder of the Cardinal Newman Society, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Benedictine College.

The award is in recognition of the Cardinal Newman Society’s work for 29 years in promoting and defending faithful Catholic education. Benedictine College is recognized in The Newman Guide for its fidelity and Catholic formation of students including Patrick’s oldest son, who graduated during the same ceremony.

College President Steve Minnis asked the graduating students to raise their hands if they were influenced by The Newman Guide.

“It is a great blessing to see the large number of students and families impacted by our work at the Cardinal Newman Society,” said Reilly. “I dedicated the award to the Society’s amazing staff, and I thanked all those who are working toward the renewal of faithful Catholic education. This special award is also a testament to our devoted members, who have prayed and sacrificed to support the Cardinal Newman Society’s vital efforts.”

 

Catholic Identity Must Be Clearly Stated

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One week before Easter, we sent to you the latest article written by Patrick Reilly – 10 Key Takeaways From the Vatican’s New Instruction on Catholic Education.

The article summarized the latest document from the Congregation for Catholic Education and said the document could help tremendously, “if dioceses take to heart its demands for truly faithful Catholic teaching across all subjects, hiring teachers who profess and witness to the Catholic faith, and intervening meaningfully when a school or teacher fails to provide faithful Catholic formation.”

It didn’t take long for a telltale case to appear in the news. A Jesuit-run middle school in central Massachusetts has been flying a “Black Lives Matter” flag and a rainbow flag beneath the American flag outside its school building. The local Bishop directed the school to take the flags down, but the school refused. In an interview for National Catholic Register, Reilly shares some ways these conflicts can and should be resolved in the future.

Continue reading at the National Catholic Register…

 

 

 

10 Key Takeaways From the Vatican’s New Instruction on Catholic Education

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Recently, the Vatican issued a call for stronger Catholic identity in Catholic education. But will it do any good?

The short answer: Yes, I think it will. The Congregation for Catholic Education’s new instruction on schools, “The Identity of a Catholic School for a Culture of Dialogue,” published March 29, could help tremendously, if dioceses take to heart its demands for truly faithful Catholic teaching across all subjects, hiring teachers who profess and witness to the Catholic faith, and intervening meaningfully when a school or teacher fails to provide faithful Catholic formation.

Catholic families have been waiting more than 50 years for such firm commitment to Catholic identity, and already we have seen some exciting examples of dioceses and parochial schools overcoming the poor catechesis, poor formation and high costs that eroded much of Catholic education in past decades. We have also seen the growth of lay-run independent schools, homeschool programs and hybrid home-and-school programs that are serving a wide range of Catholic families.

All dioceses can build upon these models to ensure a strong backbone of fidelity and authentic Christian formation in parochial schools and especially schools affiliated with religious orders — or if necessary, shut them down.

Here are 10 key takeaways from the Vatican’s instruction.

1. Human Right to Education

The instruction echoes the Vatican II declaration on Christian education (Gravissimum Educationis) that “education, as the formation of the human person, is a universal right.” That’s because human nature is always inclined toward truth and has an insatiable thirst for knowledge and understanding of oneself and reality.

2. Catholic Education Is Better Education

Any education should be “aimed at the integral education” of its students — which means not only intellectual but also moral, social and cultural formation. Catholic education participates in the “evangelizing mission of the Church” by upholding and teaching the truths of the Catholic faith. When “reason enters into dialogue with faith,” students are better able to “transcend the mere data of the empirical and rational sciences” and rise to a better knowledge and understanding of the world, themselves and God.

3. ‘Every Act in Accord With Catholic Identity’

The Congregation for Catholic Education declares that “every official act of the school must be in accordance with its Catholic identity.” Importantly, this runs across all academic subjects, not just religion class. And Catholic moral and social formation are also entwined with all the activities of Catholic education. The congregation says, “… there is no separation between time for learning and time for formation, between acquiring notions and growing in wisdom.” The school must “order the whole of human culture to the news of salvation.” For educators wishing to further explore Catholic identity according to the congregation’s past documents, I recommend Principles of Catholic Identity in Education.

4. Catholic Education Is for Catholic Families

According to the Vatican instruction, Catholic education is primarily intended for Catholics, or at least Christians, for the growth and evangelization “of those who are already walking towards the fullness of Christ’s life.” The document encourages inclusive policies to help those on the margins and warns against excluding those who are not deemed “totally” Catholic, while stressing that there can be no compromise to the truths of Catholic teaching or the purpose of Catholic formation.

5. Parents Direct Their Child’s Education

While the Church has the duty of evangelizing all people, the primary responsibility for the Catholic education of a child rests with the parents. Parents are “bound by the obligation” to provide a Catholic education, the congregation says, but “they have the right to choose the means and institutions through which” that education is provided. This explicit acknowledgment will be a comfort to homeschoolers.

6. Catholic Schools Need Clear Policies

The congregation rightly instructs schools to establish formal guidelines, mission statements, employee policies, etc. to ensure fidelity and faithful evangelization. I find this especially gratifying and of the greatest importance. Convinced of the necessity of clearly stated and consistently implemented policies that protect schools from false ideologies, lukewarm faith and threats to religious freedom, the Cardinal Newman Society has been working with education experts these last few years to provide recommended standards for every aspect of Catholic education — from academics to athletics to sexuality policies.

7. Obligations of Every Employee

The Vatican affirms also that every member of the school community “has the obligation to recognize, respect, and bear witness to the Catholic identity of the school.” This includes “the non-teaching personnel,” for whom schools should “formulate clear criteria for discernment regarding the professional qualities, adherence to the Church’s doctrine, and consistency in the Christian life of the candidates.” This is a pleasant surprise! Two years ago, we thought it might be controversial when my colleague Dan Guernsey, senior fellow at the Cardinal Newman Society, argued for a “deep, permeating unity of purpose and conduct” among both teaching and non-teaching employees and urged moral standards for non-teaching employees.

8. Obligations of Every Teacher

As for teachers, the congregation says that everyone (not just religion teachers) must be equipped with the “secular and religious knowledge” necessary to relate Catholic doctrine to their teaching. This is another surprise, challenging schools to hire well-formed teachers in all subjects — ideally, I would argue, graduates of the faithful Newman Guide colleges. The instruction says that, “by their life as much as by their instruction,” teachers must “bear witness to Christ, the unique Teacher” — which seems a clear note of support for schools dismissing teachers in same-sex civil unions. These teacher expectations are repeated elsewhere in the instruction.

9. Teachers Hold Ecclesiastical Offices

Moreover, the Vatican affirms that the work of all Catholic school teachers “is in the real sense of the word an apostolate.” It later establishes the teacher — again, not only the religion teacher — as an ecclesiastical office according to Canons 145 and 936. This is a huge development with relevance to the “ministerial exception” that protects American Catholic schools from anti-discrimination lawsuits by ministers of the Church.

10. Bishops Have Great Authority Over Schools

Because every Catholic school teacher holds a divine office, the bishop has the right to demand the removal of a teacher even at a school not controlled by the diocese, such as a Jesuit school. The Congregation’s instruction clarifies that even non-diocesan schools are obligated to follow all of the bishop’s precepts regarding Catholic identity in education. A bishop cannot remove the “Catholic” label from a school affiliated with a religious order, which is de facto Catholic by its affiliation, but the bishop could expel the school or the order from his diocese. (Expect a Vatican ruling on the Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School scandal soon.)

There is much more to ponder in the congregation’s instruction, but it seems appropriate to end on the same hopeful note as the document, which reminds us of Catholic education’s evangelical mission: “… it is vitally important for the Church today to go forth and preach the Gospel to all: to all places, on all occasions, without hesitation, reluctance, or fear.”

In this quote from Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis sounds a lot like Pope St. John Paul II, who was devoted to the task of renewing faithful Catholic education. May St. John Paul II pray with us, that this renewal comes to fruition, for the glory of God and the good of his children.

 

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

 

Catholic Education Scandal on April Fool’s Day

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Imagine the irony: Today, April Fool’s Day, a Boston high school named Catholic Memorial will bestow an award on a pro-abortion politician. You might think this is just part of the day’s hijinks, a calculated prank, but sadly, this scandal is all too familiar and real.

Patrick Reilly, founder of The Cardinal Newman Society, appeared as a guest on The Catholic Current with host Fr. McTeigue, S.J., to discuss the scandal of honoring people who publicly oppose the very teaching that lies at the heart of true Catholic education, and what can be done to courageously renew our Catholic schools.

If a Catholic school is going to give an openly pro-abortion politician an award, what does “Catholic school” even mean at that point? As Fr. McTeigue ponders, “One has to wonder what people think they are paying for with Catholic education.”

As Reilly explained, we’ve lost a sense of who is responsible for the education of children, and ultimately, it’s the parents. “Education is fundamentally a lay function. The Church is supposed to be upholding, teaching, and preserving the faith, and therefore, education has to be done in full partnership with the Church to be fully Catholic.”

“Unfortunately, another trap we’ve fallen into is the idea that “Catholic” is just a label that is given, and an institution can do whatever it pleases, even if those actions contradict Church teaching. Catholic Memorial is an example of such an institution, controlled by the Christian Brothers, but sending a clear message of encouragement for pro-abortion activism.” Reilly added.

Reilly goes on to demonstrate that such an action presents a scandalous image of the school. “You are making a decision to choose one person out of the millions of people in the world, out of the good Catholics whom you could choose. When you choose someone who is deliberately working for the death and slaughter of millions of babies, working for the destruction of marriage and the complete misunderstanding of gender, what are you doing? There is a deliberate aspect to that decision, and that’s what really needs to be condemned.”

When Catholic schools are making such decisions as these, parents have the obligation to look elsewhere. And while they don’t always get the support they deserve, Reilly points to many examples that are upholding the Catholic faith, including renewed parochial schools, homeschooling, independent schools, and even new hybrid model programs.

“As Catholics, we keep putting things back on the bishops. But as lay Catholic people, we need to be holding schools to account. We should be confident in that authority. Stop putting our kids in places like Catholic Memorial. It’s very deliberately and very publicly signaling to the world where it’s at. Why would we put our kids in a place like that?”

As a positive conclusion, Reilly explained, “Today, Catholic schools have a great opportunity. Americans are fed up with how far the Left has taken the culture, and a school that strongly asserts its Catholic identity does very well. It’s a sign of opposition to the craziness of the culture.”

Listen to the whole episode here!