A Pastor Saves His Flock by Catholic Education

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In Northern Virginia, where critical race theory, gender ideology, and emptied classrooms because of COVID-19 have sparked protests by angry parents of public-school students, a parish priest is taking up the legendary Archbishop “Dagger John” Hughes’ mission of helping Catholic children get out of public schools by every means possible.

Archbishop Hughes founded the Catholic school system in New York City in the mid-1800s and famously declared, “We shall have to build the schoolhouse first and the church afterward. In our age, the question of education is the question of the Church.”

Faithful Catholic education is no less urgently needed today. So, when the pandemic hit last year, Fr. John De Celles of St. Raymond of Peñafort Parish in Springfield, Virginia, instituted a one-time $2,000 scholarship for each child in his parish who switched from a public elementary or secondary school to a Catholic parochial or lay-run school.

This year, Fr. De Celles has renewed that offer again, thanks to the generosity of parishioners. He also doubled the parish’s annual, renewable scholarships to $1,000 for students in Catholic grade schools and $2,000 for students in Catholic high schools. And on a case-by-case basis, St. Raymond’s offers additional financial aid to families in need and helps cover the direct educational costs of families who homeschool.

Continue reading at Crisis Magazine…

Newman Society President Discusses Ministerial Exception on Drew Mariani Relevant Radio Show

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Patrick Reilly, president and founder of The Cardinal Newman Society, joined the Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio Tuesday to discuss an appeal to the United States Supreme Court regarding the “ministerial exception” and its protection for religious colleges. A recording is available here.

The guest host Ed Morrissey noted that the Newman Society had co-filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court requesting that it block the Massachusetts Superior Court’s narrow reading of the ministerial exception, thereby allowing a professor of social work to sue Gordon College for denying her a  promotion.

The ministerial exception is a First Amendment principle that bars courts from interfering with personnel decisions concerning employees who have substantial religious duties, including religious instruction and formation. The Supreme Court upheld the exception for a school teacher in Hosanna Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC (2012) and reaffirmed the exception for religion teachers at Catholic schools in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru last summer.

“In both cases they made it very clear that teaching the faith is about as ministerial as it gets, that the institutions are protected from lawsuits based on discrimination,” Reilly explained.

The Gordon College case has special importance for the ministerial exception, Reilly said, “because it involves a college, which the Supreme Court has not yet considered, and it also involves someone who is not teaching theology, but is teaching social work,” Reilly said.  “At Gordon College they make very clear that every professor must be teaching the faith as part of their course work [and] they should be protected as part of the ministerial exception.”

The Gordon College case is yet another attempt to “rein in the ministerial exception,” Reilly said, citing a recent case in which a parish employee sued the Archdiocese of Chicago, claiming that the “ministerial exception only applies to hiring and firing decisions and not other employment decisions” including claims of a hostile work environment. The Newman Society petitioned the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to support the First Amendment rights of religious employers, which the court did in July.

Host Morrissey noted the importance of these rulings and the ministerial exception, pointing out that “the point of the church teaching function is to promote church teaching.”

“To have the state step into those decisions, certainly in Hosanna Tabor, the Supreme Court found it to be almost an explicit intrusion into religious faith and religious exercise,” he said.

Newman Society Urges Supreme Court to Apply Ministerial Exception to Religious Colleges

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On Thursday, The Cardinal Newman Society, which promotes and defends faithful Catholic education, with the International Alliance for Christian Education and the Association for Biblical Higher Education, urged the United States Supreme Court to overturn a Massachusetts high court ruling that would severely restrict the ministerial exception for religious higher education.

The amicus brief was authored and filed on Sept. 2 by Sharon Rose and Samuel Diehl of the Washington, D.C.-based Cross Castle PLLC.

In March, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled in Gordon College v. DeWeese-Boyd that Gordon College is indeed a Christian college and its professors are required to teach and uphold Christian principles, but the Court nevertheless allowed a dissenting social work professor to proceed with a lawsuit against the college for refusing to promote her. Court interference in religious hiring practices is a violation of the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause and the ministerial exception, according to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last year in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Beru.

“Catholic and other religious colleges deserve the same First Amendment protections that have been upheld for religious schools,” said Patrick Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. “The Supreme Court last year clearly upheld the ministerial exception with regard to a schoolteacher hired specifically to teach religion classes. We now call on the Court to make clear that the ministerial exception applies to professors, regardless of their discipline, at institutions where religious faith informs all that is taught and employees are required to be witnesses to religious beliefs.”

As argued in the brief, “Gordon is entitled to define its faith and determine how that faith is carried out in matters of internal government and employment, not individual faculty members. The standard the Massachusetts Court applied fundamentally threatens Gordon’s and other religious institutions’ ability to accomplish their missions and to maintain their pervasively religious character.”

Archdiocese of Indianapolis Fights for the Right to Have Faithful Employees

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The Archdiocese of Indianapolis has been fighting several battles for the protection of Catholic education, and last month’s federal court victory was an especially exciting step forward.

A federal district court in Indiana ruled that the Archdiocese and its Roncalli Catholic High School have the First Amendment right to uphold moral standards — not only for religion teachers, as the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed last summer in its Our Lady of Guadalupe School ruling, but also for other employees who aid in the Christian formation of students.

“Catholic schools focus on the complete person, made in God’s image and likeness, not just on the mind or on a subject matter,” wrote my colleague Dr. Dan Guernsey last year. “Learning and formation happen concurrently. They are entwined.”

His position paper, “All Employees Matter in the Mission of Catholic Education,” made the important argument that every employee of a Catholic school is important to its mission of educating and forming young people in the Catholic faith. Although last year’s Supreme Court ruling focused on a Catholic school religion teacher, the ministerial exception — which prevents federal courts from interfering in employment decisions that substantially involve religious duties — ought to also protect a faithfully Catholic school or college with regard to teachers of all subjects as well as other employees and administrators.

The Roncalli case centers on a school guidance counselor who worked closely with students. Counseling is a duty that relates just as strongly to the Christian formation of students as teaching, and Catholic school counselors must model the moral teachings of the Church as an example to students. Sadly, the Roncalli counselor entered into a same-sex marriage and was dismissed.

Roncalli and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis did not shy away from the Church’s moral beliefs in their employee policies and in their legal defense. By establishing a clear moral expectation for employees, the school has a strong claim to First Amendment protections under the Free Exercise Clause. More important, it ensures that the good of its students is first and foremost protected.

Much More to Come

The struggle is not over for Archbishop Charles Thompson and his Indianapolis schools, but the outlook is brighter.

Although the guidance counselor is appealing the Roncalli decision to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, that is the same court that in July dismissed a lawsuit by a Chicago parish music director who also entered into a same-sex union. The court invoked the ministerial exception, rejecting the plaintiff’s argument that the exception covers only complaints about hiring and firing decisions and not claims of a hostile work environment.

“A Catholic school has freedom to hire and fire ministers based on alignment with the Catholic Church’s religious teachings about sex, sexual orientation, and marriage,” the Newman Society noted in an amicus brief in the case.

“But if a Catholic school minister engages in a course of conduct that violates the Catholic Church’s teachings, and the school persistently communicates that the minister has strayed from the school’s moral expectations and should repent,” then the school could have been forced to stand trial had the 7th Circuit agreed to narrow the scope of the ministerial exception.

Another guidance counselor from Roncalli, who was also fired for entering into a same-sex union, is pursuing a separate lawsuit. That case is before the same federal judge who dismissed the similar case last month.

Meanwhile, same-sex partners at two other Indianapolis-area Catholic schools have fought the Archdiocese and its moral standards for school employees. One of them, a teacher who was dismissed from Cathedral Catholic High School in Indianapolis, saw his lawsuit dismissed in Marion County Superior Court in May, but he is appealing the ruling.

His legally married partner still teaches at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, which refuses to abide by archdiocesan policy. Archbishop Thompson took action in 2019 to declare the school no longer Catholic and forbid Mass in its chapel, but the school appealed to the Vatican, which for two years has failed to provide any resolution.

So there is much more to come, but the rulings this summer reinforce the scope of the ministerial exception and give hope to Catholic educators. Perhaps the most important lesson that can be drawn in the meantime is that Catholic schools and colleges should continue to ensure that employees are committed wholly to the mission of the school and the Church. It’s legally protected and it’s the right thing to do for Catholic families.

Every employee in a Catholic school, from the principal to the gym teacher, is important to the mission of Catholic education. Clear and consistently enforced policies that expect employees to model moral behavior is a key part of leading young people to Christ.

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

Thomas Aquinas College Plans New Leadership, Same Faithful Mission

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Once oppressed in Ireland because of his Catholic faith, Dr. Paul O’Reilly is preparing to take the helm at one of America’s most exciting and celebrated Catholic institutions, Thomas Aquinas College.

Current President Dr. Michael McLean will step down at the end of this school year, following the celebration of the college’s 50th anniversary. In 11 years, McLean has successfully strengthened the college despite challenges including wildfires and threats to religious freedom. He led the establishment of a second campus in Massachusetts, providing the same faithfully Catholic, Great Books program that has earned the California institution high marks in secular rankings and the recommendation of The Cardinal Newman Society.

O’Reilly clearly has some big shoes to fill. I recently congratulated him on his selection as the college’s next president, which he says is “a high honor that is quite humbling.”

For O’Reilly, the goals and academic structure at Thomas Aquinas College are pretty much the same today as they were when he attended the college as a student 40 years ago. “I still recognize this college, I still love this college,” O’Reilly says.

But Dr. McLean and his team have made some major advancements, including expanding the Santa Paula, California, campus and quickly establishing a strong foundation in Northfield, Massachusetts.

“It’s a great time to take over,” O’Reilly says. “The college is strong, it’s growing and has expanded to the East Coast. Don’t ask us why we have campuses in California and Massachusetts. That’s God’s plan. We needed to expand, because we had more students applying than we could accept.”

The mission and the vision remain the same, and that’s what O’Reilly wants to maintain: a classical liberal arts education unlike any other in the world, that forms students to appreciate and understand the true, the good and the beautiful.

“We can provide a serious Catholic formation, not just in philosophy and theology but also in various other areas,” O’Reilly says. “To see the impact that we’re having is exciting to me.”

The choice of O’Reilly, an alumnus who has served the college for 30 years as a faculty member and then vice president for advancement, is a great reminder that a college’s impact is only as good as its people and their devotion to its mission. O’Reilly recognizes that fact. He believes that one of the most important aspects of maintaining the vision and the mission of the college is the hiring of good faculty.

“Schools go astray when the faculty are not of one mind of the mission of the college,” he says. “The faculty know what we’re about, and they support it.”

One of O’Reilly’s strongest supporters will be Dr. McLean, who returns to the faculty after formally handing over the presidency.

O’Reilly’s own journey to California started in Northern Ireland, where his family was persecuted for their Catholic faith by Protestant extremists. He and his siblings were adopted by their aunt and uncle in Canada, following the tragic death of his mother in a car accident.

God led him to Thomas Aquinas College, exemplifying the important role that faithful Catholic education can have in a person’s life. I am excited to see how he steers the college into this new chapter of its history. I have great admiration for his predecessor, having observed and worked alongside Dr. McLean on Catholic education issues for the past several years, and I have every reason to expect that Dr. O’Reilly will continue in the same direction.

May God bless both these men for their admirable dedication to forming young people in wisdom and virtue, and may he grant Thomas Aquinas College many more years of providing extraordinary education.

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

Teaching Racial Harmony from Theology of the Body

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How should Catholic educators respond to the racial turmoil in recent years? Instead of adopting new materials and programs rooted in critical race theory, the Church already has a treasury of wisdom to draw upon.

I recently spoke about this with my colleague, Dr. Denise Donohue, who seems to be on to something important. She told me Catholic educators should discuss race from the foundation of Christian anthropology and St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, with its insights about human dignity and creation — and I think she’s exactly right.

Donohue is vice president for educator resources at the Cardinal Newman Society and has been a leader and teacher at Catholic schools and a university professor. Last year she worked with Dr. Joan Kingsland, a theologian and curriculum and training specialist at Ruah Woods Press, to co-author the “Standards of Christian Anthropology,” which has been enthusiastically welcomed by Catholic education leaders to integrate St. John Paul II’s theology across grade levels. They supplement the Cardinal Newman Society’s Catholic Curriculum Standards for literature, history, math and science, co-authored by Donohue and Dr. Dan Guernsey.

Somewhere within this work are important clues to teaching about race and justice in ways that are appropriate to faithful Catholic education. Hoping to explore the approach further, I put the following questions to Donohue and Kingsland.

Continue reading at Homiletic & Pastoral Review…

Newman Society’s Dan Guernsey Discusses Cancel Culture, Critical Race Theory on ‘Catholic Current’

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Preserving the Catholic worldview in Catholic education means rejecting today’s “cancel culture” and refusing to be compromised by critical race theory, explained Dr. Dan Guernsey, Education Policy Editor and Senior Fellow of The Cardinal Newman Society, on “The Catholic Current” show with Father Robert McTeigue, S.J.

The show aired on July 19 on The Station of the Cross radio. The podcast recording of the 50-minute conversation is available on the Station of the Cross website and on Spotify and Apple podcasts.

The discussion covered a wide range of topics related to cancel culture and critical race theory, including defining the two issues, how they fit into social practices today, how they have affected Catholic education and the appropriate response from Catholic educators and parents.

Critical race theory, Guernsey said, “is not about racism.”

“We all agree and have been trying for many years to stop the sin of racism wherever it is found. We’ve all been fighting this for decade. This is not about racism; this is about replacing one worldview with another.”

As Father McTeigue noted, cancel culture and critical race theory “really aren’t compatible with the Catholic worldview.”

“Cancel culture comes in, [because] they have to cancel the existing worldview,” Guernsey said. “The existing Christian worldview that we’re trying to present in Catholic schools, that’s precisely what they’re trying to cancel.”

Guernsey and Dr. Denise Donohue, Vice President for Educator Resources at The Cardinal Newman Society, recently authored a series of resources for educators and parents regarding the dangers of cancel culture and critical race theory when applied to a Catholic education.

Statement on ruling in Starkey v. Roncalli High School and Archdiocese of Indianapolis

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The Cardinal Newman Society hailed Wednesday’s federal court ruling in Starkey v. Roncalli High School and Archdiocese of Indianapolis as a “landmark ruling with enormous implications for Catholic education and its First Amendment right to expect fidelity and moral behavior from all employees, not just teachers, whose duties impact the Christian formation of students.”

The ruling in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana upholds the ministerial exception according to last summer’s Supreme Court ruling in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru. But the Supreme Court case concerned a lawsuit filed by a religion teacher in a Catholic school. The Indiana case is an important development, because it affirms that the federal court cannot interfere in the employment decisions of a Catholic school regarding its guidance counselor.

The case involves Lynn Starkey, who attempted to sue Roncalli High School and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. She was fired from her job as Co-Director of Guidance when she entered into a same-sex union, a clear violation of Catholic moral teaching and of moral standards for Catholic school employees.

“Wednesday’s ruling is a landmark ruling with enormous implications for Catholic education and its First Amendment right to expect fidelity and moral behavior from all employees, not just teachers, whose duties impact the Christian formation of students,” said Patrick Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society.

“Catholic schools must have the freedom to hire educators and other employees who model the teachings of the Church. Catholic schools around the country should take an example from Roncalli High School and the policies of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, which have clear moral standards for Catholic school employees. As this case shows, courts will uphold religious freedom when they see consistent application of Catholic moral standards.”

Newman Society President Discusses Critical Race Theory, Catholic Education on Crisis Point Podcast

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The Cardinal Newman Society President Patrick Reilly was recently hosted on the Crisis Point Podcast with Eric Sammons, editor-in-chief of Crisis Magazine, to discuss why critical race theory is incompatible with Catholic education.

The 45-minute discussion is a helpful guide for Catholic families, leaders and educators on how to avoid dangerous ideologies in Catholic education and instead embrace the wisdom of Church teaching.

“Whether it’s radical feminism, gender ideology or critical race theory,” public schools are vulnerable to the latest ideologies, because they have no solid foundation for their curriculum and must yield to prevailing social trends, explained Reilly.

“With Catholic education, we need to focus on ‘What is Catholic education? What do we do better and why?’” Reilly continued. “If we want to talk about race in Catholic education, which we absolutely should and must, we already have all of the tools in our belt—a couple thousand years of wisdom rooted in the absolute truth of Revelation.”

The Newman Society has recently published resources addressing the “cancel culture” and critical race theory, authored by Vice President for Educator Resources Dr. Denise Donohue and Education Policy Editor and Senior Fellow Dr. Dan Guernsey. Reilly and Sammons also discussed The Newman Society’s work in general, including The Newman Guide, which recommends faithful Catholic colleges. Sammons described The Newman Guide as a “great resource for Catholics everywhere.”

“As the parent of now four who have either gone to college or are in college right now, I tell you what, it’s a great Guide,” said Sammons. “In our family… our rule is we aren’t going to help financially, unless they’re in The Newman Guide.”

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Wrong Way to Teach About Race in Catholic Education

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Human dignity and justice were topics in Catholic education long before the racial division of 2020. They are especially important today, as students need to understand an accurate history of racism and prejudices, learn Christian anthropology that teaches the dignity of all persons regardless of creed or color or origin, and strive for the communion to which Christ calls all of us.

And teaching these topics will remain central to Catholic education long after “critical race theory” has gone away.

But for now, the divisive, political ideology that seems opposed to nearly everything in Western civilization — simply because it is associated with white Europeans — is making headway into public schools. It’s difficult to thwart such efforts by activists, politicians and teacher unions to push false ideologies into public schools, because there is no clear authority or basis for truth in public education — only political power and public opinion.

But Catholic education is different. It is rooted in the truths of our faith, which reveal the foundations of reality, and it embraces classical philosophy and the West’s insights about human society, freedom, conscience, law and more. Therefore, Catholic education and critical race theory are simply incompatible.

There is a “radical disconnect between the Catholic worldview and critical race ideology,” which is why Catholic educators “must remain vigilant and faithful” to avoid allowing falsehood and division from corrupting the classroom, explain Dr. Denise Donohue and Dr. Dan Guernsey of The Cardinal Newman Society in their appeal against the “cancel culture.”

“Critical race theory misapplies personal sin to groups, irredeemably condemns those it labels as oppressors, condemns those who may happen to look like those oppressors, and makes moral demands of those it believes have privilege resulting from historic oppression,” write Donohue and Guernsey. “It also attempts to empower itself by manipulating race-based feelings of guilt and self-loathing in those in any way it connects to these claims. It provides these group-based sinners with a chance to feel righteous and pure in relation to their fellows once they acknowledge their guilt.”

This is “close to the heart of the pharisees whom [Christ] criticizes for their condemning legalism and self-righteousness.” But Catholic education strives to provide students “a clear understanding of sin and human agency and Christ’s expectations of those whom He has forgiven.”

Rather than adopting critical race theory, Catholics should rely on clear instruction provided in Vatican documents, the U.S. bishops’ pastoral letters, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church to address complex topics like justice and human dignity. We have more than 2,000 years of wisdom to draw from!

“Catholic education offers Christ and the Gospel to the world as the ultimate solution to the sufferings and ills of humanity, including areas of social justice,” write Donohue and Guernsey. “The Church does not simply echo programs and agendas inspired by others’ values but brings to the table her own values of faith, forgiveness, mercy, and justice based on the divine revelation she is called to proclaim to all nations.”

Another concern is that critical race theory would trade studies in classical literature for contemporary books that are “shallow” and “politically correct.”

“Great literature provides a forum to explore the depths of the human condition,” explain Guernsey and Donohue. “Unfortunately cruelty, oppression and injustice are a perennial part of that condition. Educators wishing to explore these and related concepts will find no shortage of them throughout classical literature, where students can enter into a grand conversation through the ages with the best thinkers and most artful works humanity has produced.”

Classical literature and Catholic education have withstood the test of time. Critical race theory may have some popularity today, but not for long.

In a culture that constantly embraces new and even radical ideologies, Catholic students need to be taught how to find and hold onto truth across every division and through every age. They should be taught truth especially in the most divisive and heated situations. While critical race theory seeks to divide the world into racial categories, faithful Catholic education by promoting charity, community and rational dialogue can bring about healing through a deep encounter with the Divine Physician.

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.