Making Sense of Parents as ‘Primary Educators’

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Parents are the first and foremost educators of their children.

Catholic educators can sometimes ignore this fact, especially when students appear to lack solid formation and even basic care in the home. Trained to be experts in pedagogy and curriculum, teachers and especially college professors may not think much about what parents want and may regard even simple communications from them as interference and undue distrust of professionals.

Parents, too, can forget or refuse their key role in the formation of their children, for whom they are accountable to God. Generations of parents have been told to take a hands-off approach to child-rearing. And many Catholic adults do not receive the sacraments and deny Catholic teachings, while failing to form their children in the faith.

Still, the Church is clear: “Since parents have given children their life, they are bound by the most serious obligation to educate their offspring and therefore must be recognized as the primary and principal educators” (Gravissiumum Educationis, 3).

So how does this work? Within the rapidly growing field of homeschooling, there is no parent-school relationship—but parents still must collaborate with homeschool curriculum providers, publishers, tutors, priests, and collaborating parents. In schools and colleges, a “parent as primary educator” policy can be difficult to navigate. Yet respecting parents’ primary role is necessary, even essential, to Catholic education.

Sources of parents’ role

Some have misread Vatican documents to imply that a parent’s role as “first” educator refers only to early, pre-school learning, and the role of primary educator must later be given over to professional teachers. But the Vatican speaks many times of the parents’ role in formation throughout a child’s life, and despite objections arising from our culture’s insistence that an 18-year-old no longer needs parents, I think today the job continues through college.

As for whether only professionals should direct education, there’s the obvious fact that, throughout much of Christian history until the last couple centuries, most parents partly or wholly handled the education of their younger children.

Parenthood, practiced rightly with due respect for the rights of the child, is a natural aspect of the vocation of marriage. It follows from the lifelong love and commitment of a man and a woman, producing offspring for whom the parents are primarily responsible in the graced bond of matrimony. If a child’s guardian is not a natural parent in a loving marriage, still the guardian assumes responsibility for providing an upbringing that attempts, as much as possible, to fulfill the nature and obligations of parenthood within marriage.

Education is a key obligation of parents. Vatican documents that reference parents’ primary role in education often cite the natural and divine status of the family.

Parents are the ones who must create a family atmosphere animated by love and respect for God and man… It is particularly in the Christian family, enriched by the grace and office of the sacrament of matrimony, that children should be taught from their early years to have a knowledge of God according to the faith received in Baptism, to worship Him, and to love their neighbor. (Gravissimum Educationis, 3)

Here it is clear that the Church’s foremost concern for children is their integration into the life of the Church and their relationship with Christ. The family is vital to the moral and social formation of young people. However, does this suggest that intellectual formation belongs primarily to professionals and is not included in parents’ primary role? The Vatican documents repeatedly speak of parents’ primary role even when their children are enrolled in schools—even Catholic schools—and so parents must be responsible for intellectual as well as moral and social formation.

We can also find a foundation for parents’ educational role in the rite of Baptism. Parents affirm that they will raise their child in the Catholic faith. Many interpret this to mean catechesis only, but baptism begins the Christian’s journey to salvation, which implies more than knowledge of the tenets and practices of the faith—as important as these are. The human gift of intellect is key to human dignity and our ability to know, love, and serve God and others. Surely the full work of Catholic education—forming the intellect integrally with one’s physical and moral development, so that a young person is healthy, knowledgeable, wise, and virtuous—is entailed in Catholic formation. Therefore, it can be said that a Catholic child has a baptismal right to Catholic education from the parents.

A health analogy

St. Thomas Aquinas employs an analogy of bodily health when explaining how people learn. I think the analogy can also be applied to the question of a parent’s role in education.

Consider this: aside from education, parents are responsible for ensuring a child’s physical health. They do this by providing food and shelter, teaching healthy habits, and caring for illnesses and injuries. If a parent must seek the professional help of a doctor—and invariably this will be necessary in today’s world—the parent never considers simply handing over primary responsibility for the child’s health. The doctor provides much-needed expertise, and the parent yields to that expertise to the extent necessary, but ultimately the parent must decide what is best for the child, including the choice of whether to get help for the child and which doctor should provide it.

Why is education perceived to be any different? One reason may be that schools require more waking hours with a child than even the parents have at home—and that’s something I believe deserves some reflection. But regardless, ultimately it is the parent’s primary responsibility to ensure that a child is educated, and that includes the choice of educator. Yet so few parents today take up this responsibility, blindly accepting or even ignoring what happens in school.

Catholic educators may chafe at substantial parent involvement with a school or college’s day-to-day activities. And it’s right that Catholic schools limit such direct engagement, if it interferes with education. But parents must at least have the information needed to assess whether a school is serving the parent’s needs and objectives for their child, so the parent can enter into dialogue with the school or choose to withdraw. The parent can also choose to take on a child’s education entirely.

On the all-important matter of monitoring fidelity to Church teaching and fulfillment of the mission of Catholic education, “This responsibility applies chiefly to Christian parents who confide their children to the school. Having chosen it does not relieve them of a personal duty to give their children a Christian upbringing” (Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, The Catholic School, 73). By “utilizing the structures offered for parental involvement,” parents must “make certain that the school remains faithful to Christian principles of education.”

Ultimately it comes down to this: parents must take full responsibility for the education of their children and the choice whether to employ professionals in that task—and which ones. Catholic educators, in service to parents, should fully support this role and help parents know and choose the special value of faithful Catholic education. In all, the complete Catholic formation of the student must be paramount.

Ep. 5: The Wisdom of Salomon

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In this episode, Kelly Salomon shares how choosing a Newman Guide college led to finding her spouse, having a beautiful Catholic family, and a career at The Cardinal Newman Society. Because of her life experience, Salomon is a passionate promoter of The Newman Guide and getting young people to contemplate the importance of their college decision.

There Is No AI Shortcut to Education

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  Educational optimists predict that artificial intelligence, or “AI,” will soon provide amazing efficiencies and progress in teaching and learning. But are efficiency and machine logic what our students need most? It’s certainly true that AI is a marvelous new tool dramatically transforming human life. AI is exponentially improving in speed and scope to recognize patterns in immensely complex data sets of all types, allowing it to make uncanny predictions about what might come next in a sequence, be it a purchase from a customer, a word in a sentence, a sound in spoken language, or countless other processes. AI can answer specific complex questions or perform intricate calculations at a rate impossible for the human mind to comprehend, let alone compete with. It can also generate images and speech which not only mimic reality but surpass it to meet programed standards of excellence. However helpful these may be to adults seeking to improve productivity and processes, it is also prudent to follow G.K. Chesterton’s advice, that children ought not be subjected to educational projects and ideas younger than they are. Allowing students to dodge traditional learning methods with AI will have uncertain and potentially harmful results. The same could be true of educators’ dependence on AI for student assessment and lesson planning. In education at least, it is quite possible that AI will work against natural human development and provide not a shortcut to human formation but a short circuit.   Why Students Might Think of AI As a Shortcut For students inclined to see homework as burdensome or useless, AI is now a tempting shortcut. AI can instantly answer most calculations and informational homework assignments including “show your work” complex math and science problems, and it can aid the writing of unique history or literature papers. AI is a transformative hack to game the homework system. Even so, some pedagogues celebrate this possible dismantling of conventional homework in the hopes that rote learning or linear thinking will no longer be assigned. Teachers will be forced to focus on developing assignments that are personalized and promote “critical thinking” and “authentic learning.”   Why This Thinking Is Really a Short Circuit While developing creative and effective homework assignments should be encouraged, educators cannot short-circuit the complete learning process by giving up on requiring students to engage in rote learning and writing assignments, even if some students cheat with AI. The hard work of instilling facts and information into the human brain and developing complex neural pathways step-by-step still needs to happen. It is not time-efficient to throw out homework altogether. Teachers should integrate some AI speedbumps into homework such as breaking the writing process into multiple submissions that each require peer or teacher feedback, creating more in-class writing assignments and oral presentations, etc., but they should not simply throw out most homework thereby restricting educational time. Students still need to learn prudent use of time and the development of academic skills and virtue which are part and parcel of traditional homework. Homework in this sense might be viewed as something akin to practicing a musical instrument: A music teacher assigns practice at home, even if the student ignores or cheats in the practice sessions. There simply is no shortcut (technological or otherwise) to the human need to toil through the learning process, if the goal is freedom to play an instrument or earn a living as a musician. Few are interested in listening to a player-piano, but many will take time to listen to a fully formed musician who, after years of memorization and practice, is now free to creatively contribute their complex and personally unrepeatable humanity to the musical occasion. The world of AI requires us to focus even more on cultivating distinct human genius, compassion, insight, and creativity. Because homework can be easily falsified, educators must be explicit in showing students and their parents how such deception and sloth short-circuits authentic learning and human development. It can lead to a person’s real demise in a world where AI will be in constant and growing competition with their individual livelihood. Self-replacing personal development with AI may fool the teacher but may result in the student’s inability to compete against AI with future employers. It is a student’s complete human development which will be their competitive advantage against AI job replacement in the future. The use of generative AI to produce writing, which one then presents fully or even partially as one’s own, is particularly problematic. It is plagiarism and lying unless fully disclosed. It also weakens thinking, because writing is a type of explicit thinking. Writing assignments at their best require students to engage in multiple levels of critical thinking including synthesis, evaluation, and creativity. Students need extensive practice to develop these profoundly important human skills. We have students write essays on history and literature, not to generate new knowledge for the human species but to develop their own knowledge, understanding, and cognitive power. If they get initial essays and ideas from generative AI they will stymie their own generative capabilities. Additionally, the AI homework short-circuit deprives a student of the value of their teacher. A teacher uses homework and, especially writing, as one tool among many to gain clear insight into a student’s real thinking and processing to assist the student in properly interacting with, interpreting, and valuing what is before them. Any deception in this process does great harm on multiple levels. There is no short-circuiting of the educational process, especially the writing process, without harm.   Why Educators Might Think of AI As a Shortcut Some educators can be bedazzled by AI’s tremendous capability for analyzing student data. AI assisted by standardized test results can establish a student’s reading or math level and decide what instruction, texts, or problem sets should come next. AI can also be programed to give students hints as opposed to the final answer in answering questions. It can even predict where errors in thinking may have occurred and offer tailored intervention and practice in that area. It can seem like the ultimate personalized teacher, who is not distracted by other students and has access to unlimited, perfectly tailored resources. As a bonus, teachers assisted by AI may have even more time to be a “guide on the side,” with less time grading and lesson planning.   Why This Thinking Is Really a Short Circuit This apparent “win-win” for the virtual-headset-wearing members of “Plato’s Cave Academy” is really a short circuit. Teaching and learning are such fundamental and intimate human-to-human processes that farming out significant elements of human formation to computers is quite literally inhuman. Humans are social animals who learn best socially, in person, and in relationships. This was made abundantly and tragically clear during the COVID school shutdowns. The academic, social, and psychological damage of isolating students on screens has lasting negative consequences. A child who is fortunate enough to have access to a healthy functioning classroom and school reaps great rewards in total human development. The fact that these conditions may be increasingly rare does not merit jettisoning the community-schooling paradigm for the cost effective, targeted, and quick efficiency of machine-generated teaching and learning. Students typically find joy, bonding, and inspiration if surrounded by healthy and supportive classmates and a caring and wise teacher. Doing hard human stuff side-by-side with other humans is what students are wired for and can make the difficult delightful. Leaning conducted as human play and human exchange is also essential to motivation and learning, as titillating as computer-based learning games may be. Isolating students on screens where they work at their own pace deprives students of the benefit of watching peers attempting to do similar things and adjusting or confirming their own efforts in response. They witness approaches that they might not otherwise have imagined and bond with fellows in a common project of discovery or skill mastery. This is tremendously satisfying and makes school a joy! Additionally, the teacher is tasked with instruction through modeling a human passion for engaging with truth, beauty, and goodness wherever it arises, manifesting a rich spirituality, and showing deep care and compassion for others. This has a profound impact on student learning, happiness, well-being, and a healthy disposition toward all that is being studied and fellow students. AI cannot look a student in the eye, smile, act with integrity, and model lived virtue. And AI cannot love the student. Nor can it teach the student to do these things. A real teacher, absent screens and mediators, can write on a child’s soul and inspire them to greatness. The teacher is also a model and source of real human learning by their encouragement and affirmation for the student, who at times struggles and at times makes spectacular breakthroughs—both of which are access points of human intimacy in the face of despair or joy and therefore demand real human response. Despondency and cynicism result when human experiences are isolated, unrecognized by other humans, or simply materialized in data sets. It is just not right, on a regular rather than occasional basis, to have a young child read to a computer to be analyzed and instructed rather than reading to and with another a human. Perhaps it may save time and provide individualized data, but this computerized “personalization” can actually depersonalize the instruction, as it removes the teacher from the process. And besides, what is time for, if not listening to children read? And, of course, reading is much more than sounding at words and getting right responses about linear or discrete text-based questions, which are at the heart of computer-based instruction. Students are taught to read because they are human beings who love to share stories and insights with each other. They are also spiritual beings made to seek and know the truth, act upon it, and share it with others. Reading helps them transcend themselves, their time, their experience, and their culture. It helps them discover transcendent meaning of things and view the world from another’s perspective. This being said, there is room for providing drills and problem sets based on student interface with AI at home. The data from such AI-informed and tracked home-drills can be used by the instructor to guide in-person instruction. What needs to be protected is the authentic interaction which the school classroom provides.   The Dispiriting Nature of AI As the excitement of AI dissipates and its numbing and dispiriting effects take hold of more and more people, jaded souls may fall into despair. The lack of human contact, lack of reality, inability to attain true beauty when left with AI-generated avatars and robots, inability to match AI-generated speed and perfection, and inability to compete with AI for employment will be devastating for many. Added to this, carefully crafted and monetized AI experiences such as immersive games and other entertainment specifically tailored by AI to personal desires and weaknesses will flood human senses and their lives, seeming to cover the pain and lack of true happiness, and worse yet, eliminating the sense that this unreality should cause them pain at all. Wise parents will understand that radical recent changes in technology mean that now, more than ever, screen time and technology are direct threats to their children and their well-being. There is no benefit to introducing children to AI. The whole purpose of AI is to make interfacing with technology seamless, so there is no danger that children who do not use AI now will somehow not be able to use it productively in the future. Educators and parents need to prevent children from becoming trapped in addictive, unreal worlds. The response to this threat should be dramatic and counter unreality with reality, at every opportunity. Children need to be at home in the real world. It is a world made for them, for their happiness, and for their work by a loving God. Educators must guide them in seeking and ascribing authentic meaning to those flawed but real experiences that make up the real world. Educators must reject anything which threatens their mind/body/spirit unities, including errant human sexual ideologies. Students need to be re-embodied and re-integrated with themselves and the natural/real world, and re-enchanted with the beauty and meaning present in all things, instilled by and delighted in by God, their creator, and in whose image they are made.   The Quest for the Authentically Human AI is an adult tool which can unlock immense possibilities and creative resources. It can be of use to educators in their own research, development of materials, analysis of data, and administrative duties, but it does not belong in any direct, sustained way in the teacher-student relationship. Now is the time to re-embrace the humanities in education. Those human actors with rich literary, historical, philosophical, theological, and psychological training will be best suited to succeed in a competitive AI-controlled market. In the end, most problems in the workforce will remain “people problems,” and human creativity in all its uniqueness will be even more prized. Those individuals who are creative and who are best able to understand and help people and people-based challenges will always be needed and appreciated. A goal of educators at this point should be to maximize reality-based experiences for students and their unique human potentialities. It is these fully formed and trained memories, minds, imaginations, and wills which will act upon the new and unpredictable opportunities AI is beginning to create for them. Students need to organically perfect their humanity, as technology de-humanizes it. Un-mediated access to the greatest human accomplishments, presented and discussed by other humans who know and love them—even with their blemishes and misshapenness—is what students love and what will help them to love learning and indeed to love each other.   Daniel Guernsey, Ed.D., is senior fellow and education policy editor at The Cardinal Newman Society and associate professor of education and director of the M.Ed. in Catholic Educational Leadership at Ave Maria University.

Ep. 4: From a Free Mason Upbringing to Launching Catholic Schools (Continued)

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In this episode, we continue with Dr. Denise Donohue as she shares how her conversion and the need for faithful Catholic schools and curricula ushered her into the Catholic education market. Since then, she has equipped Catholic educators with the Tools for Renewal, including The Cardinal Newman Society’s Catholic Curriculum Standards and Standards for Christian Anthropology, which she says are essential for delivering truth, beauty, and goodness.

The Call to Teach: Facilitator’s Guide

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PowerPoint of The Call to Teach

 

The Call to Teach: Facilitator’s Guide
Questions for Reflection

Denise L. Donohue, Ed.D., and Daniel P. Guernsey, Ed.D.

 

Directions for Use

This facilitator’s guide for The Call to Teach assists in leading discussions about the ministry of teaching in Catholic education. It provides suggested answers to the “Questions for Reflection” located in the text, structured around five themes: The Teacher and the Mission of Catholic Education, The Teacher and Vocation, The Teacher and Faith Formation, The Teacher and Lived Witness, and The Teacher and Catholic Culture. 

There are many ways to lead professional group discussions. As you reflect upon the needs and dispositions of the faculty toward these topics, you can decide whether you want them to read the texts beforehand or together as a group, how much you want them to write, whether you want them to submit what they write, and how to elicit participation from all faculty assigned to partners or targeted groups. Mixing them up from their normal social groupings is a good way to facilitate faculty bonding. Completion of the full document question sets should provide between 4-6 hours of continuing professional education.

Have participants annotate the text, then use their own annotations to facilitate discussion. If you like, you can provide them with guidelines for annotation, such as:

As you read, highlight what strikes you most (use explanation points or an underline). What is new to you? Use a money sign. For what is unclear or puzzles you, use a question mark. Star a quote or section you like the most. Put a happy face near a passage that screams, “This is us! This is our school!” Write an “O” (for opportunity) near a passage that makes you think, “I wish I/we did even more of this at our school.”

Ask them to be prepared to discuss these annotations with a partner or small group, and then have the partners or small groups share their primary reflections or highlights with the whole faculty.  Move about the room, engaging with the participants.

The “Questions for Reflection” are provided at the end of each theme in The Call to Teach. These consist of three types: comprehension, discussion, and teacher application. 

Comprehension  

Answers to these questions are found in selected quotes from Church documents or the narrative summaries. Encourage your teachers to go back into the quotes and slowly re-read them, even calling up actual source material if additional context is desired. This is an opportunity to form your teachers in the heart and mind of the Church as it views education, so take the time to slowly walk through each section to ensure clarity and understanding on the part of the faculty.

Discussion

These questions are written for open group discussion. Allow teachers to read and reflect on their written responses first and then call on volunteers to begin the discussion. Encourage participation by all teachers. 

Application

These questions are designed for personal reflection and are not necessarily for public discussion. Give teachers sufficient time to reflect upon each question and write a response. Invite participants to voluntarily share their thoughts. 

I. The Teacher and the Mission of Catholic Education

Comprehension

1. From where does a Catholic school derive its mission? 

The mission of the Catholic Church is derived from:

  • Jesus Christ, in the Great Commission given before His ascension into Heaven.

    “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

  • From the Church, whose schools are a “privileged means of promoting the formation of the whole man, since the school is a center in which a specific concept of the world, of man, and of history is developed and conveyed.” (The Catholic School, 5-9)

2. What are the aspects of a Catholic school’s mission? 

Aspects of a Catholic school’s mission include:

  • “complete formation” that looks toward the student’s “final end” (Code of Canon Law, 795);
  • “integral formation” that forms the student intellectually, morally, emotionally, physically and spiritually;
  • personal sanctification; 
  • encounter with God in His transforming love and truth (Pope Benedict XVI, Meeting With Catholic Educators, 2008); 
  • service to the common good; and
  • fostering a Catholic worldview.

See The Cardinal Newman Society’s Principles of Catholic Identity in Education for key themes from the Church’s magisterial guidance. 

3. Who is involved in fulfilling the mission of Catholic education? 

Those involved in the mission of Catholic education include:

  • “All members of the school community” (The Catholic School, 34), and 
  • especially teachers, who must be “grounded in the principles of Catholic doctrine” and should exhibit “integrity of life” (Code of Canon Law, 803 §2).

Discussion

1. How is the mission of Catholic education different from that of public education? 

In public education

  • the mission focuses primarily on preparing students with skills and knowledge and to be sound citizens; and
  • faith is removed as an interpretive framework, and de facto a secular, relativistic, and materialist interpretive framework is applied instead.

In Catholic education  

  • faith is the interpretive framework, especially the transcendent;
  • an emphasis is placed on rising above knowledge to universal truths and virtuous living;
  • teachers lead students toward wisdom and sainthood—in this life and the next; and
  • the school community relies on the grace of God through prayer and the Sacraments. 

2. Which aspects of the mission do we accomplish well? Which aspects can we improve upon? 

Answers here will vary. 

Application

1. How does the mission of Catholic education affect me, specifically as a Catholic school teacher? 

Answers will vary. Help teachers see how their personal formation—both spiritual and professional—as well as their modeling of Christian witness, is vital in fulfilling the Church’s mission and helping students develop their talents and grow in holiness.

2. How can I, as a teacher, better understand, communicate, and support this mission? 

Answers will vary. The point here is to guide teachers in listing specific ways they can enhance their formation and evangelize students.

II. The Teacher and Vocation

Comprehension

1. What is the difference between a vocation and a profession? 

  • The difference between a vocation and a profession is that:
  • a vocation is how God calls one to serve Him in this world; 
  • a vocation usually involves a strong feeling or commitment, because it is rooted deeply in one’s unique personality, talents, and calling;
  • a profession is a paid occupation, which may have no direct connection to a spiritual response from a higher calling; and
  • professional activity is fundamentally transformed by vocation into a unique participation in the prophetic mission of Christ, carried on through one’s teaching.

2. What specific commitment is asked of Catholic educators and why is this important? 

The commitment is to teaching truth—including that revealed truth known to us through Christ and His Church—and to guiding students in the pursuit of truth, for in finding that truth they will find Truth Himself. Teachers are called to lead students to the truth in this most profound way (Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith, 1982, 16).

Discussion

1. What are the characteristics of “possessing special qualities of mind and heart?” 

Answers might include: 

  • love and compassion;
  • passion for learning and the truth; 
  • patience; 
  • a Christian vision of the human person; 
  • confidence in a student’s ability to grow in a healthy and virtuous manner as a child of God; 
  • self-sacrifice, loyalty, devotion, and dedication; 
  • willingness to grow personally; 
  • willingness to be led by the Holy Spirit to work for the sanctification of this world; 
  • evangelization; and
  • joy.

2. How is being a Catholic educator different from other teaching professions?

Being a Catholic educator includes:

  • teaching to the transcendent (to see the wisdom in God’s creation in all content knowledge); 
  • incorporating God’s word, which is efficacious, into content taught; 
  • participating in Mass, retreats, prayer, and devotions with students and colleagues; 
  • building a Catholic community; 
  • remaining in communion with the Catholic Church through a personal life of virtuous and moral living; 
  • attentiveness to continued spiritual formation; and
  • a commitment to the Truth—seeking it, communicating it, living it, and associating with it.

Application

1. What does it mean to me to be a Catholic school teacher? 

Answers will vary.

2. How does teaching change when viewed not just as a profession, but as a vocation?

Answers will vary, but they should include answers to the discussion questions above.

III. The Teacher and Faith Formation

Comprehension

1. What is the importance of solid spiritual and professional development for teachers?

Solid spiritual and professional development help establish within teachers:

  • a personal life of faith and holiness according to the moral demands of the Gospel;
  • the necessity of being continuously open to learning about both subject matter and faith;
  • knowledge and the understanding of the importance of witness; 
  • the integration of religious truths with daily life and being able to share that experience; and
  • the use of pedagogical techniques that are grounded in a search for truth and the eternal, and not just the effects of the here and now.

2. How does a teacher provide integral formation for students? 

Catholic schoolteachers:

  • embrace the unity of knowledge across all disciplines and the foundational importance of theological truths to every study, beginning with awareness of one Creator and one fount of all knowledge;
  • ensure that students are aware of the first principles of each discipline—simple truths for which there is no argument except for their certainty and their origin in God;
  • teach wonder, respect, and admiration for the mind and heart of God displayed in His creation, especially in human dignity and man’s final end in full communion with God through Jesus Christ;
  • understand that they are not just teaching skills and knowledge but also integrating values and religious truth into all content material;
  • form the intellect together with the moral, emotional, physical, and spiritual faculties of the human person; 
  • understand that there is no separation between a time for learning and for formation; and 
  • live lives of personal witness and integrity.

Discussion

1. Why is spiritual formation important for teachers? 

  • Spiritual formation is important because:
  • teachers are charged with attending to the spiritual lives of the students in their care; 
  • personal witness and example are important methods of passing on the faith;
  • a deeply lived and experienced spiritual life will be evident not just to the students in a teacher’s care but also to their colleagues, who are on a similar quest to a life of holiness; and
  • a rich prayer life—including meditative silence, a frequent reception of the sacraments, and growth in spiritual knowledge—are hallmarks of a vibrant Catholic spiritual life.

2. Are all professional development programs applicable for Catholic education? Are some programs better than others? How so? 

This is a great opportunity to read The Cardinal Newman Society’s Policy Standards on Secular Academic Materials and Programs in Catholic Education and the Procedure and Checklist for the Evaluation and Use of Secular Materials and Programs in Catholic Education.

Teachers should:

  • beware of programs that promote atheism, agnosticism, scientific materialism, or a false ideology about the human person; 
  • look for programs that unite faith and reason, in fidelity to Catholic teaching; and
  • understand that most programs do not attend to the broader mission and needs of Catholic schools and educators and that teachers must seek to address those needs, not just accept a program as is.

Application

1. How do I attend to my own personal spiritual formation so that I can then help form my students?

Answers will vary. Ideas might include:

  • commitment to daily Mass and Confession;
  • daily scripture reading and reflection;
  • additional catechetical training and certifications; and
  • retreats, spiritual devotions, and opportunities for meditative silence.

2. In what ways do I work at improving my professional instruction? Am I intimidated or insulted by being required to attend professional development? Why?

Answers will vary. Administrators might ask here about opportunities for personalized professional development for teachers.

3. In what ways do I engage parents in the educational process? Can I do more? Do I have any fears about parents that might keep them at a distance?

Answers will vary. Some ideas for more parent engagement are:

  • notes or emails to parents on a more frequent basis, especially for those students who need additional attention; and 
  • formation programs for parents on a host of subjects.

IV. The Teacher and Lived Witness

Comprehension

1. What does the Church say about the witness of the teacher in Catholic education?

The Church says:

  • By their life as much as by their instruction, they should bear witness to Christ, the unique Teacher. (Gravissimum Educationis, 8)
  • It is through this witness and their personal relationship with students that the teacher helps the Church fulfill her mission of evangelization and salvation.
  • The integration of culture and faith is mediated by the integration of faith and life in the person of the teacher.

2. Is this witness only expected during school hours? Only from Catholics? 

All those working in Catholic education are called to Christian witness:

  • “Teachers reveal the Christian message not only by word but also by every gesture of their behavior.” (The Catholic School, 43)
  • “Students should see in their teachers the Christian attitude and behavior that is often so conspicuously absent from the secular atmosphere in which they live. Without this witness, living in such an atmosphere, they may begin to regard Christian behavior as an impossible ideal.” (The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, 96)
  • Those who are not Catholic and who are working in Catholic education are called to “recognize and respect the Catholic character of the school from the moment of their employment.” (The Identity of the Catholic School for a Culture of Dialogue, 47)
  • 3. What does “the service of the teacher as an ecclesiastical munus and office” mean? 

The definition of munus in Latin means “duty, office, or function.” Teachers are called by God to “fulfill a special responsibility of education. Through their teaching-pedagogical skills, as well as by bearing witness through their lives, they allow the Catholic school to realize its formative project” (The Identity of the Catholic School for a Culture of Dialogue, 45).

Discussion

1. What conduct of the teacher is considered “moral behavior”? 

Refer or remind your teachers of language from their employment agreements.

2. How does the importance of sound moral witness extend to all Catholic school employees, including coaches, counselors, librarians, and support staff? 

The most recent document from the Vatican, The Identity of the Catholic School for a Culture of Dialogue (20, 38, 39), states:

“Therefore, for all the members of the school community, the ‘principles of the Gospel in this manner become the educational norms since the school then has them as its internal motivation and final goal’… The whole school community is responsible for implementing the school’s Catholic educational project as an expression of its ecclesiality and its being a part of the community of the Church… Everyone has the obligation to recognize, respect and bear witness to the Catholic identity of the school, officially set out in the educational project. This applies to the teaching staff, the non-teaching personnel, and the pupils and their families.”

Sound moral witness extends to everyone within the Catholic school. 

Application

1. Recall a time when what you did was inconsistent with what students are taught in Catholic education. How did this affect you as a teacher? How did this affect your students? Is there anything you would do differently, if the situation presented itself again?

Answers will vary.

V. The Teacher and Catholic Culture

Comprehension

1. How should we understand the task of “critical, systematic transmission of culture in the light of faith”?

The transmission of culture is passed along to the student through the choice of curated curricular materials and instructional approaches that present Church history, tradition, and scripture as well as human language, history, politics, literature, arts, leisure, customs, and accumulated wisdom. Teachers form students to think with a philosophical and Christian mindset that looks to the integration of knowledge and the higher causes of things that find their source and fulfillment in God. 

2. What pedagogy is appropriate to teaching culture in Catholic education?

The pedagogy advocated in the readings directs the teacher, as witness, to:

  • communicate truth and a value-oriented culture, not missing the opportunity of integrating culture and faith;
  • integrate “all the different aspects of human knowledge through the subjects taught, in the light of the Gospel; the second in the growth of the virtues characteristic of the Christian;” and  
  • have personal, direct relationships and openness to dialogue with students that “will facilitate an understanding of the witness to faith that is revealed through [their] behavior.” (Lay Catholic in Schools: Witnesses to Faith, 1982, #21).

3.What is the intended effect of using this type of pedagogy?

The intended effect of the dialogue and the building of a relationship between the student and teacher is to give the student a deeper understanding of what it means to live a life of faith through the witness of the teacher.

Discussion

1. What is culture? What is a Catholic culture? 

Culture:

  • includes the values and meanings used to interpret and make sense of the world around us; 
  • is the lived experience we receive and develop from interaction with others that forms the way we integrate, make sense of, and place value upon our experiences and the world around us;
  • provides a framework/worldview we naturally use as children and then adopt as our own through adolescence and adulthood as we learn, make choices, and make our way through the world; and 
  • is the “common culture” that surrounds us in the life of the world: movies, arts, politics, social media, advertising, sports, etc. It is currently in many ways antithetical and hostile to Catholic culture, which is imbued with faith and differs in the values and meanings ascribed to life’s purpose and events.

Catholic culture involves all that composes the Catholic religion: dogmas, doctrines, teaching, sacraments, etc.

2. How is culture transmitted in Catholic education?

Culture is transmitted by:

  • the choices, actions, and example of the teacher who lives out faith as a witness and model of truth and goodness for students; 
  • students’ encounters with literature and the arts, including the best works that have stood the test of time and allow for a rich and complete discussion of humanity, human nature, human destiny, and our relationships with God and each other, all as designed by God and redeemed by Christ;
  • a curriculum that includes opportunities to integrate faith and grow in virtue, with rich and beautiful selections from history and literature that pass along the Catholic cultural heritage through a variety of pedagogies that reach all children;
  • the use of academic standards such as The Cardinal Newman Society’s Catholic Curriculum Standards, which focus on the transmission of values and beliefs of the community; and
  • the practices of families who pointedly and purposefully live the Catholic heritage, traditions, and symbols fully aside from a world that constantly fights against them.

3. What are critical elements of a Catholic worldview? 

Critical elements of a Catholic worldview are elements that define the beliefs and values of the Catholic faith. Examples include: 

  • God created the world good and with a plan.
  • He loves us, redeems us, and guides us as Father, Son, and Spirit.
  • He has revealed a plan for us through scripture and tradition that involves us loving Him and each other in this life and being with Him for eternity.
  • We are created as body/soul unities, with innate dignity and freedom, and with the responsibility to seek the Truth and act upon it.
  • Essential truths are knowable by faith and reason. 

Application

1. How can I better transmit culture in light of the Catholic faith to my students?

Answers will vary but should include some of the guidance above.

2. What is the predominate worldview of my students, and how can I successfully help them adopt a richer Catholic worldview?

Answers will vary. See various resources from The Cardinal Newman Society that might address some of the responses you receive: Why Critical Race Theory is Contrary to Catholic Education; Protecting the Human Person: Gender Issues in Catholic School and College Sports; Policy Standards on Human Sexuality in Catholic Education; Getting it Right: Witness and Teaching on Sexuality in Catholic Education.

 

 

The Call to Teach: Church Guidance for Catholic Teachers

 

Ep. 3: From a Free Mason Upbringing to Launching Catholic Schools

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In this episode, we feature Dr. Denise Donohue as she shares how she grew up in a Freemason home and later converted to the Catholic faith while starting a Catholic school! It’s an incredible testimony and shows how God has used Donohue to improve Catholic education by having her design Catholic curricula, write policies, and escort Catholic schools and colleges on their path to becoming Newman Guide Recommended.

Ep. 2: Understanding the State of Catholic Education Today: Where It’s Going, Preparing Young People, Signs of Renewal, Embracing the Faith

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In this episode, we continue our conversation with Patrick Reilly as he discusses the vision of Catholic Education and where it’s going, how The Cardinal Newman Society and The Newman Guide prepares young people to encounter the culture of the real world, the state of Catholic education, and embracing the faith with positivity.

The Cardinal Newman Society aims to promote and defend faithful Catholic education.  However, most Catholics have not experienced a faithful Catholic education, therefore CNS needs to fill in the blank. What does this look like? What does it entail? How would one know it? What should one look for to determine if their Catholic school is faithfully Catholic? Too often, parents rely on the “like meter”— I like so and so (insert administrator or teacher name), therefore I think they are doing a good job. Or perhaps they have Mass once a week and wear uniforms so they appear Catholic. Is that enough to be called a faithful Catholic education?

Join us to learn the beauty of a faithful Catholic education, how it counters the culture, serves as an antidote for the pandemic of woke indoctrination assailing the Catholic educational system, and, in turn, highlights the Catholic education heroes engaged in this battle daily.

Visit cardinalnewmansociety.org to learn more.

 

The Vision of Catholic Education and Where It’s Going

Patrick Reilly discusses the impact of the Newman Guide on students, parents, grandparents, and Catholic schooling as a lifelong process. He discusses The Cardinal Newman Society’s commitment to the Catholic continuum that begins with K12 schooling and the unity of Newman Guide institutions that are committed to the renewal and reformation of Catholic education.

Preparing Young People for the Real World

Patrick Reilly discusses Catholic education as the Church’s most effective means of evangelization through the perspective of Cardinal Newman, intellectual formation, and integration of faith and reason. He stresses the critical role of forming young people to be prepared to encounter the culture of the real world, become intellectually strong, and to go out to the world to persuade others to Christ.

Is Catholic Education Lost?

Patrick Reilly discusses the positive message and the great signs of renewal of Catholic education that is present within Newman Guide institutions and the lessons learned over the years. He talks about how The Cardinal Newman Society continues to find new ways of forming students in truth in line with God’s universal call for the human person.

Embracing the Faith with Positivity

Patrick Reilly discusses ways faithful Catholics can engage with The Cardinal Newman Society to take a part in on the mission of renewing faithful Catholic education and impact the culture. He then uncovers the deep meaning of the new logo as a means of recapturing the foundation of The Cardinal Newman Society and Saint Cardinal Newman’s vision of faithful Catholic education. Despite the many threats to Catholic education, he discusses the myriad of Newman Guide institutions that are embracing change and reform to be truly faithfully Catholic that so many parents are excited about.

Newman Guide Colleges Are Light in the Darkness

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MANASSAS, VA – A light shines brightest in the darkness, and increasing numbers of Catholic families are choosing the faithful Catholic colleges recommended in The Cardinal Newman Society’s Newman Guide! Most of these colleges are enjoying unprecedented enrollment numbers and financial support in the 2023-2024 academic year, and all are displaying the enormous impact that authentic Catholic education can have in the Church and in society.

The contrast is stark. Secular college enrollment in the United States continues to plunge, while
Newman Guide colleges and universities are bursting with success. 

  • Belmont Abbey College welcomed its largest incoming class, marking a nearly 10% increase over the record class they experienced in the fall of 2022 and boasting its largest enrollment in a decade with
    1,654 students.
  • Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, has a record undergraduate class of 2,213. This marks a 121% growth for the college over the last 20 years.
  • The Catholic University of America had the highest number of applications and deposits they have experienced in the last five years while welcoming a student body evenly split 50/50, male to female. This runs contrary to higher education statistics showing women make up roughly 60% of U.S. college students.
  • Christendom College welcomed 172 new students to campus reaching its 550 total student body size cap.
  • The Franciscan University of Steubenville welcomed 772 incoming freshmen, the largest class since its founding in 1946.
  • The University of Mary, located in Bismarck, North Dakota, had the largest freshmen class in its history
    with 559.
  • The University of St. Thomas-Houston had a record-breaking number of new incoming undergraduate students, eclipsing 800.
  • Thomas Aquinas College reached capacity at its California campus, and in 2019, added a second campus in New England.
  • Wyoming Catholic College, one of the youngest colleges appearing on The Newman Guide, launched in 2007, has experienced continual growth since its inception and is up to 189 students, reflecting a 72% increase over the last ten years.

Click here for more on these faithful institutions.

 

 

 

Catholic College $5,000 Scholarship Contest Invites Applications

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MANASSAS, VA – The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) is pleased to announce its eighth annual Essay Scholarship Contest. The winning essay writer will be awarded $5,000 toward the cost of attending a faithful Catholic college recognized in The Newman Guide in the fall of 2024.

In addition, several Newman Guide colleges have agreed to supplement CNS’s scholarship with additional $5,000 grants to the winner over three additional years, according to criteria established by each college.

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

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

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

The topic for this year’s contest is to reflect, in 400-600 words, on the following:

This year, The Cardinal Newman Society expanded The Newman Guide to recommend faithful Catholic K-12 schools and graduate programs, as well as colleges. Explain the importance of attending a Newman Guide college as the capstone to a lifelong Catholic formation. How does it build upon a student’s prior years, and what comes next?

Essays will be judged by how well they demonstrate appreciation for faithful Catholic education, as well as the quality of the writing. One winner will be chosen, and several other top essays will be highlighted by The Cardinal Newman Society.

Last year, the Society recognized Jacob Kristine, a homeschooled student in Pennsylvania, as the winner of tits seventh annual Essay Scholarship Contest. He received a $5,000 scholarship toward his education at Christendom College in Front Royal, Va. He may also be eligible for additional $5,000 grants from Christendom College.

While many students go off to college and lose their faith and joy, Kristine explained in his winning essay how his older siblings’ faith was strengthened, and their lives were enriched, by attending a faithful Catholic college.

“My siblings have bestowed upon me the great riches of understanding what gifts a truly Catholic college can impart to a young person. I have seen firsthand how this pursuit of Truth leads to a life that is Good and wholesome and sincerely promotes seeking the Creator of Beauty,” he explained.

“The friendships my siblings forged throughout their four years among like-minded followers of Christ have challenged them to grow in wisdom, remain faithful to God through worship and devotional practices, and encouraged virtuous living without sacrificing fun, laughter, and an abundantly joy-filled life—then and now,” Kristine continued.

Kristine’s entire essay can be read here.

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

Ep. 1: Understanding the State of Catholic Education Today: Challenges, Purpose, and the Mission of The Cardinal Newman Society

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In this episode of The Cardinal Newman Society Podcast, Kevin sits down with Patrick Reilly, President and Founder of Cardinal Newman Society, to discuss the state of Catholic education today, how story behind how the Cardinal Newman Society got started, the mission behind it, and the importance of faithful Catholic Education.

The Cardinal Newman Society aims to promote and defend faithful Catholic education.  However, most Catholics have not experienced a faithful Catholic education, therefore CNS needs to fill in the blank. What does this look like? What does it entail? How would one know it? What should one look for to determine if their Catholic school is faithfully Catholic? Too often, parents rely on the “like meter”— I like so and so (insert administrator or teacher name), therefore I think they are doing a good job. Or perhaps they have Mass once a week and wear uniforms so they appear Catholic. Is that enough to be called a faithful Catholic education?

Join us to learn the beauty of a faithful Catholic education, how it counters the culture, serves as an antidote for the pandemic of woke indoctrination assailing the Catholic educational system, and, in turn, highlights the Catholic education heroes engaged in this battle daily.

Visit cardinalnewmansociety.org to learn more.