Catholic education offers a truthful and morally sound framework for considering issues of race, human dignity, and social justice, yet cultural norms, historical developments, commonplace and novel assumptions, and associated passions all have some influence over Catholic education—sometimes for the good, but often distorting and even contradicting sound Catholic teaching. The human condition and social inequities and injustices can and should be addressed in Catholic education, with confidence in the Church’s wisdom and the ability of societies to respectfully unify around racial and cultural differences. In times of heightened concern and emotion, it is necessary that Catholic education inform and guide students’ understanding with great caution against divisive ideological and political influences.
Today emotional and heated discussions and protests focused on these issues seem to fill social media, endless news cycles and opinion journalism. Concepts like “wokeness,” “intersectionality,” and “systemic racism” are implicitly or explicitly present and terms like “racist,” “hate,” “intolerance,” and “oppression” are sometimes wielded in righteous indignation as powerful rhetorical weapons.
Some parents, including some Catholic ones,[1] are surprised and concerned with both overt and covert hostile interpretations of established culture, values and even history that new diversity, equity, and inclusivity programs, approaches, and ideologies are introducing into schools. Efforts like the 1619 Project in history,[2] new ‘anti-racist’ science curricula, art classes focusing on ‘de-centering of whiteness’, white supremacy and sexuality in health classes,[3] DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusivity) clubs, cancelling of classical literature because of racism and bias,[4] and even the banning of some whimsical Dr. Seuss books[5] for perceived insensitivity and racist content, seem to leave no class or subject untouched, even mathematics.[6] All are seemingly being re-written to restructure perspectives away from traditionally understood truths in a perhaps well-meaning, but misguided effort to counter racism and bias against African Americans, other minorities, and others perceived to have been ill-treated by the dominant American culture, past and present. An example of such re-writing and re-framing is the 1619 project’s claim that the American Revolutionists fought for independence from Britain in order to protect the institution of slavery.[7] In some cases, teachers are being pressured or even required to attend diversity and sensitivity training and to advocate for historical interpretations or political positions they believe are untrue, and simultaneously being forced to persuade their students to publicly advocate for these positions as well.
What Is Critical Race Theory?
Much of this paradigm shift is a result of the influence of critical race theory (CRT).[8] Critical race theory asserts that America’s legal framework is inherently racist and that race itself, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of color. Critical race theory is predicated on the belief that race is the fundamental pivot point of injustice and oppression with whites as the oppressors. It asserts that all non-whites in the United States are victims of racism, even when it is not apparent, and that even supposed legal advances against racism like the those during the 1960s civil rights movement ultimately protect a system that benefits whites. The concept of color blindness, for example, rendered American society insensitive to the more subtle and systemic racism in our society.
Critical race theory is a modern offshoot of “critical theory,” which has long been championed by some progressive Catholic educators. Critical theory began with the 1920s Frankfurt School in Germany and the writings of Max Horkheimer.[9] Horkheimer distinguished critical theory from a “traditional” theory in that a critical theory has a “specific practical purpose.” It is “critical to the extent that it seeks human ‘emancipation from slavery,’ acts as a ‘liberating… influence,’ and works ‘to create a world which satisfies the needs and powers of’ human beings.”[10] Thus critical theory can be applied to any social circumstance with similar principles and objectives, including feminism, race relations, law, economics, and politics.
Critical theory’s principles of fighting for freedom over oppression to effect equity in societal and economic structures harken back to Karl Marx and Frederick Engel’s writings in The Communist Manifesto (1848). While Marx did not write extensively on education, per se, he and Engels demanded free public education for the “proletariat” (the oppressed working class), whose labor, they saw, kept the “bourgeois” (the social and financial elite) in control. “In place of the old bourgeois society,” they wrote, “with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.”[11] Society would become classless and socialist.
Because of critical race theory’s broad reach within the economic, political, sociological, and legal contexts, it can more appropriately be defined as an “ideology.”[12] Whereas a theory is a “statement that proposes to describe and explain why facts or other social phenomenon are related to each other based on observed patterns,”[13] an ideology looks to change the social-political, economic, or cultural context wherein those facts and social phenomenon (or social realities) are situated. An ideology includes both practical and theoretical beliefs and philosophies of a person or group and proposes how these beliefs and philosophies can effect change within the specific context.[14] Identifying critical race theory as an ideology invites close scrutiny of its agenda and how it relates to the mission and goals of Catholic education.
Critical Theory as Critical Pedagogy
Contemporary critical theorists in the field of education include Paolo Freire, Henry Giroux, and Peter McLaren,[15] who draw on “Marxist concepts of class conflict and alienation to analyze social and educational institutions.”[16] The concept of critical theory, or critical pedagogy as applied in education, involves sensitizing students to the inequalities and exploitative power arrangements around them, so as to effect “equity, fairness, and social justice.”[17] The argument is that traditional education systems suppress specific groups of people—such as people of color, women, and those living in poverty or low socio-economic status—and retain a dominant and superior economic, social, and political class.[18] The dominant groups send their children to prestigious schools, while the oppressed groups are left to accept the circumstances that disempower them. The objective of this approach is to change society for those who see themselves as suppressed, exploited, or alienated, and is generally pointed toward school, neighborhood, or community issues attainable by the student and teacher. A teacher using the critical theory approach works with students to raise consciousness of suppression and assists them in changing the inequities in society, politics, the economy, and their educational choices. Learning is through investigation and discussion about political, social, economic, and educational topics, in which issues of power and control are recognized, and then joint efforts by the teacher and student to change these suppressive systems.
Freire (1921-1997), a Catholic[19] from Recife, Brazil, is perhaps the best known of the critical theorists in education. His seminal text, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968), is an excellent example of the philosophy, principles, and pedagogical concepts of critical theory in education. At the time it was published, it was first received as controversial and “humanistic.” He was highly critical of traditional education in capitalist countries, which he said used the “banking concept” of transferring knowledge from the teacher, who “owns” the knowledge, and “deposits” it into the students, who know nothing.[20] This type of relationship, he wrote, perpetuates oppression and the alienation of the student, who is maintained “like the slave in the Hegelian dialectic.”[21] Freire advocated a more horizontal, interactive, and dialogical pedagogy of mutual learning between the teacher and the student, where there is “no longer merely the one who teaches, but one who is… taught in dialogue with the students, who in their turn while being taught also teach[es].”[22] In a banking concept of education, Freire believed the teacher-student relationship was one of authority and submission. In his horizontal relationship, the teacher is directive and authoritative—but not an authoritarian—and respects the student’s autonomy.[23]
Freire’s critical theory approach embraces classlessness and the need for the oppressors not to feign generosity toward the oppressed.[24] The oppressed, once liberated, also cannot use the same suppressive methods as the oppressor.[25] This translates into classroom practice, as teachers must “enter into the position of those with whom one is solidary.”[26] It is within this equitable relationship that true dialogue develops between a teacher and student, who synthesize and construct knowledge as equal participants to solve problems effecting their social reality. Dialogue itself is insufficient. Reflection and action or “praxis,” so as to “act together upon their environment… to transform it through further action and critical reflection,” humanizes all those involved.[27]
Freire claimed that this problem-based approach enacts the critical consciousness of students to analyze their social, economic, and political environment. Through mutual dialogue, the teacher and student re-form the problem to arrive at the deeper unveiling of reality. It is expected that students, as “critical co-investigators in dialogue with the teacher,” would eventually feel challenged to act on problems. Freire believed that, through this process of inquiry and “praxis,” individuals would become truly human[28] and that alienation of the oppressed—kept in check through an educational system based on a balance of oppressor and oppressed—would be relinquished and freedom attained.
Critical Theory and Liberation Theology
Critical theory is tied closely in principle to “liberation theology,” a predominantly Jesuit[29] religious movement in Latin America that arose at about the same time and “sought to apply religious faith by aiding the poor and oppressed through involvement in political and civic affairs. It stressed both heightened awareness of the ‘sinful’ socioeconomic structures that caused social inequities and active participation in changing those structures.”[30] Its lens is fixated on the liberation of the poor from worldly political and economic tyranny, to such a degree that the liberation that Christ purchased through the cross to pay for personal sinfulness is overshadowed.[31] Liberation theology and critical theory both see class struggle as necessary for human freedom. In liberation theology, this struggle moved religion into the realm of politics, with priests working alongside activist educators and other liberators to overthrow an oppressive governmental regime.[32]
Liberation theology has many such problematic elements, not only in common with critical theory[33] but also with Marxist thought.[34] The dangers and errors of liberation theology were highlighted in 1984 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the future Pope Benedict XVI, in the Instruction on Certain Aspects of the ‘Theology of Liberation.’ He referred to it as a “novel interpretation of both the content of faith and of Christian existence which seriously departs from the faith of the Church and in fact actually constitutes a practical negation.”[35] With the fall of Communism in the 1980s and the long tenure of anti-communist Pope Saint John Paul II, liberation theology waned on the Church scene.
Recently Pope Francis has emphasized themes in Catholic teaching that have been abused by liberation theology, such as the Church’s preferential option of the poor, social and economic justice, and an inclusive ministry that serves the marginalized. These themes present an opportunity for educators to clearly distinguish Catholic principles from liberation theology, critical theory, and critical race theory, but Catholic teaching is always at risk of being coopted by forces hostile to the Gospel. For although there may be common identification of the problem (racism and injustice) and common cause to correct it (shared indignation), the means of correction and the philosophies underlying the correction may be at odds. Catholic educators should be wary of proposals advanced by secularists. Despite shared humanity and shared good will, the underlying philosophies and understandings of the human person may be quite different—and if the foundation is not strong, the project can get swept away by emotion or politics, leading to unintended and unhoped for results.
Fraternal Humanism
A recent Vatican emphasis which provides a locus for dialogue on these issues is the Congregation for Catholic Education’s Educating to Fraternal Humanism: Building a ‘Civilization of Love’ 50 Years after Populorum Progressio (2017). The document, tied directly to Vatican II’s main social encyclical “on the development of peoples,” intends to move education beyond the four walls of the school building to effect change in the surrounding culture and promote the “humanization” of mankind. The document states that, in order “to build bridges and… to find answers to the challenges of our time,”[36] we must build a culture of dialogue in which ethical principles are linked to social and civic choices. The document encourages educators to “lay the foundations for peaceful dialogue and allow the encounter between differences with the primary objective of building a better world.”[37]
The document’s opening paragraphs describe contemporary scenarios with an emphasis on action-based, problem-solving pedagogies. It describes a “humanitarian emergency” of “inequities, poverty, unemployment and exploitation,”[38] where “wars, conflicts and terrorism are sometimes the cause, sometimes the effect of economic inequality and of the unjust distribution of the goods of creation;”[39] where migration leads to “encounters and clashes of civilizations;” where “both fraternal hospitality and intolerant, rigid populism… highlights decadent humanism… [and] marginalization and exclusion… leading to both encounters and clashes of civilizations… [and] the paradigm of indifference.”[40] These economic and political threats to peace and the desire for a “globalization of solidarity” inspire hope for “a new humanism, in which the social person [is] willing to talk and work for the realization of the common good.”[41]
This new approach “humanizes” education (a goal of Freirean pedagogy), so that not only “an educational service” is provided, but also an education which “deals with its results in the overall context of the personal, moral and social abilities of those who participate in the educational process.”[42] Pope Francis sees the method of this humanized education as one “that is sound and open, that pulls down the walls of exclusivity, promoting the richness and diversity of individual talents.” It extends “the classroom to embrace every corner of social experience in which education can generate solidarity, sharing and communion.”[43] It moves beyond the traditional student-teacher relationship to create social, inter-personal, and “interdependent” connections, in order to create “a framework of relationships that make up a living community… bound to a common destiny.”[44] This humanized education “does not simply ask the teacher to teach and student to learn, but urges everyone to live, study and act in accordance with the reasons of fraternal humanism,”[45] which—the reader is told in the same paragraph—is the framework of interdependent relationships bound by a common destiny, with the person at the center.
This equitable social relationship which brings everyone to the same common destiny is the hallmark of Freirean pedagogy. Like Freire, the Holy Father invites dialogue and co-investigation among the teacher and student, with the aim of raising critical consciousness and invoking action.
To fulfill their purpose, formation programmes geared towards education to fraternal humanism aim at some fundamental objectives. First, the main purpose is to allow every citizen to feel actively involved in building fraternal humanism. The instruments used should encourage pluralism, establishing a dialogue aimed at elaborating ethical issues and regulations. Education to fraternal humanism must make sure that learning knowledge means becoming aware of an ethical universe in which the person acts. In particular, this correct notion of the ethical universe must open up progressively wider horizons of the common good, so as to embrace the entire human family. (Educating to fraternal humanism, 20)
As this mutual, leveled collaboration in learning and praxis should exist between the teacher and the student, it should also exist among all those who work in the field of education, where a “preference” should exist for “integrated research groups among teachers, young researchers and students.”[46]
Education to fraternal humanism develops cooperation networks in the various fields of education, especially within academic education. Firstly, it calls for educators to take a reasonable approach to collaboration. In particular, one must prefer joint efforts of the teaching staff in preparing their formation programmes, as well as cooperation among students as regards learning methods and formation scenarios. Moreover, as living cells of fraternal humanism, interconnected by an educational pact and intergenerational ethics, solidarity between teachers and learners must be ever more inclusive, plural and democratic. (Educating to fraternal humanism, 25)
The ethical requirements for dialogue, as explained in the document, are freedom and equality of the participants who recognize the dignity of all parties.[47] Freire’s critical theory pedagogy articulates this requirement as the need for the oppressors not to feign generosity toward the oppressed,[48] or the oppressed, once liberated, to use the same suppressive methods as the oppressor.[49] This translates into classroom practice as teachers who would maintain authority over students, but when using critical theory must “enter into the position of those with whom one is solidary,”[50] much like the emphasis of fraternal humanism (see paragraph 25 above).
Like Freire, who saw the requirement for an education in hope[51] in order to pursue and sustain the struggle toward social equity among the oppressed classes in Latin America, the Fraternal Humanism document sees the necessity to “Globalize Hope” as “the specific mission of an education to fraternal humanism.”[52] An entire section is set aside to discuss the necessity of globalizing hope. Freire saw it as necessary for the educator to find opportunities of hope to sustain the fight for social equity.[53] Here we see the document highlighting the salvation wrought by Christ on the cross as the source of hope for an education to fraternal humanism.[54] It is this hope of salvation that will fuel educational initiatives to address the progress of globalization gone awry, inequality and exploitation, and those suffering “a forceful exclusion from the flow of prosperity.”[55]
An education to fraternal humanism intends for education to be the means of creating interdependent networks throughout the world and cultures of dialogue, hope, and inclusion[56] whose aim is the integral and transcendent development of the person and of society.[57] This mirrors Freire’s critical theory method of using education as the means for the “humanization” of all people and for the transformation of society.
Concerns about Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory in Catholic Education
There are aspects of critical theory and critical race theory about which Catholics and non-Catholics can agree, including the importance of confronting racism, assisting the poor and underprivileged, addressing social and economic inequalities, fighting human exploitation. These are all core elements of Catholic social justice teaching and should already be addressed in Catholic education without embracing CRT. The crux of the matter is how to go about confronting such evils as educators and refuting and correctly interpreting ideological beliefs from a Catholic perspective.
The immediate focus of Catholic education is the integral formation of the human person, pursuing the particular good of maximizing the student’s individual potential and leading the student to Christ, Who is their salvation. Catholic education also serves the common good, by directing those particular goods toward the well-being of others to the greatest degree possible.[58] The goal is not to manipulate students into social activism; we must remember that Freire’s approach was originally designed for adults. Yet, this is not meant to say that young students are not capable of service, or that they should not be formed in service. Quite the contrary: the focus or intention of their service, while they are in formation, is to apply a synthesis of faith with life, so that once understood their free will may guide them to a life of service.
Just as Pope Benedict and St. John Paul II condemned liberation theology for co-opting religion for political and social change, so too must education not become simply a tool for scripted social change by those who are charged with forming students for freedom. As schools increasingly adopt various diversity, equity, and inclusivity programs, Catholic educators must ensure that social activism does not become the be-all and end-all of education. That pride of place belongs to truth and freedom.
As Catholics we are taught not to judge other people, but that actions are worthy to be judged. Looking at the act, intention, and circumstance, we can determine the culpability of a behavior, and in so examining it and our own consciences, we can live within the moral laws of the Beatitudes and the Ten Commandments. There is only one rule applied to others, and that is to love our neighbors as ourselves and to love God above all things.
The gift of Catholic education to the body politic is a transcendent understanding of the human person and a philosophical realism founded in objective truth and natural as well as divine law. Catholic educators must remain faithful to their charism while encouraging dialogue, not for its own sake, but in pursuit of the truth, which alone can provide both the unity and the freedom that is longed for.
When addressing issues of race and justice, carefully defining terms is a good first step. It is important to be cautious about using terminology pushed by critical race theory—including “oppressor and oppressed,” “marginalization,” “systems of power,” “white supremacy and domination,” “colonial beliefs,” and “deconstruction”—as common parlance throughout the school or college. These terms, if ill-defined or used disingenuously, can be divisive and harmful to the minds and hearts of young people. Their use is encouraged as a means to political ends. Students taught with critical race theory materials can become racists in the literal sense of the word: they may treat others (the perceived oppressor race) unfairly because of skin color or background.[59] Division into categories of good and bad based on skin color is a reversal of Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and antithetical to a Catholic understanding of human dignity and equality.
If these terms are used, they should be placed within the proper context of Catholic classroom instruction, avoiding the political and social ideology advanced by critical race theorists. Scripture, tradition, and the Church’s social teaching should inform and inspire the discussion. Catholic social teaching promotes the solidarity of mankind as one human family (this is basic Christian anthropology), with the goals of justice and peace.[60] This context is essential and helpful in proposing the preferential option for the poor and marginalized and situating decisions within the common good.
Catholic education is also Christocentric and based on the Gospel message of unity and communion, which Jesus taught when he said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matt 5:9) and “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matt 5:7).[61] Critical race theory harms the unity of all people that Jesus prayed for: “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” (John 17:21). St. Paul taught this in Ephesians 4:3-6, in encouraging all to “strive to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all.”
Some who push critical race theory call slavery America’s “original sin,” in an attempt to co-opt a fundamental Christian dogma. Traditionally original sin describes the disobedience of our first parents in the Garden of Eden, which marks the whole of human history. It is the only “collectivist” sin in the sense that all people are born in a state of original sin which can be removed through the Sacrament of Baptism. Catholic educators should ensure that students understand that sins are committed by individuals through their own free will and must be acknowledged and repaired to balance social harmony and communion. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “Sin is a personal act” (1868). St. John Paul II in Reconciliatio et paenitentia clarifies that, “A situation—or likewise an institution, a structure, society itself—is not in itself the subject of moral acts,”[62] but the collective actions or omissions of individuals within certain social groups or even countries are the result of an “accumulation and concentration of many personal sins.”[63] This is not to dismiss the incredible harm and evil that accumulated personal sins can effect, or the need for entire societies to challenge injustices and evils at work within their structures.
Catholic educators should also teach that the sin of one person does not extend to their progeny, since their progeny, too, have free will. “You ask: ‘Why is not the son charged with the guilt of his father?’ Because the son has done what is right and just, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live” (Ez 18:19). CRT improperly attempts to assign the responsibility and burdens for sins committed by others in the past to persons today who happen to share a skin color with a past sinner. However, as taught by Pope Benedict XVI, “In the field of ethical awareness and moral decision-making, there is no similar possibility of accumulation for the simple reason that man’s freedom is always new and he must always make his decisions anew. These decisions can never simply be made for us in advance by others—if that were the case, we would no longer be free.”[64]
Catholic social teaching calls on each Christian to care for victims regardless of personal responsibility for the sins committed, and CRT proposes reparations for past injustices. This complex request must be handled carefully in order to ensure that new injustices are not committed in the process of attempting to right a past wrong. The restoration of a proper order of equality and dignity of persons should not indiscriminately target people based on the power they hold, the wealth they possess, their race, their nationality or place of birth, their religion, their family relationship, or friendship. To distribute resources according to such criteria is considered a sin of the “respect of persons,”[65] according to St. Thomas Aquinas. Distributive justice requires that resources are awarded based upon a person’s merits, ability, personal needs, or needs of the family.[66]
The idea of equality of men in the Catholic worldview is that man possesses an inherent dignity as made in the image and likeness of God, not that all men possess an equal amount of material things or talents. Jesus said you will always have the poor with you (John 12:8). How could he say this if, being omniscient and prescient, he could see a time where we would all be “equal” in this world? Each person possesses a diversity of talents and goods by God’s design so that we can learn the virtues of generosity, kindness and magnanimity. God allows some of us to be poor so that others might have the opportunity to give – freely, and thus grow spiritually. To demand an ‘equity’ of outcomes through force puts in place a barrier to God’s design and can cause resentment and frustration.
While critical race theory might appear to be a timely theory that corrects societal wrongs through equity, some of its underlying assumptions are not in harmony with Catholic teaching. The mission of Catholic education is to prepare students to fulfill God’s calling in this world and to attain the eternal kingdom for which they were created. While students are called to become leaven for society, they are not called to become the political social activists that CRT requires, nor are they to be formed with a philosophy that looks to man, and particularly one’s race, as the lens for all knowing. Catholic educators teaching authentic Catholic moral and social teaching as well as the practice of Christian charity should not need to appropriate elements of CRT, including its pedagogical approach, but instead should confidently retain the core influence of the Gospel in all of their efforts to educate and form young people.
Denise Donohue, Ed.D., is Vice President for Educator Resources at The Cardinal Newman Society.
[1] Joel Currier, “White Villa Duchesne Student and Parent Accuse School of Discrimination,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Jan. 2021) at https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/white-villa-duchesne-student-and-parents-accuse-school-of-discrimination/article_ff6417ce-d5dc-5083-9a38-426ec91c0302.html (accessed on July 3, 2021);
Mary Miller, “As Catholic Schools Jettison Truth, They Succumb to Progressive Ideology,” Catholic World Report (Dec. 15, 2020) at https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/12/15/as-catholics-schools-jettison-truth-they-succumb-to-progressive-ideology/ (accessed on July 3, 2021); “Catholic School Students Expelled for Using ‘Racist’ Acne Medication Sue for $20 Million,” 100PercentFedUp.com (Mar. 4, 2021) at https://100percentfedup.com/catholic-school-students-sue-for-20-million-after-expulsion-for-racist-acne-medication/ (accessed on July 3, 2021); Marlo Safi, “‘Dig Deep’: Students at Catholic School Instructed to Describe How They Benefit from White Privilege,” Daily Caller (Mar. 30. 2021) at https://dailycaller.com/2021/03/30/loyola-academy-jesuit-catholic-school-white-privilege-assignment/ (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[2] Tom Ozimek, “National Parents’ Group Opposes Teaching of ‘1619 Project’ Revisionist History,” The Epoch Times (Nov. 16, 2020) at https://www.theepochtimes.com/national-parents-coalition-opposes-teaching-1619-project-revisionist-history-in-schools_3580701.html (accessed on July 3, 2021); Hannah Farrow, “The 1619 Project Curriculum Taught in Over 4,500 Schools – Frederick County Public Schools Has the Option,” Frederick News Post (July 20, 2020) at https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/education/the-1619-project-curriculum-taught-in-over-4-500-schools-frederick-county-public-schools-has/article_a2921b75-d012-5e9e-9816-8e762539f1d4.html (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[3] Alex Nester, “Parents at Elite NYC School Push Back Against Faculty’s Antiracist Demands,” Washington Free Beacon (Jan. 28, 2021) at https://freebeacon.com/campus/parents-at-elite-nyc-school-push-back-against-facultys-antiracist-demands/ (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[4] Padma Venkatraman, “Weeding Out Racism’s Invisible Roots: Rethinking Children’s Classics,” School Library Journal (Jun. 19, 2020) at https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=weeding-out-racisms-invisible-roots-rethinking-childrens-classics-libraries-diverse-books (accessed on July 3, 2021); Charles Coulombe, “Stupiditas Omnia Vincit,” Crisis Magazine (Dec. 30, 2020) at https://www.crisismagazine.com/2020/stupiditas-omnia-vincit (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[5] Sarah Schwartz, “The Dr. Seuss Controversy: What Educators Need to Know,” Education Week (Mar. 2, 2021) at https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/the-dr-seuss-controversy-what-educators-need-to-know/2021/03 (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[6] Jarrett Stepman, “Woke Math Spreads to Oregon,” The Daily Signal (Feb. 23, 2021) and https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/02/23/woke-math-spreads-to-oregon/ (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[7] Sean Wilentz, “A Matter of Facts: The New York Times’ 1619 Project Launched With the Best of Intentions, but Has Been Undermined by Some of Its Claims,” The Atlantic (Jan. 22, 2020) at https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/1619-project-new-york-times-wilentz/605152/ (accessed on Mar. 25, 2021).
[8] “Critical Race Theory,” Encyclopedia Britannica at https://www.britannica.com/topic/critical-race-theory (accessed on Apr. 22, 2021).
[9] “Critical Theory,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/critical-theory/ (accessed on March 3, 2021).
[10] “Critical Theory,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
[11] “Critical Theory,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
[12] Tanya Granic-Allen, “Prof. Bruce Pardy Explores Critical Theory, Its Roots, and How It Has Permeated Canadian Universities,” The News Forum at https://www.newsforum.tv/videos/cp053 (accessed Apr. 21, 2021).
[13] “Definition of Theory,” Open Education Sociology Dictionary at https://sociologydictionary.org/theory/#definition_of_theory (accessed Apr. 22, 2021).
[14] “Ideology: Meaning, Types, Right, Left and Centrist Examples,” Sociology Group at https://www.sociologygroup.com/ideology-meaning/ (accessed on Apr. 22, 2021); “Ideology,” Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology (accessed on Apr. 22, 2021); Lee Harvey, “Ideology,” Social Research Glossary, Quality Research International at https://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/socialresearch/ideology.htm (accessed on Apr. 22, 2021).
[15] See Rage and Hope at http://www.perfectfit.org/CT/freire1.html (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[16] A. Ornstein, D. Levine, G. Gutek, and D. Vocke, Foundations of Education (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 2014) 208, 210; Douglas Kellner, “Marxian Perspectives on Educational Philosophy: From Classical Marxism to Critical Pedagogy” at https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/marxianperspectivesoneducation.pdf (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[17] A. Ornstein (2014) 208, 210.
[18] A. Ornstein (2014) 210.
[19] Lesley Bartlett, “Dialogue, Knowledge, and Teacher-Student Relations: Freirean Pedagogy in Theory and Practice,” Comparative Education Review, Vol. 49, No. 3 (Aug. 2005) 346.
[20] Lesley Bartlett (2005) 344-364.; Douglas Kellner (2006).
[21] Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (United Kingdom: Penguin Classics, 1970) 45.
[22] Paolo Freire (1970) 53.
[23] Paolo Freire, M. Gadotti, and S. Guimaraes, Pedagogia: Dialogo e conflito (Sao Paulo: Cortez, 1985) 76.
[24] Paolo Freire (1970) 29.
[25] Paolo Freire (1970) 31.
[26] Paolo Freire (1970) 23.
[27] “Concepts used by Paulo Freire,” Freire Institute at http://www.freire.org/paulo-freire/concepts-used-by-paulo-freire (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[28] Paolo Freire (1970) 45.
[29] Peter McLaren and Petar Jandric, “From Liberation to Salvation: Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy Meets Liberation Theology,” Policy Futures in Education (June 2017) at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/1478210317695713 (accessed on July 2, 2021); John Wilkins, “Jesuit: Liberation Theology Will Endure and Grow,” National Catholic Reporter (June 7, 2012) at https://www.ncronline.org/news/jesuit-liberation-theology-will-endure-and-grow (accessed July 2, 2021).
[30] “Liberation Theology,” Encyclopedia Britannica at https://www.britannica.com/topic/liberation-theology (accessed on Mar. 5, 2021).
[31] Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Certain Aspects of the ‘Theology of Liberation’ (1984) 3 at https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19840806_theology-liberation_en.html (accessed on Mar. 5, 2021).
[32] Cindy Wooden, “Pope Reflects on Changed Attitudes Toward Liberation Theology,” Crux Now (Feb. 14, 2019) at https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/02/pope-reflects-on-changed-attitudes-toward-liberation-theology/ (accessed on Mar. 8, 2021).
[33] See Thomas Oldenski, Liberation Theology and Critical Pedagogy in Today’s Catholic Schools (New York: Routledge, 2013) xii.
[34] Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith (1984), VI 10.
[35] Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith (1984), VI 10.
[36] Congregation for Catholic Education, Educating to Fraternal Humanism: Building a ‘Civilization of Love’ 50 Years After Populorum Progressio (2017) 12 at http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_20170416_educare-umanesimo-solidale_en.html (accessed on Mar. 8, 2021).
[37] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 15.
[38] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 4.
[39] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 3.
[40] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 4.
[41] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 7.
[42] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 10
[43] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 10.
[44] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 8.
[45] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 10.
[46] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 26.
[47] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 12.
[48] Paolo Freire (1970) 29.
[49] Paolo Freire (1970) 31.
[50] Paolo Freire (1970) 23.
[51] Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of Hope (New York: The Continuum Publishing Company, 1992).
[52] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 18.
[53] Paolo Freire (1992) 3.
[54] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 17.
[55] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 19.
[56] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 31.
[57] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 15.
[58] Pope Paul VI, Gravissimum educationis (1965) 1. “For a true education aims at the formation of the human person in the pursuit of his ultimate end and of the good of the societies of which, as man, he is a member, and in whose obligations, as an adult, he will share.”
[59] “Racism,” Encyclopedia Britannica at https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/racism/632495 (accessed on Apr. 26, 2021). “Racism is when people are treated unfairly because of their skin color or background. It is a kind of discrimination, and it causes great harm to people.”
[60] United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching” at https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/solidarity (accessed on Apr. 26, 2021).
[61] Matthew 5:1-10.
[62] St. John Paul II, Reconciliatio et paenitentia (1984) 16. See also St. John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987) 36-37. “If the present situation can be attributed to difficulties of various kinds, it is not out of place to speak of ‘structures of sin,’ which, as I stated in my Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, are rooted in personal sin, and thus always linked to the concrete acts of individuals who introduce these structures, consolidate them and make them difficult to remove… is the fruit of many sins which lead to ‘structures of sin’.”
[63] St. John Paul II (1984) 16.
[64] Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi (2007) 24.
[65] See St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II, q. 63.
[66] Dominicans of the Central Province of St. Albert the Great, Responding to God (River Forest, IL: Priory Press, 1998) 214-215.
Background on Critical Race Theory and Critical Theory for Catholic Educators
/in Academics Critical Race Theory, Research and Analysis/by Dr. Denise Donohue Ed.D.Catholic education offers a truthful and morally sound framework for considering issues of race, human dignity, and social justice, yet cultural norms, historical developments, commonplace and novel assumptions, and associated passions all have some influence over Catholic education—sometimes for the good, but often distorting and even contradicting sound Catholic teaching. The human condition and social inequities and injustices can and should be addressed in Catholic education, with confidence in the Church’s wisdom and the ability of societies to respectfully unify around racial and cultural differences. In times of heightened concern and emotion, it is necessary that Catholic education inform and guide students’ understanding with great caution against divisive ideological and political influences.
Today emotional and heated discussions and protests focused on these issues seem to fill social media, endless news cycles and opinion journalism. Concepts like “wokeness,” “intersectionality,” and “systemic racism” are implicitly or explicitly present and terms like “racist,” “hate,” “intolerance,” and “oppression” are sometimes wielded in righteous indignation as powerful rhetorical weapons.
Some parents, including some Catholic ones,[1] are surprised and concerned with both overt and covert hostile interpretations of established culture, values and even history that new diversity, equity, and inclusivity programs, approaches, and ideologies are introducing into schools. Efforts like the 1619 Project in history,[2] new ‘anti-racist’ science curricula, art classes focusing on ‘de-centering of whiteness’, white supremacy and sexuality in health classes,[3] DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusivity) clubs, cancelling of classical literature because of racism and bias,[4] and even the banning of some whimsical Dr. Seuss books[5] for perceived insensitivity and racist content, seem to leave no class or subject untouched, even mathematics.[6] All are seemingly being re-written to restructure perspectives away from traditionally understood truths in a perhaps well-meaning, but misguided effort to counter racism and bias against African Americans, other minorities, and others perceived to have been ill-treated by the dominant American culture, past and present. An example of such re-writing and re-framing is the 1619 project’s claim that the American Revolutionists fought for independence from Britain in order to protect the institution of slavery.[7] In some cases, teachers are being pressured or even required to attend diversity and sensitivity training and to advocate for historical interpretations or political positions they believe are untrue, and simultaneously being forced to persuade their students to publicly advocate for these positions as well.
What Is Critical Race Theory?
Much of this paradigm shift is a result of the influence of critical race theory (CRT).[8] Critical race theory asserts that America’s legal framework is inherently racist and that race itself, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of color. Critical race theory is predicated on the belief that race is the fundamental pivot point of injustice and oppression with whites as the oppressors. It asserts that all non-whites in the United States are victims of racism, even when it is not apparent, and that even supposed legal advances against racism like the those during the 1960s civil rights movement ultimately protect a system that benefits whites. The concept of color blindness, for example, rendered American society insensitive to the more subtle and systemic racism in our society.
Critical race theory is a modern offshoot of “critical theory,” which has long been championed by some progressive Catholic educators. Critical theory began with the 1920s Frankfurt School in Germany and the writings of Max Horkheimer.[9] Horkheimer distinguished critical theory from a “traditional” theory in that a critical theory has a “specific practical purpose.” It is “critical to the extent that it seeks human ‘emancipation from slavery,’ acts as a ‘liberating… influence,’ and works ‘to create a world which satisfies the needs and powers of’ human beings.”[10] Thus critical theory can be applied to any social circumstance with similar principles and objectives, including feminism, race relations, law, economics, and politics.
Critical theory’s principles of fighting for freedom over oppression to effect equity in societal and economic structures harken back to Karl Marx and Frederick Engel’s writings in The Communist Manifesto (1848). While Marx did not write extensively on education, per se, he and Engels demanded free public education for the “proletariat” (the oppressed working class), whose labor, they saw, kept the “bourgeois” (the social and financial elite) in control. “In place of the old bourgeois society,” they wrote, “with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.”[11] Society would become classless and socialist.
Because of critical race theory’s broad reach within the economic, political, sociological, and legal contexts, it can more appropriately be defined as an “ideology.”[12] Whereas a theory is a “statement that proposes to describe and explain why facts or other social phenomenon are related to each other based on observed patterns,”[13] an ideology looks to change the social-political, economic, or cultural context wherein those facts and social phenomenon (or social realities) are situated. An ideology includes both practical and theoretical beliefs and philosophies of a person or group and proposes how these beliefs and philosophies can effect change within the specific context.[14] Identifying critical race theory as an ideology invites close scrutiny of its agenda and how it relates to the mission and goals of Catholic education.
Critical Theory as Critical Pedagogy
Contemporary critical theorists in the field of education include Paolo Freire, Henry Giroux, and Peter McLaren,[15] who draw on “Marxist concepts of class conflict and alienation to analyze social and educational institutions.”[16] The concept of critical theory, or critical pedagogy as applied in education, involves sensitizing students to the inequalities and exploitative power arrangements around them, so as to effect “equity, fairness, and social justice.”[17] The argument is that traditional education systems suppress specific groups of people—such as people of color, women, and those living in poverty or low socio-economic status—and retain a dominant and superior economic, social, and political class.[18] The dominant groups send their children to prestigious schools, while the oppressed groups are left to accept the circumstances that disempower them. The objective of this approach is to change society for those who see themselves as suppressed, exploited, or alienated, and is generally pointed toward school, neighborhood, or community issues attainable by the student and teacher. A teacher using the critical theory approach works with students to raise consciousness of suppression and assists them in changing the inequities in society, politics, the economy, and their educational choices. Learning is through investigation and discussion about political, social, economic, and educational topics, in which issues of power and control are recognized, and then joint efforts by the teacher and student to change these suppressive systems.
Freire (1921-1997), a Catholic[19] from Recife, Brazil, is perhaps the best known of the critical theorists in education. His seminal text, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968), is an excellent example of the philosophy, principles, and pedagogical concepts of critical theory in education. At the time it was published, it was first received as controversial and “humanistic.” He was highly critical of traditional education in capitalist countries, which he said used the “banking concept” of transferring knowledge from the teacher, who “owns” the knowledge, and “deposits” it into the students, who know nothing.[20] This type of relationship, he wrote, perpetuates oppression and the alienation of the student, who is maintained “like the slave in the Hegelian dialectic.”[21] Freire advocated a more horizontal, interactive, and dialogical pedagogy of mutual learning between the teacher and the student, where there is “no longer merely the one who teaches, but one who is… taught in dialogue with the students, who in their turn while being taught also teach[es].”[22] In a banking concept of education, Freire believed the teacher-student relationship was one of authority and submission. In his horizontal relationship, the teacher is directive and authoritative—but not an authoritarian—and respects the student’s autonomy.[23]
Freire’s critical theory approach embraces classlessness and the need for the oppressors not to feign generosity toward the oppressed.[24] The oppressed, once liberated, also cannot use the same suppressive methods as the oppressor.[25] This translates into classroom practice, as teachers must “enter into the position of those with whom one is solidary.”[26] It is within this equitable relationship that true dialogue develops between a teacher and student, who synthesize and construct knowledge as equal participants to solve problems effecting their social reality. Dialogue itself is insufficient. Reflection and action or “praxis,” so as to “act together upon their environment… to transform it through further action and critical reflection,” humanizes all those involved.[27]
Freire claimed that this problem-based approach enacts the critical consciousness of students to analyze their social, economic, and political environment. Through mutual dialogue, the teacher and student re-form the problem to arrive at the deeper unveiling of reality. It is expected that students, as “critical co-investigators in dialogue with the teacher,” would eventually feel challenged to act on problems. Freire believed that, through this process of inquiry and “praxis,” individuals would become truly human[28] and that alienation of the oppressed—kept in check through an educational system based on a balance of oppressor and oppressed—would be relinquished and freedom attained.
Critical Theory and Liberation Theology
Critical theory is tied closely in principle to “liberation theology,” a predominantly Jesuit[29] religious movement in Latin America that arose at about the same time and “sought to apply religious faith by aiding the poor and oppressed through involvement in political and civic affairs. It stressed both heightened awareness of the ‘sinful’ socioeconomic structures that caused social inequities and active participation in changing those structures.”[30] Its lens is fixated on the liberation of the poor from worldly political and economic tyranny, to such a degree that the liberation that Christ purchased through the cross to pay for personal sinfulness is overshadowed.[31] Liberation theology and critical theory both see class struggle as necessary for human freedom. In liberation theology, this struggle moved religion into the realm of politics, with priests working alongside activist educators and other liberators to overthrow an oppressive governmental regime.[32]
Liberation theology has many such problematic elements, not only in common with critical theory[33] but also with Marxist thought.[34] The dangers and errors of liberation theology were highlighted in 1984 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the future Pope Benedict XVI, in the Instruction on Certain Aspects of the ‘Theology of Liberation.’ He referred to it as a “novel interpretation of both the content of faith and of Christian existence which seriously departs from the faith of the Church and in fact actually constitutes a practical negation.”[35] With the fall of Communism in the 1980s and the long tenure of anti-communist Pope Saint John Paul II, liberation theology waned on the Church scene.
Recently Pope Francis has emphasized themes in Catholic teaching that have been abused by liberation theology, such as the Church’s preferential option of the poor, social and economic justice, and an inclusive ministry that serves the marginalized. These themes present an opportunity for educators to clearly distinguish Catholic principles from liberation theology, critical theory, and critical race theory, but Catholic teaching is always at risk of being coopted by forces hostile to the Gospel. For although there may be common identification of the problem (racism and injustice) and common cause to correct it (shared indignation), the means of correction and the philosophies underlying the correction may be at odds. Catholic educators should be wary of proposals advanced by secularists. Despite shared humanity and shared good will, the underlying philosophies and understandings of the human person may be quite different—and if the foundation is not strong, the project can get swept away by emotion or politics, leading to unintended and unhoped for results.
Fraternal Humanism
A recent Vatican emphasis which provides a locus for dialogue on these issues is the Congregation for Catholic Education’s Educating to Fraternal Humanism: Building a ‘Civilization of Love’ 50 Years after Populorum Progressio (2017). The document, tied directly to Vatican II’s main social encyclical “on the development of peoples,” intends to move education beyond the four walls of the school building to effect change in the surrounding culture and promote the “humanization” of mankind. The document states that, in order “to build bridges and… to find answers to the challenges of our time,”[36] we must build a culture of dialogue in which ethical principles are linked to social and civic choices. The document encourages educators to “lay the foundations for peaceful dialogue and allow the encounter between differences with the primary objective of building a better world.”[37]
The document’s opening paragraphs describe contemporary scenarios with an emphasis on action-based, problem-solving pedagogies. It describes a “humanitarian emergency” of “inequities, poverty, unemployment and exploitation,”[38] where “wars, conflicts and terrorism are sometimes the cause, sometimes the effect of economic inequality and of the unjust distribution of the goods of creation;”[39] where migration leads to “encounters and clashes of civilizations;” where “both fraternal hospitality and intolerant, rigid populism… highlights decadent humanism… [and] marginalization and exclusion… leading to both encounters and clashes of civilizations… [and] the paradigm of indifference.”[40] These economic and political threats to peace and the desire for a “globalization of solidarity” inspire hope for “a new humanism, in which the social person [is] willing to talk and work for the realization of the common good.”[41]
This new approach “humanizes” education (a goal of Freirean pedagogy), so that not only “an educational service” is provided, but also an education which “deals with its results in the overall context of the personal, moral and social abilities of those who participate in the educational process.”[42] Pope Francis sees the method of this humanized education as one “that is sound and open, that pulls down the walls of exclusivity, promoting the richness and diversity of individual talents.” It extends “the classroom to embrace every corner of social experience in which education can generate solidarity, sharing and communion.”[43] It moves beyond the traditional student-teacher relationship to create social, inter-personal, and “interdependent” connections, in order to create “a framework of relationships that make up a living community… bound to a common destiny.”[44] This humanized education “does not simply ask the teacher to teach and student to learn, but urges everyone to live, study and act in accordance with the reasons of fraternal humanism,”[45] which—the reader is told in the same paragraph—is the framework of interdependent relationships bound by a common destiny, with the person at the center.
This equitable social relationship which brings everyone to the same common destiny is the hallmark of Freirean pedagogy. Like Freire, the Holy Father invites dialogue and co-investigation among the teacher and student, with the aim of raising critical consciousness and invoking action.
As this mutual, leveled collaboration in learning and praxis should exist between the teacher and the student, it should also exist among all those who work in the field of education, where a “preference” should exist for “integrated research groups among teachers, young researchers and students.”[46]
The ethical requirements for dialogue, as explained in the document, are freedom and equality of the participants who recognize the dignity of all parties.[47] Freire’s critical theory pedagogy articulates this requirement as the need for the oppressors not to feign generosity toward the oppressed,[48] or the oppressed, once liberated, to use the same suppressive methods as the oppressor.[49] This translates into classroom practice as teachers who would maintain authority over students, but when using critical theory must “enter into the position of those with whom one is solidary,”[50] much like the emphasis of fraternal humanism (see paragraph 25 above).
Like Freire, who saw the requirement for an education in hope[51] in order to pursue and sustain the struggle toward social equity among the oppressed classes in Latin America, the Fraternal Humanism document sees the necessity to “Globalize Hope” as “the specific mission of an education to fraternal humanism.”[52] An entire section is set aside to discuss the necessity of globalizing hope. Freire saw it as necessary for the educator to find opportunities of hope to sustain the fight for social equity.[53] Here we see the document highlighting the salvation wrought by Christ on the cross as the source of hope for an education to fraternal humanism.[54] It is this hope of salvation that will fuel educational initiatives to address the progress of globalization gone awry, inequality and exploitation, and those suffering “a forceful exclusion from the flow of prosperity.”[55]
An education to fraternal humanism intends for education to be the means of creating interdependent networks throughout the world and cultures of dialogue, hope, and inclusion[56] whose aim is the integral and transcendent development of the person and of society.[57] This mirrors Freire’s critical theory method of using education as the means for the “humanization” of all people and for the transformation of society.
Concerns about Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory in Catholic Education
There are aspects of critical theory and critical race theory about which Catholics and non-Catholics can agree, including the importance of confronting racism, assisting the poor and underprivileged, addressing social and economic inequalities, fighting human exploitation. These are all core elements of Catholic social justice teaching and should already be addressed in Catholic education without embracing CRT. The crux of the matter is how to go about confronting such evils as educators and refuting and correctly interpreting ideological beliefs from a Catholic perspective.
The immediate focus of Catholic education is the integral formation of the human person, pursuing the particular good of maximizing the student’s individual potential and leading the student to Christ, Who is their salvation. Catholic education also serves the common good, by directing those particular goods toward the well-being of others to the greatest degree possible.[58] The goal is not to manipulate students into social activism; we must remember that Freire’s approach was originally designed for adults. Yet, this is not meant to say that young students are not capable of service, or that they should not be formed in service. Quite the contrary: the focus or intention of their service, while they are in formation, is to apply a synthesis of faith with life, so that once understood their free will may guide them to a life of service.
Just as Pope Benedict and St. John Paul II condemned liberation theology for co-opting religion for political and social change, so too must education not become simply a tool for scripted social change by those who are charged with forming students for freedom. As schools increasingly adopt various diversity, equity, and inclusivity programs, Catholic educators must ensure that social activism does not become the be-all and end-all of education. That pride of place belongs to truth and freedom.
As Catholics we are taught not to judge other people, but that actions are worthy to be judged. Looking at the act, intention, and circumstance, we can determine the culpability of a behavior, and in so examining it and our own consciences, we can live within the moral laws of the Beatitudes and the Ten Commandments. There is only one rule applied to others, and that is to love our neighbors as ourselves and to love God above all things.
The gift of Catholic education to the body politic is a transcendent understanding of the human person and a philosophical realism founded in objective truth and natural as well as divine law. Catholic educators must remain faithful to their charism while encouraging dialogue, not for its own sake, but in pursuit of the truth, which alone can provide both the unity and the freedom that is longed for.
When addressing issues of race and justice, carefully defining terms is a good first step. It is important to be cautious about using terminology pushed by critical race theory—including “oppressor and oppressed,” “marginalization,” “systems of power,” “white supremacy and domination,” “colonial beliefs,” and “deconstruction”—as common parlance throughout the school or college. These terms, if ill-defined or used disingenuously, can be divisive and harmful to the minds and hearts of young people. Their use is encouraged as a means to political ends. Students taught with critical race theory materials can become racists in the literal sense of the word: they may treat others (the perceived oppressor race) unfairly because of skin color or background.[59] Division into categories of good and bad based on skin color is a reversal of Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and antithetical to a Catholic understanding of human dignity and equality.
If these terms are used, they should be placed within the proper context of Catholic classroom instruction, avoiding the political and social ideology advanced by critical race theorists. Scripture, tradition, and the Church’s social teaching should inform and inspire the discussion. Catholic social teaching promotes the solidarity of mankind as one human family (this is basic Christian anthropology), with the goals of justice and peace.[60] This context is essential and helpful in proposing the preferential option for the poor and marginalized and situating decisions within the common good.
Catholic education is also Christocentric and based on the Gospel message of unity and communion, which Jesus taught when he said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matt 5:9) and “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matt 5:7).[61] Critical race theory harms the unity of all people that Jesus prayed for: “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” (John 17:21). St. Paul taught this in Ephesians 4:3-6, in encouraging all to “strive to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all.”
Some who push critical race theory call slavery America’s “original sin,” in an attempt to co-opt a fundamental Christian dogma. Traditionally original sin describes the disobedience of our first parents in the Garden of Eden, which marks the whole of human history. It is the only “collectivist” sin in the sense that all people are born in a state of original sin which can be removed through the Sacrament of Baptism. Catholic educators should ensure that students understand that sins are committed by individuals through their own free will and must be acknowledged and repaired to balance social harmony and communion. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “Sin is a personal act” (1868). St. John Paul II in Reconciliatio et paenitentia clarifies that, “A situation—or likewise an institution, a structure, society itself—is not in itself the subject of moral acts,”[62] but the collective actions or omissions of individuals within certain social groups or even countries are the result of an “accumulation and concentration of many personal sins.”[63] This is not to dismiss the incredible harm and evil that accumulated personal sins can effect, or the need for entire societies to challenge injustices and evils at work within their structures.
Catholic educators should also teach that the sin of one person does not extend to their progeny, since their progeny, too, have free will. “You ask: ‘Why is not the son charged with the guilt of his father?’ Because the son has done what is right and just, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live” (Ez 18:19). CRT improperly attempts to assign the responsibility and burdens for sins committed by others in the past to persons today who happen to share a skin color with a past sinner. However, as taught by Pope Benedict XVI, “In the field of ethical awareness and moral decision-making, there is no similar possibility of accumulation for the simple reason that man’s freedom is always new and he must always make his decisions anew. These decisions can never simply be made for us in advance by others—if that were the case, we would no longer be free.”[64]
Catholic social teaching calls on each Christian to care for victims regardless of personal responsibility for the sins committed, and CRT proposes reparations for past injustices. This complex request must be handled carefully in order to ensure that new injustices are not committed in the process of attempting to right a past wrong. The restoration of a proper order of equality and dignity of persons should not indiscriminately target people based on the power they hold, the wealth they possess, their race, their nationality or place of birth, their religion, their family relationship, or friendship. To distribute resources according to such criteria is considered a sin of the “respect of persons,”[65] according to St. Thomas Aquinas. Distributive justice requires that resources are awarded based upon a person’s merits, ability, personal needs, or needs of the family.[66]
The idea of equality of men in the Catholic worldview is that man possesses an inherent dignity as made in the image and likeness of God, not that all men possess an equal amount of material things or talents. Jesus said you will always have the poor with you (John 12:8). How could he say this if, being omniscient and prescient, he could see a time where we would all be “equal” in this world? Each person possesses a diversity of talents and goods by God’s design so that we can learn the virtues of generosity, kindness and magnanimity. God allows some of us to be poor so that others might have the opportunity to give – freely, and thus grow spiritually. To demand an ‘equity’ of outcomes through force puts in place a barrier to God’s design and can cause resentment and frustration.
While critical race theory might appear to be a timely theory that corrects societal wrongs through equity, some of its underlying assumptions are not in harmony with Catholic teaching. The mission of Catholic education is to prepare students to fulfill God’s calling in this world and to attain the eternal kingdom for which they were created. While students are called to become leaven for society, they are not called to become the political social activists that CRT requires, nor are they to be formed with a philosophy that looks to man, and particularly one’s race, as the lens for all knowing. Catholic educators teaching authentic Catholic moral and social teaching as well as the practice of Christian charity should not need to appropriate elements of CRT, including its pedagogical approach, but instead should confidently retain the core influence of the Gospel in all of their efforts to educate and form young people.
Denise Donohue, Ed.D., is Vice President for Educator Resources at The Cardinal Newman Society.
[1] Joel Currier, “White Villa Duchesne Student and Parent Accuse School of Discrimination,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Jan. 2021) at https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/white-villa-duchesne-student-and-parents-accuse-school-of-discrimination/article_ff6417ce-d5dc-5083-9a38-426ec91c0302.html (accessed on July 3, 2021);
Mary Miller, “As Catholic Schools Jettison Truth, They Succumb to Progressive Ideology,” Catholic World Report (Dec. 15, 2020) at https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/12/15/as-catholics-schools-jettison-truth-they-succumb-to-progressive-ideology/ (accessed on July 3, 2021); “Catholic School Students Expelled for Using ‘Racist’ Acne Medication Sue for $20 Million,” 100PercentFedUp.com (Mar. 4, 2021) at https://100percentfedup.com/catholic-school-students-sue-for-20-million-after-expulsion-for-racist-acne-medication/ (accessed on July 3, 2021); Marlo Safi, “‘Dig Deep’: Students at Catholic School Instructed to Describe How They Benefit from White Privilege,” Daily Caller (Mar. 30. 2021) at https://dailycaller.com/2021/03/30/loyola-academy-jesuit-catholic-school-white-privilege-assignment/ (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[2] Tom Ozimek, “National Parents’ Group Opposes Teaching of ‘1619 Project’ Revisionist History,” The Epoch Times (Nov. 16, 2020) at https://www.theepochtimes.com/national-parents-coalition-opposes-teaching-1619-project-revisionist-history-in-schools_3580701.html (accessed on July 3, 2021); Hannah Farrow, “The 1619 Project Curriculum Taught in Over 4,500 Schools – Frederick County Public Schools Has the Option,” Frederick News Post (July 20, 2020) at https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/education/the-1619-project-curriculum-taught-in-over-4-500-schools-frederick-county-public-schools-has/article_a2921b75-d012-5e9e-9816-8e762539f1d4.html (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[3] Alex Nester, “Parents at Elite NYC School Push Back Against Faculty’s Antiracist Demands,” Washington Free Beacon (Jan. 28, 2021) at https://freebeacon.com/campus/parents-at-elite-nyc-school-push-back-against-facultys-antiracist-demands/ (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[4] Padma Venkatraman, “Weeding Out Racism’s Invisible Roots: Rethinking Children’s Classics,” School Library Journal (Jun. 19, 2020) at https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=weeding-out-racisms-invisible-roots-rethinking-childrens-classics-libraries-diverse-books (accessed on July 3, 2021); Charles Coulombe, “Stupiditas Omnia Vincit,” Crisis Magazine (Dec. 30, 2020) at https://www.crisismagazine.com/2020/stupiditas-omnia-vincit (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[5] Sarah Schwartz, “The Dr. Seuss Controversy: What Educators Need to Know,” Education Week (Mar. 2, 2021) at https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/the-dr-seuss-controversy-what-educators-need-to-know/2021/03 (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[6] Jarrett Stepman, “Woke Math Spreads to Oregon,” The Daily Signal (Feb. 23, 2021) and https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/02/23/woke-math-spreads-to-oregon/ (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[7] Sean Wilentz, “A Matter of Facts: The New York Times’ 1619 Project Launched With the Best of Intentions, but Has Been Undermined by Some of Its Claims,” The Atlantic (Jan. 22, 2020) at https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/1619-project-new-york-times-wilentz/605152/ (accessed on Mar. 25, 2021).
[8] “Critical Race Theory,” Encyclopedia Britannica at https://www.britannica.com/topic/critical-race-theory (accessed on Apr. 22, 2021).
[9] “Critical Theory,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/critical-theory/ (accessed on March 3, 2021).
[10] “Critical Theory,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
[11] “Critical Theory,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
[12] Tanya Granic-Allen, “Prof. Bruce Pardy Explores Critical Theory, Its Roots, and How It Has Permeated Canadian Universities,” The News Forum at https://www.newsforum.tv/videos/cp053 (accessed Apr. 21, 2021).
[13] “Definition of Theory,” Open Education Sociology Dictionary at https://sociologydictionary.org/theory/#definition_of_theory (accessed Apr. 22, 2021).
[14] “Ideology: Meaning, Types, Right, Left and Centrist Examples,” Sociology Group at https://www.sociologygroup.com/ideology-meaning/ (accessed on Apr. 22, 2021); “Ideology,” Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology (accessed on Apr. 22, 2021); Lee Harvey, “Ideology,” Social Research Glossary, Quality Research International at https://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/socialresearch/ideology.htm (accessed on Apr. 22, 2021).
[15] See Rage and Hope at http://www.perfectfit.org/CT/freire1.html (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[16] A. Ornstein, D. Levine, G. Gutek, and D. Vocke, Foundations of Education (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 2014) 208, 210; Douglas Kellner, “Marxian Perspectives on Educational Philosophy: From Classical Marxism to Critical Pedagogy” at https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/marxianperspectivesoneducation.pdf (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[17] A. Ornstein (2014) 208, 210.
[18] A. Ornstein (2014) 210.
[19] Lesley Bartlett, “Dialogue, Knowledge, and Teacher-Student Relations: Freirean Pedagogy in Theory and Practice,” Comparative Education Review, Vol. 49, No. 3 (Aug. 2005) 346.
[20] Lesley Bartlett (2005) 344-364.; Douglas Kellner (2006).
[21] Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (United Kingdom: Penguin Classics, 1970) 45.
[22] Paolo Freire (1970) 53.
[23] Paolo Freire, M. Gadotti, and S. Guimaraes, Pedagogia: Dialogo e conflito (Sao Paulo: Cortez, 1985) 76.
[24] Paolo Freire (1970) 29.
[25] Paolo Freire (1970) 31.
[26] Paolo Freire (1970) 23.
[27] “Concepts used by Paulo Freire,” Freire Institute at http://www.freire.org/paulo-freire/concepts-used-by-paulo-freire (accessed on July 3, 2021).
[28] Paolo Freire (1970) 45.
[29] Peter McLaren and Petar Jandric, “From Liberation to Salvation: Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy Meets Liberation Theology,” Policy Futures in Education (June 2017) at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/1478210317695713 (accessed on July 2, 2021); John Wilkins, “Jesuit: Liberation Theology Will Endure and Grow,” National Catholic Reporter (June 7, 2012) at https://www.ncronline.org/news/jesuit-liberation-theology-will-endure-and-grow (accessed July 2, 2021).
[30] “Liberation Theology,” Encyclopedia Britannica at https://www.britannica.com/topic/liberation-theology (accessed on Mar. 5, 2021).
[31] Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Certain Aspects of the ‘Theology of Liberation’ (1984) 3 at https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19840806_theology-liberation_en.html (accessed on Mar. 5, 2021).
[32] Cindy Wooden, “Pope Reflects on Changed Attitudes Toward Liberation Theology,” Crux Now (Feb. 14, 2019) at https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/02/pope-reflects-on-changed-attitudes-toward-liberation-theology/ (accessed on Mar. 8, 2021).
[33] See Thomas Oldenski, Liberation Theology and Critical Pedagogy in Today’s Catholic Schools (New York: Routledge, 2013) xii.
[34] Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith (1984), VI 10.
[35] Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith (1984), VI 10.
[36] Congregation for Catholic Education, Educating to Fraternal Humanism: Building a ‘Civilization of Love’ 50 Years After Populorum Progressio (2017) 12 at http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_20170416_educare-umanesimo-solidale_en.html (accessed on Mar. 8, 2021).
[37] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 15.
[38] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 4.
[39] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 3.
[40] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 4.
[41] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 7.
[42] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 10
[43] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 10.
[44] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 8.
[45] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 10.
[46] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 26.
[47] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 12.
[48] Paolo Freire (1970) 29.
[49] Paolo Freire (1970) 31.
[50] Paolo Freire (1970) 23.
[51] Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of Hope (New York: The Continuum Publishing Company, 1992).
[52] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 18.
[53] Paolo Freire (1992) 3.
[54] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 17.
[55] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 19.
[56] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 31.
[57] Congregation for Catholic Education (2017) 15.
[58] Pope Paul VI, Gravissimum educationis (1965) 1. “For a true education aims at the formation of the human person in the pursuit of his ultimate end and of the good of the societies of which, as man, he is a member, and in whose obligations, as an adult, he will share.”
[59] “Racism,” Encyclopedia Britannica at https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/racism/632495 (accessed on Apr. 26, 2021). “Racism is when people are treated unfairly because of their skin color or background. It is a kind of discrimination, and it causes great harm to people.”
[60] United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching” at https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/solidarity (accessed on Apr. 26, 2021).
[61] Matthew 5:1-10.
[62] St. John Paul II, Reconciliatio et paenitentia (1984) 16. See also St. John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (1987) 36-37. “If the present situation can be attributed to difficulties of various kinds, it is not out of place to speak of ‘structures of sin,’ which, as I stated in my Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, are rooted in personal sin, and thus always linked to the concrete acts of individuals who introduce these structures, consolidate them and make them difficult to remove… is the fruit of many sins which lead to ‘structures of sin’.”
[63] St. John Paul II (1984) 16.
[64] Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi (2007) 24.
[65] See St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II, q. 63.
[66] Dominicans of the Central Province of St. Albert the Great, Responding to God (River Forest, IL: Priory Press, 1998) 214-215.
Catholic College Graduate Launches Online Film Camp for High School Students
/in Blog Newman Guide Articles, Profiles in FCE/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffTara Stone
“The Church has long realized that art speaks to the human soul in a uniquely powerful way,” says Tara Stone, a graduate of John Paul the Great Catholic University in Escondido, Calif., who has launched an online film camp this summer for high school students that offers college credit through JPCatholic. She believes it’s important for young Catholics to be involved in the arts and create “well-crafted stories in film and television” that reflect “goodness, truth and beauty.”
The Newman Society recently asked Stone to share about her experience at Newman Guide recommended John Paul the Great Catholic University in Escondido, Calif., and about her offerings for high school students this summer, as a part of “Profiles in Faithful Catholic Education” series.
Newman Society: What was your experience like at John Paul the Great Catholic University, and how has it impacted your career and life?
Tara Stone: My experience as a student at John Paul the Great Catholic University was unique in a lot of ways. The university was still very small and very new when I was a student—I graduated with about 20 other students, and we were only the third class to graduate. My experience was also unique in that I was 23 years old when I started my freshman year. I had spent several years at a much larger, secular university and ultimately decided not to transfer any credits when I enrolled at JPCatholic. I wanted to begin with a clean slate.
Having taken other college courses, which shaped my expectations, I was admittedly impressed with the academic rigor of my JPCatholic courses—not so much because the content was difficult to grasp or the concepts particularly complex, but because the hands-on nature of filmmaking requires an enormous amount of time and effort and practice to learn and do well.
The three years of my undergrad were three of the busiest years of my life, and they prepared me well for working in the industry. My senior year was especially helpful in launching my career: I pitched the idea to my professors that instead of several small senior projects, our entire class could collaborate on a single feature film. My professors gave me the green light to write the script, and by the end of our senior year, we had shot the entire thing. Eventually, the film, Red Line, received distribution on DVD and VOD. Having that feature film credit on my resume has been invaluable, and I’ve been able to find work in the industry ever since.
Apart from the academic/professional impact, JPCatholic also shaped my faith journey in a really important way. I’m a cradle Catholic, and I was already serious about my faith when I started at JPCatholic—that was part of the reason I chose to go there and start over on my undergrad degree—but while I was a student there, I developed the habit of going to daily Mass and daily adoration. Those habits were integral to my vocational discernment. A few years after I graduated from JPCatholic, I became a consecrated virgin living in the world.
Newman Society: How did the “Story Masters Film Academy,” which you run with two JPCatholic faculty members, come about? Can you tell us about your film camp for high school students this summer?
Tara Stone: At the beginning of 2020, I was working for a video production company that mostly made multimedia programs for the Air Force, though we did make a handful of documentaries as well. When the COVID pandemic shut everything down in March of 2020, the company’s owner told us all to work from home for the next couple weeks. A couple weeks turned into several months. Meanwhile, all the projects we had been working on were cancelled mid-contract.
With the abundant free time I suddenly had, I decided to self-publish two of my screenplays in paperback and e-book format. Both scripts are period genre films that aren’t being made anymore, so I didn’t (and still don’t) think they would ever be produced. But they are good, fun stories that I wanted to share with the world. At some point, I realized there could be potential to sell them as educational tools to film instructors—they could be used to demonstrate script formatting and story structure, or they could be used to practice practical production skills like scheduling and budgeting.
I reached out to Christopher Riley, who taught my screenwriting classes and still teaches at JPCatholic. He agreed that my scripts could be valuable educational tools, but during the course of our conversation, he suggested that I could seize on an even bigger business opportunity—an opportunity to provide online screenwriting classes to high school students and use my scripts as course materials. Not only that, but Chris wanted to be my business partner and write the curriculum. Shortly after our initial conversation, we roped Nathan Scoggins in to add directing courses to our offerings. Like Chris, Nathan was one of my professors at JPCatholic and still teaches there. Since all three of us have a connection to JPCatholic, partnering with JPCatholic seemed like a natural fit. And so, Story Masters courses are eligible for college credit through JPCatholic.
This summer, we will have our very first Summer Film Camp and Festival for high school students. The summer camp runs from June 14 through July 23. Students will be challenged to write and direct a short film in five weeks, and their final films will be showcased in the film festival during the last week. It’s all online, as all our courses are, but each week begins and ends with a live Zoom session with me, Chris, and Nathan to guide students through their projects.
Newman Society: Why do you think it’s important for young creative Catholics to develop their artistic gifts? Why do you think it’s important for the Church to be involved in the arts?
Tara Stone: Art has always been an important part of the Church’s work of evangelization and catechesis. The Church has long realized that art speaks to the human soul in a uniquely powerful way.
Right now, film and television are being dominated by a culture that is deeply confused and, in many ways, morally depraved. And now, especially in the last year of being in various stages of lockdown, people are consuming unbelievable amounts of media. The human soul naturally craves goodness, truth, and beauty, which is why we are drawn to well-crafted stories in film and television. Unfortunately, much of what’s on offer today are merely counterfeits of goodness, truth, and beauty. If young Catholic artists don’t step up and create, the counterfeits will fill the void.
In my own life, I’ve often related my responsibility as a writer to the Parable of the Talents: God gave me some measure of talent as a writer, and I have an obligation to develop that gift and make it work for God’s Kingdom. Otherwise, I’m like the servant who buries his talent in the ground, and that servant’s story doesn’t end well. I would much rather hear at the end of my days, “Well done, good and faithful servant… enter into the joy of your master.”
‘Fulton’ Ruling Teaches Important Lesson to Catholic Educators
/in Blog Commentary, Public Policy and Legal (General) Latest, PR Register Column/by Patrick ReillyA leading attorney for the defense of religious freedom says Catholic educators can learn an important lesson from the Supreme Court’s recent Fulton ruling, which allowed Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to uphold its faithfully Catholic practices. The lesson: Have courage and stand firm in the Faith.
Like Catholic social and medical services, Catholic education faces growing threats from the Biden administration and many states and localities because of Catholic beliefs about the sanctity of life, the human person and marriage. While educators may be tempted to compromise on programs like women’s athletics or on policies like moral standards for teachers, doing so violates the very mission of Catholic education, and there is no escaping confrontation with gender ideology. The best legal protection is to be consistently and firmly committed to the Catholic faith.
“As Fulton shows, religious freedom is stronger when Catholic apostolates are standing in a long historical tradition and have the courage of their convictions,” says Eric Kniffin, legal adviser to The Cardinal Newman Society and attorney with Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP. He also worked previously for the Becket Fund and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
“On the contrary,” he warns, “if Catholic schools disregard their calling and lose their saltiness, they will have a much harder time convincing students, parents and judges that they need religious accommodations.”
The Court’s June 17 ruling in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia protects the right of Catholic Social Services to continue receiving City of Philadelphia funding, without yielding to the City’s demand that it place children for foster care with same-sex couples. The Court’s deference to Catholic Social Services’ mission and beliefs, says Kniffin, is heartening given the Biden administration’s efforts to impose broad accommodations for homosexuality and transgender behavior in schools and colleges by twisting the nondiscrimination provisions of the federal Title IX education law.
Last Wednesday, the Biden administration released a “Dear Educator” letter insisting that “Title IX’s protection against sex discrimination encompasses discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” despite the fact that Congress never intended the law to have such a meaning. On Monday, the Court declined to consider a Virginia school board’s appeal to preserve the privacy of boys’ and girls’ bathrooms, leaving educators vulnerable to the Administration’s gender ideology.
The Education Department’s letter last week indicated that it expects schools and colleges to allow students to choose athletic teams based on their stated “gender identity” and give them access to the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice. Moreover, the Department indicated that it would mandate what educators can believe and teach about sex, warning against a scenario in which “the teacher tells the class that there are only boys and girls and anyone who thinks otherwise has something wrong with them.”
Good for education
But the Fulton decision offers some hope of protection for religious education, to the extent that the Supreme Court respected Catholics’ right to uphold fundamental truths about human nature and sexuality.
“One of the most important victories for the Catholic Church in Fulton is that the Supreme Court voted unanimously in favor of a religious entity that believes that ‘marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman,’” Kniffin says. “Some on the left have argued that such a statement is akin to racial bigotry. The Court’s unanimous decision is a strong repudiation of that analogy.”
Instead, the Court remained consistent with its Obergefell ruling in 2015, which said, “Many who deem same-sex marriage to be wrong reach that conclusion based on decent and honorable religious or philosophical premises, and neither they nor their beliefs are disparaged here.”
In his majority opinion in Fulton, Chief Justice John Roberts took notice of the Catholic Church’s long history of serving children as an extension of its religious exercise, not apart from it. Catholic education is no different. This was a point that Kniffin made in the amicus brief he authored last year for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference.
“This history was important in the Fulton case, because the City and its allies claimed that foster care has now become a ‘public service,’ which means that the contracts at issue here had no more religious significance than contracts for ‘road maintenance,’” Kniffin explains. His brief for the USCCB noted that the Court had already rejected this line of argument with respect to Catholic education in the 2012 Hosanna-Tabor ruling, which affirmed the ministerial exception for certain Catholic school teachers. In that case, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission made the outrageous argument that the First Amendment does not apply to Catholic schools providing a “socially beneficial service … in compliance with State compulsory education laws.”
Just as Hosanna-Tabor helped the Archdiocese of Philadelphia make its case, the Fulton ruling gives Catholic education an even stronger argument for religious freedom, Kniffin says. “While caring for orphans falls under the corporal works of mercy, the work of Catholic schools falls under the spiritual works of mercy. When carried out as the Catholic Church intends … Catholic schools are carrying out a core religious exercise.”
On the other hand, the Fulton ruling is also a reminder of how fragile such rights can be in today’s secular society. Although the Supreme Court had the opportunity with this case to overturn its 1990 ruling in Employment Services v. Smith, it avoided the issue, thereby allowing states and cities like Philadelphia to attempt further discrimination against Catholic organizations as long as their laws and rules are generally applicable without exceptions. Catholic Social Services may soon have to return to court to protect its foster care services and force a review of Smith— or that review might occur because of a case involving Catholic education, which faces challenges with licensing, school choice funding, accreditation, participation in athletic conferences and other state and local attempts to impose gender ideology despite Catholic beliefs.
“The good news is that five justices in Fulton said that they believe that the Free Exercise Clause protects more religious liberty than the Smith decision might indicate,” Kniffin says. “Hopefully, this consensus will help dissuade government from even stronger efforts to force Catholic schools to abandon their convictions on matters of sexual morality and the human person. But if they do, the Court seems poised to protect the First Amendment right to free exercise.”
As for federal programs like college student loans and aid for textbooks and busing, Catholic education is protected by the religious exemption in Title IX — except that the Biden administration wants to maneuver around that exemption with the harmful Equality Act. Activists are also attempting to dismantle the Title IX exemption in court. To counter their arguments, the Cardinal Newman Society recently joined an amicus brief with the Christian Legal Society, several groups representing various religious beliefs, and Catholic schools and colleges that are recognized by the Newman Society for their faithful education.
By standing firm and refusing to yield our religious freedom, Catholic educators can hopefully continue to win in court. Moreover, the formation that Catholic education provides young people — if it remains consistently faithful to the teachings of the Church — can eventually renew society and restore respect for truth.
This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.
Secular Resources Can Be Dangerous to Catholic Education
/in Academics Commentary, Curriculum/by Patrick ReillyThere are many popular academic programs and resources available to Catholic educators, but most are secular, designed primarily for public schools.
Does “secular” mean that they are unsuitable for Catholics?
So long as the content does not oppose Catholic teaching, it may seem appropriate to use secular materials and programs. Catholics do not hide from the world. There is no conflict between the truths of our faith and the truths of science, math, history and other human studies. We are not afraid to explore every branch of knowledge, and we respect the methods appropriate to each academic discipline.
Still, there is more to consider when evaluating secular resources. Do they positively advance the mission of Catholic education? Does their use crowd out authentic Catholic formation and learning? Do they implicitly teach relativism and falsehood?
These are questions addressed in The Cardinal Newman Society’s reviews of secular resources including Advanced Placement courses, the Common Core State Standards, the International Baccalaureate program, the Habits of Mind program and secular character development programs.
Recently, we also published Policy Standards for Secular Materials and Programs in Catholic Education, an overview of Catholic principles and recommended standards for Catholic school policies.
“Catholic educators teach and do more,” write the Newman Society’s Dr. Denise Donohue and Dr. Dan Guernsey. “This means they must ask more of any material or program imported into the educational environment and be ready to heavily adapt it toward a greater end.” They also must recognize that “some resources will be woefully insufficient, and others may have elements that actually work against the Catholic mission.”
Three missing elements
Secular education is never complete and can be dangerous, if not enlightened by our Catholic faith. It always lacks three things of the greatest importance:
1) Secular education refuses to admit the insights of Catholic teaching. An education that ignores God withholds understanding from its students.
The lack of catechesis is only part of the problem. Secular education restricts understanding in every course of study by eclipsing the light of the Church’s teachings, and it allows distortions and falsehoods to creep into every classroom. While subjects can be taught without reference to God, the approach is backward and narrow, deliberately limiting a student’s understanding of reality as fashioned by God according to His reason. Ignoring the truths of our faith implicitly denies the unity of knowledge, and it prevents a truly integrated education with God as the common thread.
Concerning the role of theology in education, St. John Henry Newman asked, “How can we investigate any part of any order of knowledge, and stop short of that which enters into every order? All true principles run over with it, all phenomena converge to it; it is truly the First and the Last.”
2) Secular education also lacks a sure moral and ethical foundation. An education that ignores God’s law withholds wisdom from its students.
While natural law and common sense allow people of very different religious faiths to come to some agreement on moral values, these are often skewed by personal biases and manipulated into ideologies. Today public education is dominated by moralistic claims that are often false or lack foundation in a true understanding of human dignity.
Again, according to Newman: secular education has the tendency of “throwing us back on ourselves, and making us our own center, and our minds the measure of all things.” The best scholar can “become hostile to Revealed Truth” and an “insidious and dangerous foe” of the Church. Therefore, while religion may not be essential to studying many subjects, nevertheless a true moral perspective rooted in Catholic teaching is necessary to preserve the “integrity” of education and the human person.
3) Secular education lacks the ecclesial mission of Catholic education, tied to the Church’s mission of evangelization and man’s purpose of seeking full communion with God. An education that ignores God withholds assistance toward sainthood.
Secular materials and programs in math, literature and even virtue development may appear suitable to Catholic education, because they include much of the same content. But mission drives Catholic education before content. Catholic education forms young people to use their unique human gifts of reason, free will and selfless charity toward the end for which they were created.
Whereas secular education helps students accumulate information and perhaps even develop skills of reasoning, Catholic education “ascends” above knowledge toward transcendental reality—another Newman insight—to better understand and appreciate God’s truth, goodness and beauty as found in creation and in the Church.
Ultimately, then, the gulf between secular and Catholic education is much wider than it may first seem, and secular resources are never as suitable as those designed with an authentic Catholic perspective. Only a faithful Catholic education can integrally form young people in both mind and soul, as God intends.
It is important that Catholic educators remain confident in the superior formation that a faithful Catholic education provides. Secular programs and materials should be examined cautiously, with a preference toward resources that are built upon a Catholic foundation.
Habits of Mind
An example of the dangers of secular programs can be found in the Habits of Mind program, which is popular in public schools and is making inroads in Catholic schools. Developed by Arthur Costa and Bena Kallick, Habits of Mind teaches 16 intellectual behaviors to help students make productive choices, especially when faced with dichotomies, dilemmas or uncertainties.
Catholics will find much to like in the program. “Many of the Habits of Mind correlate to moral virtues, such as: taking responsible risks (prudence), finding humor (affability), thinking interdependently (circumspection), remaining open to continuous learning (docility), managing impulsivity (temperance) and persisting (fortitude),” explains Dr. Denise Donohue in the Newman Society’s review.
Nevertheless, we have serious reservations about the program. It attempts to brand a set of virtues that have been promoted since ancient times, and it can tend to overshadow other and even more important habits that should be central to Catholic education, such as the Beatitudes and other Christian dispositions such as humility, gentleness, patience, faithfulness, goodness, godliness, joyfulness, modesty and love.
With regard to intellectual virtues, the Habits of Mind have a limited focus on problem-solving. They are less helpful in developing the “philosophical habit of mind” that St. John Henry Newman proposes as the aim of education. A graduate of Catholic education should be able to “ascend” above knowledge to seek truths that are foundational to reality and larger than experience, as in contemplating the natural and eternal law. The Habits of Mind, designed primarily for public schools, are focused on observation and experience but not transcendental truths leading to God the Creator. They also neglect the development of sound reasoning in support of a thesis and respect for authoritative sources, including the Catholic Church.
A good Catholic education should have no need for a program like Habits of Mind. In a Catholic curriculum, virtues overlap and occur throughout all levels and types of student formation. More than problem solving, Catholic education teaches truth and forms students for a lifetime of inquiry that leads to Truth Himself.
We offer recommendations for adapting the Habits of Mind program to Catholic education, but it would be better to adopt to the Newman Society’s Catholic Curriculum Standards. Our review of Habits of Mind includes a “crosswalk” to show how each of the program’s virtues are already included in the Catholic Curriculum Standards—and so much more.
Common Core
The Common Core State Standards are another secular remedy intended to improve public education yet adopted by many Catholic schools. Their focus on college and career is inadequate to serve the evangelical mission of Catholic education.
In 2013, the Newman Society’s Dr. Dan Guernsey offered 10 Critically Important Adaptations to the Common Core for Catholic Schools—an important aid to schools attempting to work with the new standards. But Guernsey warned that such adaptations ultimately fail to address “the fundamental conflict” between the Common Core and the “integral formation of students.” Catholic education teaches truth, goodness and beauty across the entire curriculum. “And, since the object of every academic discipline is truth, the Catholic curriculum should be based on the conviction that all truths ultimately converge in their source—God.”
Other Newman Society analyses helped clarify concerns about the Common Core. Guernsey and Donohue found that the standards’ “close reading/new criticism” approach to literature is contrary to Catholic education’s emphasis on the “real, rich and wonderful world outside the text.” The standards suggest that “the value of literature is not so much what it teaches us about how to live well, but that it teaches us how to read well (e.g. Just tell me what’s in the report, Johnson!).”
Guernsey was lead author of the Pioneer Institute’s 2016 report, After the Fall: Catholic Education Beyond the Common Core, which celebrates “the tremendous insight the Catholic intellectual tradition has always offered into the wonder, value, and glory present in all of God’s creation. Authentic academic inquiry and a fuller understanding of the human experience are completely fulfilled in the Catholic educational experience.”
Today many dioceses are still using the Common Core, part of a tradition of adopting state standards. As states shift to new standards, it is a good time to consider an alternative like the Newman Society’s Catholic Curriculum Standards, which fully embrace the mission of Catholic education.
International Baccalaureate
Recently it seems the International Baccalaureate (IB) program has been making inroads into Catholic schools, if the IB ads in Catholic publications are any indication. But when the Newman Society published its review of the IB program last year, Catholic schools were only about 2 percent of the 1,800 American schools adopting the program.
The Geneva-based program says it “aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.” Specialties include its college-directed “diploma program” in the last two years of high school and the foundational Theory of Knowledge course.
According to the Newman Society’s reviewers Dr. Denise Donohue and Dr. Dan Guernsey, the IB “takes a relativistic approach to truth” and “insists upon the exclusive use of the constructivist learning approach to the exclusion of other proven instructional methodologies.” This can encourage a constructivist philosophy, suggesting “that man constructs his own knowledge—even of reality —and that nothing exists that is not constructed in one’s own mind.”
Like other secular programs, the IB can crowd out more fully Catholic education. For instance, it requires schools to adopt its learner profile: “All IB learners strive to be Inquirers, Knowledgeable, Thinkers, Communicators, Open-Minded, Caring, Risk-Takers, Balanced, Principled, and Reflective.” But Donohue and Guernsey warn that these can be limiting and fail to incorporate many Christian virtues that are essential to Catholic formation.
The Newman Society recommends that schools not adopt the IB program. But for those that already have done so, our review recommends many steps that can be taken to adapt the IB program to be more suitable to Catholic education. These changes to the program are extensive and may conflict with IB resources and teacher training.
Catholic Curriculum Standards: Faithful to the Core
/in Academics Commentary, Commentary, Common Core, K12 Curriculum Standards Blog/by Kelly SalomonWhen Jill Annable began her role as assistant superintendent in the Diocese of Grand Rapids, the staff was working on rewriting its curriculum standards for all subject areas and all grades, to try to integrate Catholic identity across all content areas.
Educators who have worked on school standards know that it’s no small task. Fortunately for Annable and the Diocese of Grand Rapids, timely help provided just what they needed.
“We were drafting and drafting,” Annable recalled in a recent podcast produced by the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), where she now serves as the executive director of academic excellence. She remembers when her superintendent walked into her office and excitedly shared, “It was published, you can use it!” She meant the Catholic Curriculum Standards, which had just been released by The Cardinal Newman Society.
“When I opened it up, I realized that it was the missing piece,” Annable told Dr. Denise Donohue, the Newman Society’s deputy director of K-12 programs, who was also a guest on the podcast. “It was the language I needed to use without trying to invent it ourselves.”
The Diocese of Grand Rapids isn’t the only diocese to find our Catholic Curriculum Standards helpful.
“Since, in every school, the curriculum carries the mission, these Catholic Curriculum Standards are an invaluable contribution to Catholic schools everywhere,” says Father John Belmonte, S.J., superintendent of the Diocese of Venice.
“Catholic schools have benefited from the standards-based reform movement in education with one notable exception: the absence of rigorous standards rooted and grounded in our Catholic tradition,” Fr. Belmonte continues. “Implementation of the Catholic Curriculum Standards will provide a renewed sense of mission for our Catholic schools operating within the increasingly secularized world of education today.”
Today, at least 28 diocesan school systems and many other Catholic schools across the United States—serving more than 270,000 students—use the Catholic Curriculum Standards to replace or supplement their existing diocesan standards.
Common Core concerns
Over the last decade, many public and Catholic schools across the country have adopted the Common Core State Standards. But the Common Core is a secular program designed with utilitarian goals—to lift up under-achieving public school students for success in college and careers. Aside from disagreements about its embrace of controversial methods and educational theories, the Common Core was never intended for the fullness of human flourishing that the Church demands of Catholic education.
Giving voice to the concerns of many Catholic families, the Newman Society’s “Catholic Is Our Core” program has informed Catholic educators about shortcomings of the Common Core. It began with a campaign by mail, email, social media and web outreach to educate Catholic families, leaders and educators and to urge Catholic schools to reject or at least radically adapt the Common Core standards to the mission of Catholic education. Our analyses have been featured in national Catholic publications and on Catholic radio and television.
In 2013, consistent with many of the Newman Society’s concerns, a cadre of Catholic college professors (132 altogether) signed a joint letter stating they were “convinced that Common Core is so deeply flawed that it should not be adopted by Catholic schools” and that those who had adopted it “should seek an orderly withdrawal.” The following year, the education office of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement warning that the Common Core standards alone are insufficient for Catholic schools.
Today it is clear that the Common Core has failed to produce the promised improvements in both public and Catholic schools, and states and dioceses are pulling back from the misguided standards. What now should replace them? The Common Core experience, though messy, helped spark widespread interest among Catholic bishops, educators and families for something better. It is toward that goal that the Newman Society’s staff turned, striving for a uniquely Catholic set of standards.
Providing a solution
In 2015, the Newman Society resolved to answer a question posed by several bishops and diocesan superintendents: “If Catholic education is distinct from secular education, then where are the standards for Catholic educators?”
Our response is the Catholic Curriculum Standards, rooted firmly in the Church’s teaching on Catholic education and her long tradition of liberal arts formation in truth, goodness and beauty.
“The first time I read them, I thought this isn’t the ‘Catholic Common Core.’ This is the why and the how, and gives the beauty to why we teach math, why we inquire in science. You wouldn’t just slap these standards on top of Common Core,” said Annable.
The standards specifically cover the core subjects of English, history, scientific topics and mathematics, but Annable says her diocese was able to apply the standards to elective courses as well, which she says was a “true gift.”
Developing the Catholic Curriculum Standards was a labor of love. The Newman Society staff spent two years analyzing Church documents to identify key elements the Church expects to find in all Catholic schools. Those were distilled into the Newman Society’s Principles of Catholic Identity in Education, which are similar to Archbishop Michael Miller’s “essential marks of Catholic schools,” but capturing more of the language and balance of Vatican documents.
For the standards project, the Newman Society’s Dr. Dan Guernsey and Dr. Denise Donohue studied these Principles, Church documents, scholarly works related to Catholic education and the Catholic intellectual tradition, and books articulating the nature of liberal arts and classical education. They also met with more than a dozen professors from faithful Catholic colleges to consider what knowledge and formation one should expect from a Catholic school graduate.
A Catholic foundation
The Catholic Curriculum Standards include “dispositional” standards for each academic discipline, along with expected “content” or “intellectual” standards.
As Guernsey and Donohue were reviewing Church documents for curricular application, they noticed much discussion about the formation of dispositions within students. That topic was much more prominent than concerns about course content. For example:
Creating the dispositional standards has proven beneficial for Catholic schools needing to address the National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools (NSBECS) for accreditation purposes. Schools using the Catholic Curriculum Standards, along with a solid virtue program, are able to address numerous benchmarks required for accreditation.
For the mathematics standards, the Catholic perspective is primarily dispositional. The Catholic Curriculum Standards expect students to identify truth and falsehood in relationships and to acquire the mental habits of “precise, determined, careful and accurate questioning, inquiry and reasoning.”
Examples of English literature standards include, “Explain how Christian and Western symbols and symbolism communicate the battle between good and evil and make reality visible” and “Demonstrate how literature is used to develop a religious, moral and social sense.” The English standards especially earned high praise from Sandra Stotsky, Ed.D., who is a national consultant in standards development and author of the highly regarded Massachusetts Academic Standards. She proved very helpful to the Newman Society’s work as well.
“The K-12 standards and suggested readings in Appendix C for the reading/literature curriculum in Catholic schools reflect more than the uniqueness of their intellectual tradition,” Stotsky said. “They also provide the academic rigor missing in most public-school English language arts curricula.”
Inspiring and crucial
The impact of the Catholic Curriculum Standards over the past five years has been exciting.
“The Catholic Curriculum Standards are EXACTLY what I have been wanting—specific in the areas of faith formation and the pursuit of goodness, truth and beauty, but broad enough to give the teachers latitude in their instructional methods,” said Lynette Schmitz, the principal of St. John Paul II Preparatory School, a Catholic classical hybrid school in St. Louis, Mo.
Derek Tremblay, headmaster of Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, N.H, agrees. “I thoroughly love the Standards that The Cardinal Newman Society has put out and have yet to find anything comparable.”
Another Catholic school principal, Janice Martinez, principal of Holy Child Catholic School in Tijeras, N.M., said: “I find the standards of education you have recently publicized to be inspiring. I believe the work you do is crucial and support your mission.”
Despite the great success of the Catholic Curriculum Standards, there’s much more work to be done. Standards help establish a school’s priorities and promote the right outcomes of truly faithful Catholic education. But curriculum standards alone can never determine what happens in the classroom.
We hope that the Catholic Curriculum Standards will promote greater integration of the faith in every academic discipline, leading eventually to new and improved textbooks, lesson plans, teacher training and school evaluation.
The complete Catholic Curriculum Standards are available to educators at no cost on the Newman Society’s website, together with helpful appendices and resources to support implementing the standards. Feel free to reach out to The Cardinal Newman Society if you are interested in knowing more about the standards and how they might be used in your diocese, school or homeschool program.
On Racism and Cancel Culture
/in Blog Commentary, Critical Race Theory Blog/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffAmid high racial, social and political tensions in America today, Catholic parents and educators are eager to teach students about race, gender, justice and human dignity. That’s a good thing.
But adopting divisive and ideologically driven innovations like “critical race theory,” “woke-ism,” “gender ideology” and the “cancel culture” is not the way of faithful Catholic education.
The Newman Society has studied these topics and published new guidance at our website to hep educators confront sins of racism, unjust discrimination and bullying while rejecting dangerous ideologies. Instead of adopting new and popular approaches to difficult topics, Catholic educators should rely on faithfully Catholic materials including the clear instruction in Vatican documents, U.S. bishops’ pastoral letters and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Critical race theory
“Critical race theory (CRT) asserts that America’s legal framework is inherently racist and that race itself, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of color,” explains Dr. Denise Donohue, the Newman Society’s vice president for educator resources, in her recent Catholic World Report article that summarizes a more substantial backgrounder on critical race theory published at the Newman Society website.
CRT rests on a view of society as oppressors and oppressed, with emphasis on imbalances of power instead of the inherent dignity of each individual and the complexities of a pluralistic society. Donohue’s backgrounder explains the development of CRT from “critical theory” and its foundation in Marxism, which the Church has rejected as a dangerous political ideology. CRT’s introduction in the classroom therefore manipulates education for political ends. The theory calls for dismantling and rebuilding American legal and social structures, and its critique of Western society sometimes charges the Church and Christian notions of God, marriage and gender as inherently racist.
“Students taught with critical race theory materials can become racists in the literal sense of the word: they may treat others (the perceived oppressor race) unfairly because of skin color or background,” Donohue warns. “Division into categories of good and bad based on skin color is a reversal of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and antithetical to a Catholic understanding of human dignity and equality.”
Cancel culture
Another concern is the “cancel culture,” which hastily labels even the most rational and sympathetic commentary on topics like gender and race as either “bigoted” or “leftist,” often with severe social consequences. In an increasingly secular society, Catholics are especially at risk of unfair judgment—even among fellow Catholics.
Catholic education must not fall into this trap.
“Authentic Catholic education does not cancel culture; it elevates, redeems and transmits culture,” writes senior fellow Dr. Dan Guernsey at The Catholic Thing. “It seeks out and celebrates truth, beauty and goodness, wherever they are found—and if they are missing, Catholic education points that out as well.”
Guernsey’s helpful list of things that Catholic educators can do to counter ideology and division (see the full list at TheCatholicThing.org) include:
Bottom line: Catholic educators already teach authentic Catholic moral and social doctrine and Christian charity. By confidently teaching and witnessing to the Gospel, Catholic educators provide an outstanding education and formation for their students under every circumstance.
Reviving the Lost Art of Reading in Catholic Homes
/in Blog Commentary, Literature and Library Latest/by Bob LairdMy family has always had an assortment of books around the house for our children, and now for our grandchildren as well. Fond memories recur when I hear the grandchildren squeal with delight, as they explore the vast new worlds opening before them.
Inspired by his fourth-grade cousin, the rising first-grader reads anything within reach, especially “chapter books” and stories of saints. His parents patiently clarify the words that are not yet within his vocabulary.
His younger sister is exuberant when she realizes she can form letters into words, and words into sentences. Curious George is one of her bedtime favorites.
The vast new world, contained between the covers of a book, stimulates the imagination of these young readers as they are drawn more deeply to seek the truth, beauty, and goodness of the world in which they live.
Unfortunately, this joy of reading is absent from many homes today. Jean Twenge, an academic psychologist who studies the iPhone generation (iGens), recently told the Wall Street Journal that, “The percentage of high-school students who read books or other long-form content every day has dropped from 60 percent to 15 percent since the 1980s.” This is attributed to “short attention spans,” given today’s emphasis on social media and general internet surfing.
Continue reading at The Catholic World Report…
60 Pro-Abortion Congressmen Flunk Catholicism 101
/in Blog Latest, PR Register Column/by Patrick ReillyWhen 60 members of the House of Representatives — all of them baptized Catholics — issued their ultimatum last week demanding access to the Eucharist despite their pro-abortion politics, it became apparent how little they know about the Catholic faith and Christ’s invitation to communion with him.
The signers clearly hope to turn the bishops’ appeal for “Eucharistic coherency” into a partisan issue, even though it impacts Catholics of every political stripe. But regardless of which party these politicians belong to, what most concerns me is the fact that prominent Catholics displayed such ignorance of the Church’s fundamental teaching and practice concerning the Eucharist. Which made me wonder: how many attended Catholic schools and colleges?
In the past, I have lamented the number of pro-abortion members of Congress who graduated from Catholic colleges, mostly Jesuit institutions. Often they are celebrated as successful alumni, despite their flagrant opposition to the Church’s reverence for the sanctity of all human life.
The bewildering fact is that half of the 60 who signed last week’s letter received a Catholic education. Of those 30 representatives, at least 15 attended Catholic high schools and 22 attended Catholic colleges, 16 of them Jesuit institutions.
What does this say about Catholic education in recent decades? Perhaps these politicians received a good education and later turned away from the Faith — that certainly is possible. But given the abundance of evidence of the poor catechesis of Catholics, widespread dissent on abortion and contraception, and weak Catholic identity in many schools and colleges over the last five decades, the Church likely bears some responsibility for failing to properly form these men and women as saints instead of obstinate sinners.
On the other hand, the fact that 31 never had a Catholic high school or college education (I was unable to find much information about their elementary schools) also raises serious questions about the lack of adequate formation for most baptized Catholics. The consequences are clear: too many people claim to be Catholic but lack respect for the Eucharist and are unashamed of their support for abortion, same-sex marriage and other obvious moral evils. They should be ashamed — and so should we — for not doing everything possible to ensure a faithful Catholic education for every Catholic child.
We must do better. And if we do, the impact on society and the Church will be something wonderful to behold.
A version of this article by Patrick Reilly, president and founder of The Cardinal Newman Society, first appeared at the National Catholic Register.
Statement from the Cardinal Newman Society on amicus brief in Maxon v Fuller Theological Seminary
/in Blog Latest, Statements and Press Releases/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffThe Cardinal Newman Society joined an amicus brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the case Maxon v Fuller Theological Seminary, urging the court to protect the seminary’s right to set religious and moral standards for its students and members, regardless of the Biden administration’s interpretation of Title IX as applying to homosexuality and gender identity.
The plaintiffs, two students who were expelled for violating the seminary’s rules against same-sex unions, argue that the religious exemption in Title IX should not protect a nondenominational and independent religious institution.
“It is dangerous and un-American to deny a share in religious freedom for nondenominational and independent religious institutions,” said Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society. “Such a policy would unconstitutionally discriminate against many of America’s religious schools and colleges, including those Catholic schools and colleges that are faithful to their beliefs but legally independent of the Catholic Church.”
The brief, which the Newman Society joined with the Christian Legal Society and other religious organizations, schools, and colleges, calls on the Ninth Circuit court to recognize that an independent institution controlled by a board of trustees with deeply held religious convictions and a religious mission is “controlled by a religious organization” for the purposes of the Title IX exemption.
The Cardinal Newman Society recognizes faithful Catholic schools and colleges and invited several to join the brief, including Belmont Abbey College (N.C.), Benedictine College (Kan.), Franciscan University of Steubenville (Ohio), Lumen Christi High School (Ind.), Marian High School (Ind.), the Regina Academies (Penn.), and Thomas More College of Liberal Arts (N.H.).
Other signers represent a variety of beliefs, including the American Association of Christian Schools, Association for Biblical Higher Education, Association of Christian Schools International, General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Read the brief here
Newman Society Files Amicus Brief on Upholding Religious Exemption – 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
/in Blog Amicus Briefs, Public Policy and Legal (General)/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffThe Cardinal Newman Society joined an amicus brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the case Maxon v Fuller Theological Seminary, urging the court to protect the seminary’s right to set religious and moral standards for its students and members, regardless of the Biden administration’s interpretation of Title IX as applying to homosexuality and gender identity.