Among young adult Catholics, nearly three-quarters do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. It’s a staggering statistic, but it’s not all that surprising given the state of our culture and many college campuses today.
Most colleges, even many wayward Catholic colleges, give little regard to the commands of Jesus Christ. Students face toxic campus environments with high rates of binge drinking, drug use, and a rampant hook-up culture. They’re taught from a secular worldview and may be fed false theology.
Now imagine four years—some of the most formative in life—immersed in a truly Catholic culture and education. It’s life-changing! Students are taught proper theology that explains the Real Presence in the Eucharist. And they learn how to live a “Eucharistic life” with Jesus Christ at the center.
At a faithful Catholic college, you’ll find students encouraged to pray, receive the sacraments, form good friendships, grow in modesty and virtue, have good clean fun, and discern their careers and vocations in prayer. These are fruits of Eucharistic living.
The pillars of Eucharistic living
One faithful Catholic college that encourages Eucharistic living—that is, helping students live according to the reality of Christ within them—is Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio.
“Saint Francis of Assisi wrote more about the Eucharist in his writings than anything else—and he lived the Eucharist! He called his followers, and he calls us today, to be devoted to the Eucharistic Lord,” explains Father Jonathan St. André, TOR, vice president of Franciscan life at the University.
We “encourage ‘Eucharistic living’ on campus by making the Eucharist the center of our lives,” Fr. St. André explained, pointing to daily Mass, Sunday Mass, perpetual Adoration on campus, the Festival of Praise that includes Adoration and praise and worship music, and a message delivered one Saturday evening each month.
Flowing out of the sacraments, “Eucharistic living” is encouraged through the “experience of living in small faith communities called ‘households’ where students live like Jesus Christ, with other students seeking to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit and going out to sanctify the world.” Nearly half of the student body lives in a household, in which students share life’s ups and downs, pray together, and hold each other accountable.
Additionally, “our professors strive in the classroom to communicate the integration of faith and reason in every discipline.” Fr. St. André added, “We also encourage our students to see that they possess great dignity as creatures of body and soul, and this is manifest in their humanity; a humanity ennobled by the gift of the Eucharist.”
Beauty encourages Eucharistic living
The Eucharist is at the heart of Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts in Warner, N.H., where beautiful liturgy, art, sacred music, and Catholic culture help students live a Eucharistic lifestyle.
“Scenic mountain vistas are the backdrop to Magdalen’s 100-acre campus atop Mount Kearsarge, and a brick and granite chapel stands at the center. It is the intentional hub of the community,” explains Tristan Smith, director of collegiate choirs at Magdalen. At midday, all classes and activities are paused for daily Mass. Liturgy of the Hours, all-night Eucharistic adoration, and Eucharistic processions are frequent on campus.
Magdalen is intentional about exposing students to beauty, which leads them to Christ. Students learn chant, polyphony, and classic hymns, they write Byzantine icons, and they participate in reverent liturgy in both Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms.
Holy Week liturgies on campus are especially impressive, with Gregorian Chant included in Palm Sunday Mass and Spy Wednesday Tenebrae Service, and bells and Alleluias marking the Great Easter Vigil. “All our efforts combine to render our best gifts of beauty to God,” the College declares.
“When visitors stop by Magdalen College, they often express wonder at the hospitality of students, the reverence of the liturgies, or the rich harmonies of the 70-voice choir. Upon departing, visitors feel like they are leaving home,” remarks Smith.
“They are not wrong,” he says. “When young Catholics invite Christ into their heart, He makes it His home, seamlessly and effortlessly. The Eucharist is our resting place; a resting place that we at Magdalen College call home.”
Living with Christ
With the Eucharist at the center of campus, students at faithful Catholic colleges are encouraged to make a right ordering of priorities and a right way of living.
That’s exciting to a growing number of college-bound students, such as Sarah Davis, who is The Cardinal Newman Society’s 2022 Essay Scholarship Contest winner. Davis is a freshman at Christendom College in Front Royal, Va., this fall because she wants to “maintain and augment” the foundation she’s received in the faith, “rather than having to struggle to keep it.”
“I am convinced that a faithful Catholic college which is strongly devoted to the Eucharist will uniquely and positively impact my religious, moral, intellectual, and social formation,” explains Davis. While many students lose their faith in college, Newman Guide colleges are helping students grow in faith rooted in the Eucharist.
And it’s no wonder, therefore, that Newman Guide colleges are disproportionately preparing students for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Christendom College has fostered more than 90 vocations to the priesthood. Approximately 10 percent of alumni of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, Calif., have pursued a religious vocation.
Ultimately, the goal for all students at faithful Catholic colleges is Jesus Christ Himself. Rather than sadness and a college experience that spirals them into sin, faithful Catholic education leads students to lasting happiness and holiness.
How to Promote Eucharistic Devotion at Your School
/in Academics Commentary, Eucharistic Education/by Dr. Dan GuernseyTeaching young people about the Eucharist is important, but as Pope St. John Paul II warned in Catechesi Tradendae, the academic life can become too “intellectualized” without sacramental and Eucharistic devotion. Our students need to know of Christ’s Real Presence in the Mass, but then they need to love and adore Him.
At Donahue Academy, a parish K-12 school in Ave Maria, Fla., that I am honored to lead, we have taken several steps to promote Eucharistic devotion. Of course these are not the only ways of doing it, but they might suggest ideas for other Catholic educators.
1. Make devotion an explicit, visible part of the mission
Our School’s mission statement declares it to be a place “in which students encounter Christ and pursue excellence in all things. Our students will deepen their love of God and others through the pursuit of all that is true, good, and beautiful.”
We express that mission visibly in our school seal, which includes images of our parish church, a monstrance, a stylized Sacred Heart as part of a shamrock (our school’s team name), a book, and the words Christum novisse (encountering Christ). The seal serves as a story platform where we share how students will encounter Christ and pursue excellence through the sacraments (especially the Eucharist), their love for God and each other (the Sacred Heart), and their studies (the book).
While other schools will have unique articulations of their missions, all Catholic schools hold a common mission outlined by the Church. This mission is articulated in The Cardinal Newman Society’s Principles of Catholic Identity in Education:
1 | Inspired by Divine Mission
2 | Models Christian Communion and Identity
3 | Encounters Christ in Prayer, Scripture & Sacrament
4 | Integrally Forms the Human Person
5 | Imparts a Christian Understanding of the World
One can quickly see how devotion to the Eucharist hits all five principles. The Eucharist is the summation of everything we are trying to do as a Catholic school. If students get the Real Presence right, everything else naturally falls into place.
2. Make Mass a central, reverent, and frequent part of school life
Offering daily Mass creates a strong, vibrant Catholic culture. At Donahue Academy, we have a slightly longer school day (15-20 minutes based on grade level), and by offering Mass without a homily, our worship ends in 25 minutes. Mass is held in the gymnasium, and even that helps build community by having one grade set up in preparation for Mass and another grade tear down. The worship space is kept dark, with Gregorian Chant playing as students arrive. We kneel directly on the floor or in the bleachers, stressing the importance of reverence even when it seems a bit uncomfortable.
Daily Mass is required for grades K-8, but with parental permission, grades 9-12 can select Mass or a silent study hall that begins with reading the daily Gospel. Approximately 80 percent of our high school students voluntarily attend Mass. On Fridays, Mass attendance is required, and a short sermon is added along with beautiful, sacred music sung by a choir. We invest heavily in our choir and shower them with treats and awards as they serve multiple functions in our community. We heavily recruit and entice students to join the choir to ensure its elevated status.
In addressing the current loss of Eucharistic devotion in the Church, Father Peter Stravinskas has said, “Clear, unambiguous, orthodox teaching on the Holy Eucharist must be bolstered by unequivocal signs and symbols in the sacred liturgy. Students desperately need a sense of the sacred, of mystery, and of awe in God’s presence. To get students to encounter Christ in the Eucharist, we must do Liturgy and worship extremely well.”
In celebrating the Eucharist, we Catholic educators should be thoughtful, intentional, and spare no expense in time, effort, or accoutrement to fill this need. The challenge is real, and the response must be guided by the Spirit and the rich traditions of the Church, of which so many students and parents are unaware. Great things await students under such direction!
3. Make the Tabernacle accessible
We turned our most central and visible classroom space into a beautiful Eucharistic chapel, big enough for an entire class to visit. Every day our students walk by the chapel, prompting many to stop in for a visit. When the faculty “catch” the students praying or vice versa, powerful values are communicated and quietly strengthened. The ease and naturalness of a Eucharist encounter goes a long way!
4. First Friday Adoration
The U.S. bishops’ conference emphasizes that Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament flows from the sacrifice of the Mass and serves to deepen our hunger for communion with Christ and the rest of the Church.
For younger students, we start small with some singing and prayers, but we slowly help them grow in the ability to dwell peacefully in silence before the Lord. Each class takes time to adore Christ throughout the day, and we include the entire school in Benediction. The space is kept dark and prayerful with candles and lingering incense.
For the older students who may spend up to a full-class period in His Presence, we have Rosaries, Bibles, prayer books, and journals on hand. Also, at our first and last faculty meetings of the year and our Christmas celebration, the faculty gather for 30 minutes of Adoration and Benediction to pray for each other and their students.
5. Eucharistic processions
We offer a Eucharistic procession during Catholic schools week, with stations set up around the outside of the school. We find that having a Rosary procession in October prepares for the needed reverence and focus to achieve a school-wide Eucharistic procession in January. It is important to keep silent and focused and, when appropriate, kneel on the bare ground as a community in worship and humility. Again, the fruits of this are real and even spectacular!
Eucharistic Living in College
/in Academics Commentary, Eucharistic Education/by Kelly SalomonAmong young adult Catholics, nearly three-quarters do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. It’s a staggering statistic, but it’s not all that surprising given the state of our culture and many college campuses today.
Most colleges, even many wayward Catholic colleges, give little regard to the commands of Jesus Christ. Students face toxic campus environments with high rates of binge drinking, drug use, and a rampant hook-up culture. They’re taught from a secular worldview and may be fed false theology.
Now imagine four years—some of the most formative in life—immersed in a truly Catholic culture and education. It’s life-changing! Students are taught proper theology that explains the Real Presence in the Eucharist. And they learn how to live a “Eucharistic life” with Jesus Christ at the center.
At a faithful Catholic college, you’ll find students encouraged to pray, receive the sacraments, form good friendships, grow in modesty and virtue, have good clean fun, and discern their careers and vocations in prayer. These are fruits of Eucharistic living.
The pillars of Eucharistic living
One faithful Catholic college that encourages Eucharistic living—that is, helping students live according to the reality of Christ within them—is Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio.
“Saint Francis of Assisi wrote more about the Eucharist in his writings than anything else—and he lived the Eucharist! He called his followers, and he calls us today, to be devoted to the Eucharistic Lord,” explains Father Jonathan St. André, TOR, vice president of Franciscan life at the University.
We “encourage ‘Eucharistic living’ on campus by making the Eucharist the center of our lives,” Fr. St. André explained, pointing to daily Mass, Sunday Mass, perpetual Adoration on campus, the Festival of Praise that includes Adoration and praise and worship music, and a message delivered one Saturday evening each month.
Flowing out of the sacraments, “Eucharistic living” is encouraged through the “experience of living in small faith communities called ‘households’ where students live like Jesus Christ, with other students seeking to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit and going out to sanctify the world.” Nearly half of the student body lives in a household, in which students share life’s ups and downs, pray together, and hold each other accountable.
Additionally, “our professors strive in the classroom to communicate the integration of faith and reason in every discipline.” Fr. St. André added, “We also encourage our students to see that they possess great dignity as creatures of body and soul, and this is manifest in their humanity; a humanity ennobled by the gift of the Eucharist.”
Beauty encourages Eucharistic living
The Eucharist is at the heart of Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts in Warner, N.H., where beautiful liturgy, art, sacred music, and Catholic culture help students live a Eucharistic lifestyle.
“Scenic mountain vistas are the backdrop to Magdalen’s 100-acre campus atop Mount Kearsarge, and a brick and granite chapel stands at the center. It is the intentional hub of the community,” explains Tristan Smith, director of collegiate choirs at Magdalen. At midday, all classes and activities are paused for daily Mass. Liturgy of the Hours, all-night Eucharistic adoration, and Eucharistic processions are frequent on campus.
Magdalen is intentional about exposing students to beauty, which leads them to Christ. Students learn chant, polyphony, and classic hymns, they write Byzantine icons, and they participate in reverent liturgy in both Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms.
Holy Week liturgies on campus are especially impressive, with Gregorian Chant included in Palm Sunday Mass and Spy Wednesday Tenebrae Service, and bells and Alleluias marking the Great Easter Vigil. “All our efforts combine to render our best gifts of beauty to God,” the College declares.
“When visitors stop by Magdalen College, they often express wonder at the hospitality of students, the reverence of the liturgies, or the rich harmonies of the 70-voice choir. Upon departing, visitors feel like they are leaving home,” remarks Smith.
“They are not wrong,” he says. “When young Catholics invite Christ into their heart, He makes it His home, seamlessly and effortlessly. The Eucharist is our resting place; a resting place that we at Magdalen College call home.”
Living with Christ
With the Eucharist at the center of campus, students at faithful Catholic colleges are encouraged to make a right ordering of priorities and a right way of living.
That’s exciting to a growing number of college-bound students, such as Sarah Davis, who is The Cardinal Newman Society’s 2022 Essay Scholarship Contest winner. Davis is a freshman at Christendom College in Front Royal, Va., this fall because she wants to “maintain and augment” the foundation she’s received in the faith, “rather than having to struggle to keep it.”
“I am convinced that a faithful Catholic college which is strongly devoted to the Eucharist will uniquely and positively impact my religious, moral, intellectual, and social formation,” explains Davis. While many students lose their faith in college, Newman Guide colleges are helping students grow in faith rooted in the Eucharist.
And it’s no wonder, therefore, that Newman Guide colleges are disproportionately preparing students for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Christendom College has fostered more than 90 vocations to the priesthood. Approximately 10 percent of alumni of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, Calif., have pursued a religious vocation.
Ultimately, the goal for all students at faithful Catholic colleges is Jesus Christ Himself. Rather than sadness and a college experience that spirals them into sin, faithful Catholic education leads students to lasting happiness and holiness.
CNS Joins Amicus Brief Upholding Title VII Religious Exemption – Billard v Charlotte Catholic High School, 4th Circuit
/in Blog Amicus Briefs, Public Policy and Legal (General)/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffThe Cardinal Newman Society joined an amicus brief at the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, urging the court to protect Charlotte Catholic High School’s religious exemption from Title VII employment law.
Bellarmine Fund: Sharing the Treasure of Faithful Catholic Education
/in Blog Latest, Newman Guide Articles/by Kelly SalomonThree college students who first met while attending a Catholic high school in Florida have launched a scholarship fund to help others experience faithful Catholic education at a Newman Guide college.
“As we went off to different colleges, we kept in touch and found time to catch up whenever we returned home for school breaks. During one of those breaks, we began to discuss ways the three of us could work together to build up the Kingdom of God,” explained Matthew Uzdavinis. “We all wanted to serve the Church in some specific way.”
The fruit of the discussions between Uzdavinis, Justin Bailey and Andres Donovan is the Saint Robert Bellarmine Fund, which annually awards scholarships to 10 high school seniors who display both merit and need and wish to attend one of the Catholic colleges recognized by The Cardinal Newman Society for fidelity and strong Catholic formation. The $8,000 scholarships are renewable for four years. The fund is guided by the Bailey Family Foundation, a philanthropy devoted to improving the availability and quality of post-secondary education.
“When we started the Saint Robert Bellarmine Fund, the three of us were convinced we wanted to focus solely on promoting and making Catholic higher education possible,” said Uzdavinis. “However, we didn’t want to lead students to secularized Catholic colleges that do not teach the fullness of the Catholic faith and perhaps even purposely sway young people from what the Church has taught for centuries.”
“In such places, divine truth is set aside for radical ideologies and socially progressive propaganda, as if truth were somehow outdated and left behind for something better,” Uzdavinis lamented. “It’s a tragedy when this occurs, because when truth is abandoned, delusion sets in. We see this everywhere in our world today.”
“The Cardinal Newman Society’s list of recommended colleges is, in our opinion, the best catalogue of authentically Catholic colleges in the country,” Uzdavinis explained. “We decided to limit our scholarship opportunity to students who want that truly faithful Catholic education for themselves.”
The Saint Robert Bellarmine Fund will be an answer to prayer for many Catholic families eager to experience faithful Catholic higher education.
“We hope to help Catholic families throughout the country who could use the financial assistance,” Uzdavinis explained. “We know from personal experience higher education can be expensive, but we’ve discovered a treasure in faithful Catholic education and this fund is designed to share that treasure with others.”
Building from experience
“The bell rang and down the aisle came about 10 altar boys all neatly arranged with cassock and surplice, incense, golden torches—all the smells and bells of Catholic liturgy. At that time, I had just graduated eighth grade and wasn’t versed or interested in the faith, but this procession on my very first day at my new high school caught my attention,” remembers Uzdavinis.
“The beauty and reverence of the liturgy was unlike anything I had ever seen before, and it transferred into the way theology was taught in the classroom by our teachers,” Uzdavinis continued. “From that point on, the relationships I cultivated with priests, seminarians, teachers and other students grew because they were all grounded in an awe and love for the authentic Catholic faith.”
Uzdavinis became “great friends in the Lord” with Bailey and Donovan, who were impacted by similar experiences.
“I remember having teachers at Jesuit High School who would sit with me after school for long periods of time, explaining the faith. I was shocked to discover the Church always had answers to questions I thought problematic. It strengthened my faith immensely,” shared Bailey.
Donovan agreed: having teachers who were “firm in their faith” was instrumental in his life and in his decision to attend Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio, a faithful Catholic college recognized by The Newman Guide.
“All of my teachers since arriving at Franciscan have stressed the importance of allowing my faith to be integrated into every aspect of my studies. They have taught me to be proud that I am Catholic and to think for myself. I want every Catholic to be encouraged to integrate their faith into every part of their lives,” urged Donovan.
CNS Joins Amicus Brief on Constitutional Rights of Religious Colleges – YU Pride v Yeshiva University, N.Y. Supreme Court
/in Blog Amicus Briefs, Public Policy and Legal (General)/by Christopher ByrneThe Cardinal Newman Society joined an amicus brief at the New York Supreme Court, urging the court to protect Yeshiva University’s religious freedom to deny recognition to a student club.
What Makes Catholic School Libraries Different?
/in Academics Commentary, Literature and Library/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffAdapted from Literature, Library, and Media Guide for Catholic Educators
By Denise Donohue Ed.D. and Dan Guernsey Ed.D.
As Catholic education’s mission is different, a Catholic school library is also different since all elements within an institution—including its library—should adhere to its mission. Catholic school libraries don’t have to abide by secular association’s book lists. As a matter of mission, and religious freedom, they should look nothing like public school libraries.
The mission of Catholic education is to form students in sanctity in this life for salvation in the next. Providing students with wholesome literature that satisfies the moral imagination and assists in the formation of virtue and full human flourishing are the prescription for this, not writings that denigrate the human person or leave students with sinful thoughts or feelings of shame or despair. This follows a catechetical best practice of not leaving students without the hope of the resurrection and God’s eternal love when talking about Jesus’ death on the cross. When we allow young people to read literature that is sorrowful or confusing, especially about the unique nature of the human person, without countering these messages with the Good News of Jesus Christ, we do both them and us a disservice.
A Catholic school library does not seek to provide access to “all kinds of books,” but rather the best and most meaningful books aligned with the school’s mission. Even books that appear to have nothing harmful in them may not make sense to include in the library’s collection if it is unduly attracting students away from the best readings. For example, the cartoon-enhanced book, Ellie McDougal, may be more attractive and less work than Little Women, and the book Captain Underpants may be more enticing than Captains Courageous. But there is no doubt which books are better for our children. When the “harmless” gets in the way of the excellent, it’s not as harmless as first thought.
Efforts should be made to steer youth to lasting and meaningful works that have high quality writing and artistry and ideals of enduring value. There are plenty of other options outside of the school and the school library for trite and frivolous reading.
For the youngest readers, it’s important to be aware of impure archetypes that might mislead or confuse them about real hostile forces, both human and demonic, and young adult selections should avoid novels that center on suicide, death, extreme alienation, sexuality, or modern broken families or which present parents as enemies and obstacles to “freedom.” These should be replaced by books promoting exploration, courage, loyalty, and nobility when students are working through sometimes difficult developmental changes.
Individuals working in the library should accept their responsibility as curators of formative material, taking seriously their task of acting in loco parentis (in the place of parents), and support Catholic parents in their desire for faithful Catholic education. The Catholic school does not intend to censor books out of the public domain, but, within its own private domain and targeted audience, the school must be faithful to its mission of human formation for this life and the next.
Classic Literature Rises Above Agendas, Ideology
/in Academics Commentary, Literature and Library/by Dr. Dan GuernseyIf education is the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another as G.K. Chesterton once said, then literature is the substance nourishing or corrupting that soul. With this sublime view, it’s no wonder literature now sits in the crosshairs of today’s culture wars as certain groups fight to remove classic works from school curricula and libraries in favor of new works that press false ideologies and political agendas. These often push secular materialist worldviews on even the youngest of children, effectively destroying and replacing the Catholic worldview.
For instance, Scholastic Book Club—which is often promoted to students in Catholic schools—sells books promoting both gender theory and critical race theory. The Moon Within concerns a young girl and notions of “gender fluidity.” Several books by Alex Gino introduce children to homosexuality and gender dysphoria. In Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, activist Ibram Kendi accuses Booker T. Washington, President Barack Obama, and other Black American leaders of being “assimilationists” guilty of implicit racism.
These themes have made even deeper inroads onto Catholic college campuses—and then back into Catholic schools. Loyola University Maryland’s Karson Institute, for instance, recently teamed up with Ms. Magazine to issue lesson plans and an annotated bibliography promoting critical race theory literature in K-12 schools.
An eternal response
Catholic school administrators should approach this challenge of literature selection as they do all challenges—through the light of their unique mission.
In the Declaration on Christian Education (Gravissimum educationis), Pope Paul VI highlights how Catholic schools are to “order the whole of human culture to the news of salvation so that the knowledge the students gradually acquire of the world, life and man is illumined by faith.”
As Catholic educators strive to expand the knowledge, understanding, and humanity of their students, they should not make literature selections simply based on the fleeting fancies of what students want to read, what is politically correct or what is culturally in fashion. Instead, they should seek works of excellence that encompass aesthetic beauty and artistic merit; have stood the test of time and address perennial challenges of humanity. Literature that is outstanding and describes instances of human excellence and Christian virtue are solid, lasting choices.
It is crucial to note, Catholic education does not simply mirror the common culture; nor does it uncritically pass it on. Catholic education doesn’t cancel culture; it supports it wherever possible, critiques it when needed, and improves it with Christian insight.
Antidote for pop culture
One powerful reason Catholic educators should select enduring works of literature is because literature has the potential to break students free from the culture and circumstances that may bind and/or blind them.
Make no mistake, the culture that has most students in its thrall is the current pop culture: it’s TikTok social media, academia, big tech, professional athletics, fashion, and popular music.
It is not yet Homer, Augustine, Mozart, Dante, Dostoyevsky, and Twain that have their hearts and attention. It’s Cardi B, the Kardashians, Lebron James, and whatever is trending on Instagram that grabs their attention and shapes their culture and worldview. That worldview is dominated by materialism, the sexual revolution, relativism, cynicism, and despair. It is saturated with quick fixes of drugs, divorce, and bodily reconstruction. It is not a worldview completely without virtue, but one where, as GK Chesterton noted, the virtues have come untethered from the truth and from each other and are capable of working against ultimate goods.
Therefore, a critical task of Catholic education is to unbind students from the chains of the present and reveal to them the depth and breadth of broad human experiences across all sorts of divisions. The key cultural divisions they need to breach are not just the highly touted and culturally celebrated racial groupings and other sympathetic marginalized groupings of 2022. Modern students are quite knowledgeable and constantly exposed to this culture. The cultures more likely to challenge them and expand their horizons are the cultures of 1822 AD, 1522 AD, 1022 AD, and 222 AD. Introducing students to the thoughts, values, and beliefs of humanity across the ages through literature and history is more likely to lead them into the great conversations of mankind and introduce them to ideas beyond the shallow limits of the “woke world” which surrounds and suffocates them.
Judging a book by its cover
You can’t judge a book by its cover is an idiomatic expression meaning you shouldn’t judge the content of something, or someone, based on appearances. This expression is true in both the negative and the positive, meaning one should not dismiss a work (negative) nor ascribe artistic or intellectual worthiness to it (positive) based on the author’s skin color, gender, personal habits, virtues, or vices. A work’s merit takes precedent over the faults of its author, just as a logical argument should not be dismissed as untrue simply because the truth was
argued by someone distasteful to the hearer. Also, in a related point, literature should not be selected because it makes one feel righteous in fighting for a victim class; nor should victim status work like a golf handicap to elevate mediocre works of literature above truly great work. Despite pressure from activist groups, Catholic educators should refrain from tossing out literature because of guilt by association simply because it comes from a person or culture which has acted unjustly or advocated for a flawed worldview. This would leave slim pickings indeed, as all human beings are sinners and act unjustly and all cultures seek to perpetuate their values. All cultures are comprised of fallen people with fallen ideals or who have failed to live up to those ideals over time.
A compelling Catholic witness
Finally, Catholic educators should not determine literary merit only through the lens of one literary theory (and especially not critical race theory or LGBTQ+ theory). There are more than a dozen literary theories to draw from. Educators should introduce students to various modes of interpretation or theory as appropriate based upon age, emotional, and psychological development, but never neglect to provide a corrective Catholic worldview when issues of aesthetics, faith, and morals are present. Catholic educators need to show older students multiple examples of worldviews in conflict, and then make the case for the Christian worldview through reason, revelation, and through the cohesive and unwavering personal witness of the teacher. The teacher can provide living proof that a Christian worldview can resonate with the student’s personal and existential needs. Young people must remain free to test and accept the value of what is placed before them; there can be no compulsion of will, only compelling presentations of truth to be freely received.
Literature selections made by Catholic educators must, as with all else, serve the mission. If the booklists look the same as at non-Catholic schools, or the works are approached simply using the same secular common culture and lenses of interpretation and meaning, Catholic education will have lost its flavor and competitive advantage. Faithful Catholic education teaches more, offers more, and brings the light of Christ to the world.
Three Guiding Principles in Choosing Literature
/in Academics Commentary, Literature and Library/by Veronica NygaardIt is clear, the cancel culture is bent on canceling the good, the true, and the beautiful. The latest area they seek to override is literature. Classic literature, which has been used in education for generations, is now deemed racist or sexist and needing to be replaced by more modern works.
Amidst this tumult, parents and Catholic educators might find it difficult to discern exactly which literature is or is not good for their students to read. Therefore, the Cardinal Newman Society has assembled Policy Standards on Literature and the Arts in Catholic Education, recognizing that literature is an essential tool in the formation of a student’s mind, body, and spirit.
The standards are rooted in three guiding principles:
1. Remember the mission
The first and foundational principle in choosing literature is to recall the mission of Catholic education, which brings students closer to Christ and helps them fulfill God’s calling in this world and to attain the eternal kingdom for which they were created.
Literature can assist by providing a critical, systematic transmission of culture always guided by a Christian vision of reality. Works should be carefully chosen and analyzed from a Catholic perspective. Even if the work is not Catholic, educators and students should approach the text with a Catholic lens, which always increases rather than limits understanding.
For example, students have long been reading ancient pagan Greek texts, such as The Odyssey. Catholics can (and should) still read this book, asking questions about virtue, how much Odysseus is influenced by good ends, and the role of free will.
According to The Cardinal Newman Society’s Standards, “it is then the role of a Catholic educator to suggest and model a response to the critical questions being provoked in order to provide a coherent and consistent Catholic understanding.”
Bringing everything back to the mission of Catholic education helps clarify choices and is a sure guide as new challenges arise.
2. Dare to be different
The literature chosen by Catholic educators may be very different from secular schools and colleges, because Catholic education teaches truths that are unknown or rejected elsewhere, and it forms young people for sainthood—much more than college or career.
In Catholic education, the searching for truth begins with already knowing the fount of truth and seeing the unity between faith and reason. It orients students toward holiness and eternal salvation, while promoting the common good.
Literature in Catholic education should never lead students into sin or despair, nor cause scandal. As the standards say, Catholic educators aim not to present uncritically all possible human thought and viewpoints, but to present the best literature and arts critically and in the context of a Catholic worldview.” Unlike secular education, which often has little to no orientation towards the truth, Catholic education exposes students to good, challenging literature within the context of truth.
Some might think this approach opposes great secular literature, so let’s look at one example you might not think of—Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. This book is recommended by The Cardinal Newman Society for grades 9-12, even though it peers into the mind of a murderer. The classic book provides opportunities for students to investigate the effects of sin and the power of forgiveness and redemption—all of which can be taught from a Catholic perspective. Still, the choice of literature should not acquiesce to the latest fad or impulse. Rather it should serve as an opportunity to show forth the distinguishing characteristics of a distinctively Catholic education, which is increasingly different from secular woke schools—Dare to be different!
3. Understanding human nature
Finally, literature as well as the arts should be oriented toward understanding human nature, and human experiences. Good literature teaches students about how people interact in the world, and how they improve.
Reading literature is more than a utilitarian act where the reader is simply acquiring job skills. It is also about learning and evaluating “the knowledge, wisdom, creativity and insights of others,” explain The Cardinal Newman Society standards.
The truth that students acquire can be oriented toward their own personal growth in holiness, as well as assisting the common good. A shining example of this is Aesop’s Fables recommended for K-4 students. Each of the short stories offers a moral or virtue to be acquired in the child-friendly format of stories about animals.
Literature should prompt students to ask the “essential” questions, which revolve around the meaning of life, and their relationship to God, others, and the world.
The “Great Books” which are now being assailed by activists are often ideal choices to prompt readers to ask these kinds of questions. They are considered the best that has been thought and said in Western civilization. The Cardinal Newman Society’s recommended reading list contains many of these works—Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, The Aeneid by Virgil, Beowulf, and Don Quixote by Cervantes, just to name a few.
Helping Catholic educators
Determining what books should be in the curriculum or library can be a daunting task. Appendix C of the Society’s literature standards is a “Holistic Rubric for Selecting Literature in a Catholic School.” This rubric offers a 1-4 rating scale (from poor choice to excellent choice) to help determine whether a book would be fitting for a Catholic curriculum or library.
For example, a book that is considered a “poor choice” would be focused primarily on the current culture and politics, promotes a worldview that is anti-Christian, and confuses virtue and vice. A book that would be an excellent choice would be timeless, transcending the current culture and politics. It would allow for discussion of authentic truth within a Catholic worldview. It would be a well-crafted book, prompting strong intellectual engagement among the students.
Our standards are designed to help Catholic educators select books that assist them in teaching a Catholic worldview. As the culture becomes increasingly anti-Christian, educators will face novel challenges designed to derail the authentic transmission of the Catholic faith. The choice of good literature can help offset this assault because it exposes students to good and evil, vice and virtue, escorted by great Catholic educators who incorporate enduring literature into their curriculums and libraries.
Launching Task Force for Eucharistic Education
/in Blog Commentary, Prayer and Sacrament Latest/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffIn support of the U.S. bishops’ three-year Eucharistic Revival, The Cardinal Newman Society is collaborating with Catholic educators nationwide to launch the Task Force for Eucharistic Education—an initiative to help solicit, identify, and promote inspiring efforts by Catholic schools, homeschools, colleges, and individuals to help revive:
The project was announced today at Sacra Liturgia, an international conference on the liturgy that was supported in part by The Cardinal Newman Society and featured Society President Patrick Reilly’s public interview with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco on the renewal of faithful Catholic education. Several prominent Catholics and leaders of national education associations have agreed to help promote the Task Force and serve on its steering committee (see list below).
“Catholic education is the Church’s primary means of evangelization, and it is key to the success of the Eucharistic Revival,” said Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society. “Americans’ lack of belief in the Real Presence is a crisis of education, not dissent. Young Catholics are confused and need faithful Catholic education, not just flashy events and youth programs amid a culture that disdains religious belief and morals.”
The Task Force invites educators, parents, and students to sign up at EucharisticEducation.org and identify projects including academic conferences, research, publications, formative student programs, liturgies, prayer, and more—anything that strengthens understanding and devotion to the Eucharist within Catholic schools, homeschools, or colleges.
The Cardinal Newman Society will highlight and promote Task Force members and their projects through the Society’s magazine Our Catholic Mission—which is mailed to Catholic education leaders and bishops nationwide—and in Catholic media.
Already the Task Force includes many of America’s most faithful Catholic schools and colleges among its inaugural members. “We hope for an explosion of inspiring projects that help renew faithful Catholic education and form a new generation of young people deeply in love with Jesus Christ,” said Reilly.
For more information on The Cardinal Newman Society and how you can join the Task Force, go to EucharisticEducation.org
Steering Committee of Task Force for Eucharistic Education
CNS Joins Amicus Brief on Equal Treatment of Religious Groups – Fellowship of Christian Athletes v San Jose Unified School District, 9th Circuit
/in Blog Amicus Briefs, Public Policy and Legal (General)/by Cardinal Newman Society StaffThe Cardinal Newman Society joined an amicus brief at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, opposing the exclusion of a religious organization from equal treatment under the law, simply because it has religious standards for its leaders and members.