Conservative Leader Prepared at Faithful Catholic College

“When you look at society today, it is a direct result of secularism being taught as a religion,” says L. Brent Bozell III, who is founder and president of the Media Research Center, the largest media watchdog organization in the United States.

“And I think that if everyone were taught in a genuine Catholic school, all of the world’s problems would go away,” Bozell continued.

The Cardinal Newman Society recently caught up with Bozell, who formerly served on the CNS board of directors, to discuss the impact of the education he received at the University of Dallas in Irving, Tex., which is recognized in The Newman Guide for its strong Catholic identity.

“Had it not been for the University of Dallas, I don’t know if I would have been able to pursue my career as I did. The closer you can be to understanding black and white, you are better prepared for life. It’s the secular grey area that can make life very confusing,” said Bozell.

L. Brent Bozell III

CNS: Why did you choose to attend the University of Dallas? What was your experience like? 

Mr. Bozell: It was because of a long family association with Dr. Frederick (“Fritz”) Wilhelmsen, who was the director of theology at the university. He was a family friend, but also an editor at Triumph magazine, which my father started.

CNS: How did your education prepare you for your career and vocation?

Mr. Bozell: Fritz Wilhelmsen’s daughter, Alexandra Wilhelmsen, was my advisor when I declared my history major. I remember her asking me what I intended to do with it. I remember telling her I had no idea, at which point she burst out laughing and told me I would make a fine history major; the point being, unless you’re going to teach it, or write about it, you really can’t apply it, other than giving you a broad cultural understanding of the world.

CNS: How did attending a faithful Catholic college help you grow in your faith? How did it help you grow as a person?

Mr. Bozell: I don’t know that I was the most faithful Catholic in college, but I suspect that’s what 99 percent of Catholics in college would tell you. But you were surrounded by Catholicism at the University of Dallas, and they gave it—along with my family’s structure—great direction as I embarked on my career.

CNS: How has the education you received influenced your work?

Mr. Bozell: Had it not been for the University of Dallas, I don’t know if I would have been able to pursue my career as I did. The closer you can be to understanding black and white, you are better prepared for life. It’s the secular grey area that can make life very confusing.

CNS: From the classes to dorm life to student activities, what had the most impact on you during college?

Mr. Bozell: The friendships I made that I still have to this day. And that’s 50 years later (since I began at the University of Dallas). And that includes my wife—I still have her, too!

CNS: How were you formed mentally, spiritually, and physically by your faithful Catholic college? 

Mr. Bozell: Mentally: the education was second to none; I wish only that I had taken greater advantage of it. Spiritually: Catholicism was not just taught; it was lived, which distinguishes it from most Catholic colleges. Physically, I broke every bone in my body due to bad luck growing up, so that didn’t help!

CNS: Why do you think faithful Catholic education is important? 

Mr. Bozell: When you look at society today, it is a direct result of secularism being taught as a religion. And I think that if everyone were taught in a genuine Catholic school, all of the world’s problems would go away.

CNS: Do you think the liberal arts are valuable? Was studying the liberal arts helpful to you after graduation? 

Mr. Bozell: I think it’s tragic when I hear of colleges cutting them back or cutting them out—they say that “it is not a career path!” The liberal arts may not train you how to use a wrench, but they train you how to use your mind.

CNS: Do you have any special memories from college?

Mr. Bozell: Yes, but I can’t tell you any of them! You know, they would revolve around times spent with fellow students who would become lifelong friends. But also, time spent with professors who were truly iconic—not just at the University of Dallas, but in their fields! You knew in their company that so many of them were genuine Catholic educators both inside and outside of the classroom.

CNS: After studying the liberal arts in college, how did you make the transition to employment?

Mr. Bozell: Well, I went from college directly into the career path I am now; I went directly into politics. My first job was working for a fellow who was a deeply spiritual Catholic, a conservative Catholic.

CNS: What have been some of the most exciting projects to be a part of at your current job?

Mr. Bozell: The Media Research Center is alone in the field of public policy, in that it is the only organization in the entirety of the conservative movement that is focused entirely on what I believe to be the greatest enemy of the conservative movement: the Left within the news media. This has been an exciting time over the last 35 years.

CNS: What advice would you give to students who are navigating the college search? 

Mr. Bozell: Follow the Newman Guide is what I would say! There are Catholic colleges that are Catholic in name only, but a few that live their Catholicism. And Newman Guide colleges are where every Catholic should consider going. This is not to say that only Catholic schools offer a good education; however, when you have a school like the University of Dallas, you can’t go wrong.

CNS: What do you think was key to helping form you into the leader you are today? 

Mr. Bozell: I think, a well-rounded understanding of the world. And also, focusing more on conviction than on consensus.

Celebrating Every Kind of Catholic Education

Classical schools… Great Books colleges… homeschool programs… trade schools…

What are we to make of the wide and growing variety of Catholic education options?

As Catholic education keeps getting better, The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) believes that we need to celebrate the very best, regardless of form. Exemplary educators deserve to know how much they are appreciated by Catholic families, and others need models to follow. Catholic families should know where to get the best formation. These are all reasons for The Newman Guide.

But is it all “Catholic education”?

Many in the Church today think of Catholic education as the equivalent of parochial schools. And to be sure, parochial schools have held pride of place in the United States for many decades and continue to do so. CNS works extensively to aid parish and diocesan schools and their leaders, whose commitment to fidelity and strong formation is crucial to evangelization in America.

But Catholic education is not a method or institution; it can be served well or poorly by various methods and institutions, just like healthcare or assistance to the poor. Catholic education is an art, a vocation, and a ministry. It cultivates the intellect by the aid of grace and the truth of Catholic doctrine, within an integral human formation that is ordered to full communion with God.

While its mission should remain constant, Catholic education’s response to various family circumstances and student needs has required several methods and school structures including homeschooling, parish schools, monastery schools, boarding schools, trade schools, residential colleges, research universities, online programs, and variations on these. Catholic education simply cannot be limited to any particular method or institution, without unjustly excluding portions of Catholics who were promised formation in the faith as a right of Baptism.

Catholic education also cannot be limited to any age group, as if the opportunity to know God and His creation expires at a certain age. Of course, formation of the mind and character is especially important for young people.

That’s why we are so excited to expand our Newman Guide recognition to include a wide variety of elementary and secondary schools, colleges, and graduate programs—and soon homeschool programs as well. And it’s why CNS eagerly assists and promotes all kinds of educational programs that faithfully serve the Church’s mission of evangelization.

Independent schools

One new and growing segment of Catholic education is independent schools, not affiliated with any parish, religious order, or other Church entity. And the longest-operating independent school is Holy Angels Academy in Louisville, Ky., faithful to Catholic teaching and authority and devoted to the true mission of Catholic education.

In June, marking Holy Angels’ 50th anniversary and more than five decades of independent Catholic schools, CNS President Patrick Reilly and Vice President of Educator Resources and Evaluation, Dr. Denise Donohue, were among the featured speakers at a large celebration in Louisville. Reilly presented a commemorative plaque to Academy headmaster Michael Swearingen and longtime leader Joe Norton announcing to more than 600 educators, parents, and alumni the Academy’s recognition in The Newman Guide. Participants included representatives of other independent schools nationwide and the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education.

Donohue had a dual role at the event, representing both CNS and the National Association of Private Catholic and Independent Schools (NAPCIS). Donohue and our senior fellow Dr. Dan Guernsey are both long-time board members of NAPCIS and founding leaders of independent Catholic schools in Texas and Florida, respectively. Donohue addressed the Holy Angels celebration with a message from Dr. Eileen Cubanski, whose leadership of NAPCIS has been instrumental to the growing independent school movement.

Donohue also researched and authored a special report on the importance and history of independent Catholic schools, which is available on the Society’s website. The report is being shared with dioceses, schools, and Catholic media to promote better understanding of their unique contributions to Catholic education.

Historically, Catholic schools have been affiliated with religious orders, parishes, dioceses, and other Church entities. But independent schools arose in the late 1960s and 1970s, when many religious orders abandoned parochial schools and the schools lost focus of their mission. Since then, the Church has embraced lay vocations in teaching and administration, and today more than 97 percent of parochial school employees are laypeople.

Therefore, parents should be applauded for developing new schools when needed to ensure the sound formation of their children in fidelity to the Church. According to NAPCIS, the first known independent school was Holy Innocents Academy in Kinnelon, N.J., founded in 1967 by Dr. William Marra. That school eventually closed, and thus Holy Angels Academy in Louisville—founded in 1973 by a Dominican nun in partnership with Catholic families—is the longest-operating independent school today.

The Academy has a student body of 101 students in grades PreK-12 and used a classical approach even before it gained its current popularity. The school’s motto, ad majorem Dei gloriam (for the greater glory of God), is evident in its religious practices. Students attend daily Mass and recite the Morning Offering, with prayers to St. Michael and their guardian angels.

Today, according to Donohue’s report, there are 82 member schools in NAPCIS, including 20 that joined since 2010. About an equal number of independent schools have been launched but closed their doors due to financial struggles. Starting and maintaining a school without parish support can be difficult, but it’s all the more reason CNS promotes these schools and helps them develop strong policies and protect against ideological threats.

 

 

Newman Guide Education Is So Much More

Today in secular public education, there is a “back to basics” movement among exacerbated parents seeking to protect their children from harmful ideological cultural forces in education. But the answer is not as simple as “just” teaching reading, writing, and math. There is ultimately no “neutral education.” There is only education in the truth or its opposite; and there is much more to learn than phonics and sums.

Meanwhile in higher education, critics increasingly doubt the value of liberal arts programs, corrupted by political and ideological bias. The solution, however, is not to jettison valuable disciplines for simple career preparation. Again, education either teaches truth or opposes it.

Schools and colleges recognized in The Newman Guide know this. Not a single one was established to “just” teach kids how to read, write, and cipher or train for a job. None of them would sell their students that short, for they know that the young people in their care are of infinite value. They are sons and daughters of Christ the King, with eternal destinies.

A Newman Guide school or college does not just have a better academic curriculum. It also has a better understanding of the human person and is guided by faith and reason. It is thus itself a better guide on the path to complete human flourishing.

A Newman Guide institution is also upfront in acknowledging that a fundamental purpose of education is the generational transmission of culture—understood as the values, traditions, and mores of a community, including the Catholic faith and community. All schools, public and private, perpetuate and form culture; they should be upfront about their intentions and influences. But Newman Guide schools understand the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education’s warning that:

It is becoming increasingly clear that we are now facing with what might accurately be called an educational crisis, especially in the field of affectivity and in many places, curricula are being planned and implemented which “allegedly convey a neutral conception of the person and of life, yet in fact reflect an anthropology opposed to faith and to right reason.” The disorientation regarding anthropology which is a widespread feature of our cultural landscape has undoubtedly helped to destabilize the family as an institution, bringing with it a tendency to cancel out the differences between men and women, presenting them instead as merely the product of historical and cultural conditioning. (Male and Female He Created Them, 2019)

Forming the whole person

Additionally, because faithful Catholic schools and colleges understand that their students are a unity of mind, body, and spirit with an eternal destiny, they know that there is no effective and compelling way to reach and teach young people other than as they come before them every moment: as complex, unified unrepeatable body/mind/spirit miracles. They are never just teaching a mind. A consequence of this unity it that there simply is no way to remove culture, valuing, complex human relationships, God, and notions of good and evil from a child’s development and schooling. Catholic educators occasionally focus their formational efforts on one part of the triad more than the other, but they never fail to consider the totality of unified young person before them.

This is why, for example, schools in The Newman Guide know that they are not “just” teaching writing. Sure, for younger kids much time is spent on grammar, spelling, and punctuation. What we are really teaching through writing is thinking and eloquence. Good writing is good thinking. It is “showing your work” and allowing and inviting others to probe and correct assumptions and conceptions. It is demonstrating powers of reasoning, personal insight, and creativity. It is difficult and demanding to do well, but as in many human activities, the question is not about how well you wield a tool but the end toward which you wield it. That students can write is useful; what they think and write about is what matters.

Similarly, the best Catholic schools don’t have older students read books “just” because they need more practice in the mechanics of reading (vocabulary, phonics etc.). They have students read books, because books carry culture. They teach students how to “read” not only the words in the text but also the world of the text and ultimately the world around them. They teach how to value and ascribe meaning to things. The suspect and corrupt books pushed on many kids by public schools today are also being used toward this end—just with a different effect.

Vatican II’s Gaudium et Spes puts it this way:

Literature and the arts are also, in their own way, of great importance to the life of the Church. They strive to make known the proper nature of man, his problems and his experiences in trying to know and perfect both himself and the world. They have much to do with revealing man’s place in history and in the world; with illustrating the miseries and joys, the needs and strengths of man and with foreshadowing a better life for him. Thus, they are able to elevate human life, expressed in multifold forms according to various times and regions. (#62)

This is why Catholic educators and parents must ensure that students are surrounded by good books when young and “the great books” when older. The Cardinal Newman Society has produced its Guide for the Catholic Reader: Selected Reading List, Rubric, and Rationale for Catholic Education to help parents and educators toward this end.

Fighting for humanity

Newman Guide-recognized schools and colleges are focused on a broader array of goods than just the traditional “3 R’s” of reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic. Both inside and outside of the classroom, in academics and athletics and the arts, Catholic educators follow the Congregation for Catholic Education’s vision that Catholic education is a tour de force of complete Christian human formation:

Students should be helped to see the human person as a living creature having both a physical and a spiritual nature; each of us has an immortal soul, and we are in need of redemption. The older students can gradually come to a more mature understanding of all that is implied in the concept of “person”: intelligence and will, freedom and feelings, the capacity to be an active and creative agent; a being endowed with both rights and duties, capable of interpersonal relationships, called to a specific mission in the world. (The Religious Dimension of Education in the Catholic School, 55)

And to put a finer point on it: The central challenge before us now is that man has forgotten who he is; or, more sinisterly, man is up to his old tricks of making himself God and worshipping his own will and pleasures. This has dramatically impacted how schools today are conducting themselves and what they are teaching. Again, Newman Guide institutions recall what the Congregation for Catholic Education has told us:

Each type of education, moreover, is influenced by a particular concept of what it means to be a human person. In today’s pluralistic world, the Catholic educator must consciously inspire his or her activity with the Christian concept of the person, in communion with the Magisterium of the Church. It is a concept which includes a defense of human rights, but also attributes to the human person the dignity of a child of God; it attributes the fullest liberty, freed from sin itself by Christ, the most exalted destiny, which is the definitive and total possession of God Himself, through love. It establishes the strictest possible relationship of solidarity among all persons; through mutual love and an ecclesial community. It calls for the fullest development of all that is human, because we have been made masters of the world by its Creator. Finally, it proposes Christ, Incarnate Son of God, and perfect Man, as both model and means; to imitate Him, is, for all men and women, the inexhaustible source of personal and communal perfection. Thus, Catholic educators can be certain that they make human beings more human. (Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith, 18)

Years ago, perhaps public schools were safe enough for Catholic families, but there has been a seismic shift. Cultural revolutionists have subverted traditional American values and, more importantly, Christ and His Church. Religion, morality, and faith are not extras added to a curriculum but rather core elements that public schools have attempted to remove. In actuality, they have just supplanted what is important. The worldview of Western Christendom has been chewed up and ripped out of our children’s formation and replaced by another worldview/religion that is materialist, Marxist, and relativistic. An orthodoxy is being presented, but it’s now an un-Christian orthodoxy.

It’s not that “Hannibal is at the gates,” the warning used by ancient Romans to instill anxiety at the prospect of losing their once great culture. Hannibal has now long been in control of our common culture.

In a noble but doomed-to-fail effort, some classical charter schools are trying to revive a sense of Western culture, and they fan some Christian fumes towards the kids. But even if their secular classical view achieves its goals of cultivating virtue and patriotism, in the end it will not solve the problems facing our kids or our culture.

All the problems in our current culture are the results and fruits of Western culture without Christ. We have sickened ourselves by abandoning God. As Chesterton understood so well, removing the supernatural from man has made him unnatural. Personal and cultural problems will not be fixed by a secular Western classical program or curriculum, but by Christ Himself. We cannot successfully raise our children or maintain a flourishing culture without He who is the source and summit of all that is true, good, and beautiful.

The battle for humanity cannot be sidelined, and public or public charter schools cannot be rendered safe. Reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic, and career preparation are not sufficient for the battle. These are tools both side use to advance their worldviews. The survivors will be those most rooted in truth, whose minds are most aligned with reality and who are the most generous in life. There is nowhere to hide or shield our children from the fundamental questions each must answer for himself: Who am I? What was I made to do? And ultimately Christ’s questions to each of us: “Who do you say that I am?” One benefit of this current chaos is that the stakes are clearer and more explicit. Our choices are stark. And the value of an authentic Catholic education stands out even greater. The Newman Guide’s schools and colleges are rising to the opportunity.

The Cardinal Newman Society Through the Years

Since 1993, The Cardinal Newman Society has led the growing movement for renewal of faithful Catholic education. These are just some of the highlights of the last 30 years.

 

1993

Founding of CNS
Inspired by Saint John Paul II’s apostolic constitution, Ex corde Ecclesiae, Patrick Reilly and fellow alumni of Catholic colleges meet in Washington, D.C., in 1993 to launch The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS).

 

1995

National Conference

CNS brings national attention to the need for a renewal of Catholic education with a series of annual conferences featuring leading Catholics, including Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., Peter Kreeft, Tom Monaghan, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Justice Antonin Scalia,
George Weigel, and more.

 

1999

Ex corde Ecclesiae
CNS is invited to advise the U.S. bishops’ committee implementing Ex corde Ecclesiae. Despite strong opposition from many college leaders and theologians, the final rule for colleges (1999) and mandatum guidelines for theologians (2001) follow CNS recommendations.

 

2007

The Newman Guide

With the aid of Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., CNS releases the first edition of The Newman Guide in 2007 to celebrate faithful Catholic colleges and help families in the college search. The guide is instrumental to the survival and growth of many Newman Guide colleges. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI receives The Newman Guide on the steps of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

 

2007

Eucharistic Miracles

For several years, CNS coordinates U.S. school and college exhibits of the “Eucharistic Miracles of the World,” developed by Blessed Carlo Acutis. Our “Adoration U” video, encouraging students’ devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, is featured on EWTN.

 

2008

Higher Education Center

For several years starting in 2008, CNS sponsors the Center for the Advancement of Catholic Higher Education, promoting best practices to strengthen Catholic identity and hosting gatherings of Catholic college leaders. Today CNS continues many of the Center’s initiatives and educator working groups.

 

2008

Pope Benedict in U.S.

CNS sparks a national conversation about the need for faithful Catholic education in advance of Pope Benedict XVI’s powerful address to educators at The Catholic University of America in 2008. Two years later, CNS members pledge more than 1,000,000 prayers and Masses for
the Holy Father.

 

2009

Obama at Notre Dame

Over the years, CNS opposes numerous scandals in Catholic colleges, including theological dissent, abortion and same-sex marriage advocacy, The Vagina Monologues performances, honors for vocal opponents of Catholic teaching, and more. In 2009, CNS gathers 367,000 signatures and the support of 83 bishops urging the University of Notre Dame not to honor pro-abortion President Barack Obama.

 

2011

Obamacare Mandate

In 2011, the Obama administration’s federal contraceptive mandate sparks more than a decade of legal threats to Catholic education related to contraception, abortion, same-sex marriage, and gender ideology. CNS publicly advocates the rights of Catholic educators, files amicus briefs in key federal court cases, and helps educators defend against threats from the Obama and Biden administrations, an EEOC ruling demanding contraception coverage at Belmont Abbey College, a lawsuit fighting single-sex dorms at The Catholic University of America, the National Labor Relations Board’s violations of religious freedom, and more.

 

2012

Catholic Education Honor Roll

CNS recognizes faithful Catholic schools on its Catholic Education Honor Roll and expands our mission to include Catholic education at all levels.

 

2012

My Future, My Faith

CNS launches My Future, My Faith publication to help Catholic families navigate the path from high school to college and learn about Newman Guide institutions. More than 200,000 copies have been distributed to date.

 

2013

Catholic Is Our Core

In 2013, CNS launches the Catholic Is Our Core initiative to explain why the Common Core State Standards are incompatible with faithful Catholic education. CNS meets with 30 bishops and diocesan school leaders and exposes a $100,000 grant from the Bill Gates Foundation to promote the Common Core in Catholic schools.

 

2014

Recruit Me

With its online program “Recruit Me,” CNS links high school students with Newman Guide colleges. A $5,000 essay scholarship program is later added to help expose more students to faithful education.

 

2015

Vatican World Congress

On the 50th anniversary of Gravissimum Educationis and
25th anniversary of Ex corde Ecclesiae in 2015, CNS participates
in the Vatican World Congress on Education.

2015

Teacher Witness

In 2015, CNS comes to the defense of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco and his robust morality expectations for school teachers. CNS publishes recommended employment guidelines, leading to the Catholic Identity Standards Project to promote clear standards for all aspects of Catholic education.

 

2016

Catholic Curriculum standards

CNS develops and publishes Catholic Curriculum Standards to guide K-12 education and help dioceses shift away from secular state standards. By 2023, our Standards are used by at least 36 dioceses and 1,189 Catholic K-12 schools.

 

2017

Principles of
Catholic Identity

 

In 2017, after a thorough review of Vatican documents on Catholic education, CNS publishes its Principles of Catholic Identity in Education to guide all work of The Cardinal Newman Society.

Building upon this foundation, The Cardinal Newman Society has accomplished nearly as much in the last few years as in the last few decades. This includes:

  • Building upon this foundation, The Cardinal Newman Society has accomplished nearly as much in the last few years as in the last few decades. This includes:
  • Catholic families nationwide rely on The Newman Guide for guidance in choosing faithful colleges, and we are reaching thousands more families with our videos, social media outreach, and college fairs. This year, the guide will expand to recognize schools and graduate programs.
  • We are defending against threats to faithful Catholic education, including scandal and infidelity but also government attacks on religious freedom. And we are helping educators better protect their own institutions with well-constructed policies and faithful practices.
  • Our standards and other guidance for Catholic educators have expanded greatly. We often pivot quickly to address immediate challenges, like critical race theory and gender ideology.
  • Our Eucharistic Education Task Force is helping renew devotion to the Eucharist by the most effective means of evangelization: Catholic education.

God has truly blessed this work of promoting and defending faithful Catholic education. We ask His blessings on our continued work this year and for the next many decades—as long as it takes to ensure that every Catholic family has access to faithful education.

Justin Mcclain,
marketing coordinator for
educator resources.
Jmcclain@cardinalnewmansociety.org

 

 

CNS Launches Newman Guide Recognition for Schools, Graduate Programs

What could be more exciting than The Newman Guide? More Newman Guide!

The first edition of The Newman Guide was published in 2007, and I used it to find a faithful Catholic college where I had an amazing experience and even met my future husband. By helping Catholic families find good Catholic colleges amid widespread secularization and infidelity, the guide has become a hopeful sign of the renewal of faithful Catholic education.

As that renewal continues with the revitalization of faithful Catholic schools and the availability of faithful graduate programs, the time is right for The Cardinal Newman Society to take its Newman Guide to the next level. In this special anniversary year, we are expanding our highly successful Newman Guide to include faithful Catholic elementary, secondary, and graduate school options in addition to Catholic colleges.

The Newman Guide recognizes model institutions that refuse to compromise their Catholic mission. Too many of America’s schools and colleges—including much of Catholic education—have become battlegrounds for today’s culture wars, causing as many as 85 percent of Catholic youth to lose their faith by adulthood.

By extending the Newman Guide into K-12 schools and graduate programs, we are providing Catholic parents and students with a pathway to a seamless, faithful Catholic education.

Over the years, The Newman Guide has earned a strong reputation for rigorously vetting Catholic colleges, ensuring they have strong policies and standards that uphold Catholic identity from academics and athletics to faculty hiring and campus life. This has resonated with Catholic families, as more than 75,000 families refer to the Newman Guide online every year to help find a faithful Catholic college.

Newman Guide schools

Have you heard about Catholic schools providing daily Mass for students? Forming them with timeless works of literature? Ensuring a Catholic worldview in all subjects? Focusing on virtue development in their athletic programs?

There is so much to celebrate at Catholic schools recognized in The Newman Guide! While some Catholic schools have gone “woke” by embracing gender ideology and mirroring public schools in their curriculum, personnel, and educational philosophy, the Newman Guide schools remain strong in the faith.

We already have a lot of experience evaluating and recognizing schools since 2011 with our Catholic Education Honor Roll. The Honor Roll will continue a while longer as currently recognized schools complete their five-year terms, but new recognition will be under The Newman Guide.

“We are thrilled that The Cardinal Newman Society is expanding The Newman Guide to include primary and secondary Catholic schools,” said Derek Tremblay, headmaster of Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, N.H. “The Cardinal Newman Society remains a critical and trusted partner in Catholic education. The policies and curriculum standards drafted and recommended by CNS reflect the fullness of the Catholic faith. There is simply no other institution that compares to what the Cardinal Newman Society has done to keep Catholic education faithful to Jesus Christ.”

Graduate programs

At the graduate school level, the expanded Newman Guide is also responding to a pressing need from Catholic families. For years, families have asked for our guidance in choosing a Catholic graduate program. And the number of U.S. students seeking a graduate degree has doubled in the last 20 years.

Some of the graduate programs working through the application process include the Augustine Institute, Ave Maria School of Law, Divine Mercy University, and Pontifex University. Newman Guide colleges that offer graduate programs have also expressed interest.

In the right program, students can pursue an advanced education while being immersed in a truly Catholic environment. This is great news for Catholic families and for the future of the Church!

Formation for a lifetime

There’s no greater gift parents can provide young people than a faithful Catholic education.

“We have told our kids they can choose from the list of faithful colleges for undergraduate studies,” said Elisa Del Curto, a Catholic mother of 10 in California, whose children have, so far, all attended a Newman Guide college at the undergraduate level. “We have never expected these faithful colleges on the list to be perfect; nothing can be. But what we have found in the guide has been beyond helpful in aiding our children in their quest for truth.”

We hope that families will find the same value in our recommendations of faithful schools and graduate programs. And we pray that the expanded Newman Guide will allow more students to enjoy better lives because of experiencing faithful Catholic education. The expanded Newman Guide is good news for Catholic families, Catholic educators, and the future of the Catholic Church!

Kelly Salomon
vice president for Newman
guide programs at The Cardinal Newman Society.

ksalomon@cardinalnewmansociety.org

The Future of Faithful Catholic Education

Not long before the launch of The Cardinal Newman Society in 1993, an elderly priest advised me to stop trying to rescue Catholic education. “You’re chasing the horses 20 years after the barn doors were opened,” he said.

I suppose he had reason for doubt. In the span of just two decades, his generation witnessed the tragic secularization of many Catholic colleges, the abdication of nuns from Catholic schools, and the rapid decline of parish school enrollment. Now, three decades later, many more Catholic schools have closed their doors, and enrollment has dropped steadily—at least until the recent post-pandemic bump.

Despite all this, never has The Cardinal Newman Society wavered from our mission to promote and defend faithful Catholic education. And while the tide of secularism in America is still very strong, never have I been more certain of the reform and renewal of Catholic education and of God’s blessings upon it!

Today we rejoice in a new generation of fruitful, authentic Catholic educators who are determined to build up faithful Catholic education. Colleges established and reformed in recent decades have become top choices for families seeking truly faithful Catholic education, thanks in part to the success of our Newman Guide programs. There is a growing number of exemplary Catholic schools and graduate programs, now also invited to enjoy Newman Guide recognition and promotion. And we celebrate the growth and maturation of Catholic homeschool and hybrid programs, forming outstanding scholars, leaders, priests, and sisters.

After 30 years of grateful toil in this work of fighting off secularism—the same work that our patron, Saint John Henry Newman, said was his primary mission more than a century ago—I have no more wisdom to offer than what Newman preached: education begins and ends in God. And as for the future of Catholic education and the success of our mission, we follow the example of Newman who asked only for the light of the Holy Spirit to see his next step. We, too, have only to seek and trust in the goodness of each step that we take. That blind trust served CNS well these last three decades.

Therefore, I won’t even try to predict the future of Catholic education—but we can pray for its revival, by God’s grace. And with each step forward, it helps to keep in mind the five broad objectives below, toward which there is much to be accomplished. The Cardinal Newman Society strives for advancement in each of these areas, and we are grateful to be accompanied by an ever-growing number of educators and partner organizations making important contributions toward faithful education.

Renewal

The mission of Catholic education and the vision articulated by the Church must be renewed in the hearts, minds, and wills of Catholic education leaders and teachers.

In too many schools and colleges, the very foundation of Catholic education has been forgotten or willfully neglected. The differences between secular and Catholic education are not minor—they are fundamental and are of great consequence to students. A secular education focuses on empowerment, helping students accumulate information and develop skills in order to achieve their intellectual and physical potential. But Catholic education has a higher priority: to know and love God in pursuit of communion with Him, which is the final and proper end of a fully human life. More than the accumulation of knowledge, the student discerns some portion of the wisdom of God, and this requires His grace bestowed through prayer and sacrament with Jesus Christ as the perfect teacher.

If Catholic education is to be revived—if Catholic parents are to once again choose education that helps fulfill their sacred responsibility to form their children in faith, virtue, and wisdom—then it begins with a renewed awareness and appreciation for the vision articulated in Vatican documents. After several months of studying magisterial guidance from the last century, The Cardinal Newman Society distilled the key points into our five Principles of Catholic Identity in Education. These can be viewed as a further development of the five “marks” of Catholic education proposed by Archbishop Michael Miller, CSB, which rely on the same Vatican sources.

Every Catholic educator should be familiar with the distinctive and superior elements of Catholic education, especially given the widespread secularism and confusion in society and even within the Church today.

Integration

The integrity of Catholic education needs to be restored, beginning with an understanding of the integrity of the human person. As St. John Henry Newman explains, students come to class with all their emotions, appetites, will, and reason “warring” inside of them, because of the Fall. But it is the task of Catholic education “to reunite what has been put asunder.” Catholic education forms the intellect, but it does so in harmony with the rest of the soul and body—a truly integral formation of the person, ordered toward communion with God.

Within academics, there is also an integration that is necessary to Catholic education. If all knowledge and wisdom come from the mind of God, the one source of all, then the various disciplines have one foundation and should share insights, values, and methods across the curriculum. This is especially true of the Catholic faith, which is not simply infused into the classroom but provides the foundation and principles for every study.

In other activities, there can be no contradiction between learning and behavior, especially by the witness of teachers and other staff. Upholding moral expectations across all employees is increasingly difficult as even Catholics embrace ideologies and cultural norms that oppose Catholic teaching. But the integrity of Catholic education demands such integrity of every adult whose witness is seen by students.

Protection

To ensure the integrity of Catholic education, it must be defended. The threats to faithful Catholic education are numerous, beginning with the lack of awareness among many educators of the distinct mission of Catholic education. Especially in colleges, students are sometimes misled by dissent and even scandal while living in an often toxic campus culture. Also, as noted above, false ideologies and cultural norms in American society today—most notably gender ideology and distortions of marriage and sexuality—have great influence over students, parents, and Catholic school and college employees. Activists, legislators, courts, athletic associations, accreditors, and others are trying to force these new norms on Catholic educators, disregarding their religious beliefs and obligations.

At CNS, we are working hard to help Catholic educators secure the greatest protection under the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom. In addition to filing amicus briefs and communicating with government officials on behalf of Catholic families and educators, we provide standards and sample policies to help schools and colleges institute policies that are explicitly rooted in Catholic teaching, clear to all students and employees, and consistently upheld. The more forthright educators are about their Catholic mission and what is expected of all students and employees, the more likely an institution’s religious freedom is respected by the courts.

Reform

It may be that many Catholic schools and especially colleges have been too far afield, for too long a time, to expect a complete return to faithful Catholic education. But still there is a need for continued efforts at reform, if only to declare the principle that falsehood, dissent, and scandal have no place in authentic Catholic education.

Here we see the importance of developing a truly Catholic understanding of academic freedom. The Church does not accept the liberal view of human dignity as rooted in man’s reason and free will alone, thus recommending the widest possible freedom without regard for truth. Human dignity is bestowed by our Creator in His gracious desire that we be in communion with Him, and our reason and free will are ordered toward that purpose. Catholic education should allow students and teachers great freedom in exploring and contemplating reality, because reason requires a certain freedom to work on knowledge. But Catholic education must reject notions of absolute freedom, embrace truth, and avoid leading students into falsehood or sin.

Recommitment

Finally, the reform and renewal of faithful Catholic education require a recommitment by the Church to the project of education. In my conversations with bishops and priests, I often hear a tone of resignation, as if the days of Catholic education are behind us and can never be recovered. Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict paced a very high priority on faithful Catholic education, and that sense of urgency and commitment needs to persist in American dioceses and homes.

Millions of dollars and work hours have been put into the “New Evangelization’ with mixed results, but always falling short of true formation of young people. Catholic formation requires time and the integration described above, and this simply cannot be done well in the context of scattered events built around a public education. Today public schools and universities often strive to form students in ways that are contradictory to a Catholic morality and worldview. We must again appreciate Catholic education as the Church’s primary and most effective means of evangelization, while being frank about the great dangers in public education.

This recommitment needs to happen, most importantly, among parents. They are the primary educators who choose the education for their children, and they witness to Catholic education by their own lifelong pursuit of Catholic formation and growing in knowledge and wisdom. At baptism, parents vow to raise their children in the Catholic faith. As St. John Henry Newman declared often, a private religion without relevance to activities outside of church is dead; and an education disregarding the fundamental insights of the Catholic faith is a poor education.

Is it too tall an order to ask for reform and renewal, integration and protection, with the full commitment of the Church? Can we recover the urgency of Archbishop John Hughes of New York, who insisted on building schools before completing parish church buildings?

With God’s grace, I do believe all this can come to pass—and we are seeing many exciting signs and examples of it all around the U.S. We go forward into the next decade, taking each step with bold confidence that God will do what He wills with our work. I look back on The Cardinal Newman Society’s 30 years with amazement and praise for what has been wrought from our faulty efforts, and that gives me the greatest hope for the future of Catholic education.

Patrick Reilly
president and founder of
The Cardinal Newman Society

 

Contest Winner Seeks ‘Abundantly Joy-Filled Life’ at Faithful Catholic College

Editor’s Note: The Cardinal Newman Society, a nonprofit organization based in Virginia that promotes and defends faithful Catholic education, recently announced that Jacob Kristine, a homeschooled student from Pennsylvania, is the winner of the Society’s 2023 Essay Scholarship Contest for Catholic college-bound students. Kristine received a $5,000 scholarship toward his education at Christendom College in Front Royal, Va., this fall. Below is the full text of his winning essay. More information about the contest can be found here, and rising high school seniors who would like to compete in next year’s contest can sign up for our Recruit Me program here.  

I have had the blessed opportunity to see the value of a truly Catholic college education played out in the lives of four of my older siblings. My older brothers and sister have attended a school that is not just Catholic in name, but fosters an environment that allows one to “breathe Catholic” in all aspects during the most crucial formative years for a young man or woman. They are now living lives imbued with the True, the Good, and the Beautiful in their chosen vocations.

Their quest for higher learning led them to an institution which encourages and provides the tools necessary for gaining the wisdom needed to seek out and live out the Truth. They were treated to professors who infused every lecture with the life of Christ and His Church. The core curriculum’s bedrock, founded upon theology, philosophy, and the other liberal arts, allowed them to not just learn facts and statistics, but to actively and prayerfully think and engage in conversations to further illuminate the topic.

College life is more than the fifteen to twenty hours spent in a classroom each week. Being at a Catholic college brings the opportunity to meet and develop friendships that will bring out the Good in each individual. The friendships my siblings forged throughout their four years among like-minded followers of Christ have challenged them to grow in wisdom, remain faithful to God through worship and devotional practices, and encouraged virtuous living without sacrificing fun, laughter, and an abundantly joy-filled life—then and now.

But what good is an education that teaches Truth and promotes the Good unless it allows one to appreciate and seek the Beautiful? True beauty not only pleases the eye but stirs the intellect and feeds the soul. The divine liturgy is celebrated at their alma mater with deep reverence and with utmost care in order to solidify the reality of the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Likewise, outside of the Holy Mass, each student’s spiritual formation has every opportunity to flourish and grow by making devotional life accessible and desirable.

My siblings have bestowed upon me the great riches of understanding what gifts a truly Catholic college can impart to a young person. I have seen firsthand how this pursuit of Truth leads to a life that is Good and wholesome and sincerely promotes seeking the Creator of Beauty. I want to be immersed in that experience. In the fall of 2023, I will embark upon the path forged by my brothers and sister in seeking the True, embracing the Good, and drinking in the richness of the Beauty of a Catholic education.

Teresa Tomeo: Faithful Catholic Parents, Education ‘Key’ to Formation

Popular Catholic commentator Teresa Tomeo celebrates her Catholic upbringing and education amid heartwarming stories, good laughs and practical tips for raising children in her new book, Everything’s Coming Up Rosie: 10 Things My Feisty Italian-American Mom Taught Me About Living a Godly Life.

Tomeo is a well-known Catholic author, syndicated Catholic radio talk show host, and motivational speaker. The Cardinal Newman Society recently caught up with Tomeo to discuss her new book and the role of Catholic parents and Catholic education in forming young people today.

“I fell away from the faith for many years but my Mom and my Dad, plus a really good Catholic grade school education, planted the seeds,” Tomeo explained.  “When push came to shove, I looked in the mirror and slowly came back to my senses.  I don’t think I could have done that without those seeds being planted by a loving Catholic family and good solid lay and religious teachers.”

CNS: In your new book, you share the wit and wisdom of your Italian-American mom, Rosie, through storytelling and practical advice. What do you hope readers come away with after reading the book?

Teresa Tomeo: That we need to get back to the basics; the Golden Rule, the Ten Commandments, loving one another as Christ and our Catholic faith teaches us.  It’s not all that complicated, except we make it so because we just refuse in this world to put God first.  My mother knew this as did her mother.  It’s common sense but, as I say in the book, that’s something that is not so common anymore.

CNS: Since parents are the first and primary educators of their children, how can Rosie serve as an encouragement to Catholic parents in their role?

Teresa Tomeo: I think she serves as a great reminder to parents to never give up on your children.  I fell away from the faith for many years but my Mom and my Dad, plus a really good Catholic grade school education, planted the seeds.  When push came to shove, I looked in the mirror and slowly came back to my senses.  I don’t think I could have done that without those seeds being planted by a loving Catholic family and good solid lay and religious teachers.

CNS: Your mom provided you with a strong Catholic foundation, including the importance of relying on our Blessed Mother’s intercession, such as when your family escaped unharmed from a gas explosion at your apartment complex. Can you comment on how your mom provided a Catholic witness in both word and example?

Teresa Tomeo: Well she never gave up and she never lost her joy.  She persevered through many a trial and I saw how she grew stronger from those trials and even more importantly I saw how she prayed, went to Mass, and called on the intercession of Our Lady and the saints regularly and she taught me and my sisters to do the same.  We didn’t always listen, at least at first but eventually, her witness made a major difference and still does in my life even though she passed away three years ago.  The phrases in the book, the ten things Mom taught me, were among the most memorable. But she had a lot of other funny but profound sayings as well, so many I could probably write a few volumes worth.

CNS: Another lesson your mom shared with you was “Nevva get too big for those britches” or “humility.” You discuss how social media is one factor contributing to a self-centered society. What are some of the other challenges young Catholics face today?

Teresa Tomeo: Young people are not immune to the epidemic of loneliness as outlined in the special Surgeon General advisory that came out a few weeks ago. And the Surgeon General just released a follow up report to the loneliness advisory raising his great concerns about teens and social media. He says it’s adding to the problems already experienced—so again, families really need to get a handle on media usage. In addition to social media, young people spend far too much time with media in general, which causes them to focus on themselves.  Most importantly church attendance is down overall. That combined with broken families, and families who no longer consider faith or church attendance important, it’s a recipe for disaster.

CNS: How can they grow in humility and virtue?

Teresa Tomeo: Pope Francis spoke about this problem on his recent trip to Hungary telling young people not to be “couch potatoes.” He went on to tell them to aim high and to focus on doing great things for God.  You can’t do this while staring at a phone or laptop. However, young people need to see and hear from and about great witnesses of the faith and to be reminded of so many saints, even their age, such as Blessed Carol Acutis or Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who always looked to Jesus.  They loved life, they had fun, but at the end of the day they had their priorities straight. They need to learn about these and other wonderful examples.  As St, Paul says in Romans 10:17 “faith comes through hearing.” I heard Rosie talk about the Blessed Mother, St. Teresa, and other favorite saints of hers growing up and it eventually made a big difference in my life.  I absolutely love the great cloud of witnesses we have in the ten thousand plus saints in our Church.

CNS: For years, you’ve been a big supporter of The Cardinal Newman Society and faithful Catholic education. Why do you think it’s so important for Catholic parents to seek out faithful Catholic education for their children? What role do you see faithful Catholic schools, homeschool programs & colleges playing in the future of our Church and country? 

Teresa Tomeo: Well again, I credit the solid Catholic education I received for eight years in grade school as key in my formation.  I was growing up in turbulent times back in the late 60’s and 70’s.  But it’s not nearly as turbulent as it is today. We have to be able to know who we are and why we are here.  We have to have a compass and a solid Catholic education is going to help steer one in the right direction.  The religious sisters and lay instructors not only taught us the faith, they taught us the importance of a vocation.  That’s where I discovered my communications vocation.  By the time I was in the third grade, thanks in part to the encouragement of my teachers, I knew that I would be in the communications field.  I didn’t know exactly what that meant at the time but my teachers were the ones who recognized my gift of gab and my interest in writing, and they encouraged me along the way.  I also had a very profound experience when I made my First Holy Communion and that’s what eventually brought me back to the Church.

CNS: Anything else you’d like to add?

Teresa Tomeo: I would just like to end where I began; reminding parents, older siblings, others who work with young people keep planting those seeds.  Keep working hard at looking for good Catholic schools that are true to the faith.  And even if your child does stray, know that you did what the Lord called you to do in terms of bringing them up in the faith to the best of your ability. Keep praying. Keep loving them and keep reminding them when the opportunity arises that God loves them too and that there is always a place for them in your home and God’s house, the Catholic Church. Oh, and as I say throughout the book, a little dose of old fashion Catholic guilt doesn’t hurt either.

National Essay Contest Winner Saw ‘Firsthand’ the ‘Great Riches’ of Faithful Catholic Education

While many students go off to college and lose their faith and joy, one college-bound student saw how his older siblings’ faith was strengthened and lives were enriched by attending a faithful Catholic college—and now he, too, will be attending a faithful college with a $5,000 scholarship.

Jacob Kristine, a homeschooled student from Pennsylvania, is the winner of The Cardinal Newman Society’s 2023 Essay Scholarship Contest. His $5,000 scholarship will be applied toward his first year at Christendom College in Front Royal, Va., and he is eligible for continuing scholarships from Christendom in subsequent years.

“My siblings have bestowed upon me the great riches of understanding what gifts a truly Catholic college can impart to a young person. I have seen firsthand how this pursuit of Truth leads to a life that is Good and wholesome and sincerely promotes seeking the Creator of Beauty,” explained Kristine in his award-winning essay, which can be read in its entirety here.

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

The topic for this year’s contest was to reflect on the following question: “The Cardinal Newman Society recently released a 7-minute video on the advantages of choosing a faithful Catholic college. Pick a key point(s) or theme(s) from the video and explain why attending a Newman Guide college will have special value for you.” Essays were judged by how well they demonstrated appreciation for faithful Catholic education, as well as the quality of the writing.

The judges were thoroughly impressed with Kristine’s essay, which emphasized the academic, spiritual, and social life at faithful Catholic colleges. Kristine is the fifth of eight children in his family and has been homeschooled his entire life. Since third grade, he has served as an altar server at his Catholic parish and worked at the church cemetery as a groundskeeper. He has also enjoyed competing in sports, especially cross country and track and field, which he hopes to continue next year at Christendom.

Kristine explained how The Newman Guide and The Cardinal Newman Society’s “Recruit Me” program proved helpful in his college search:

Without the Newman Guide, I am not so sure that my college search would have been as comprehensive and complete as it turned out. The “Recruit Me” program was a fantastic blessing, as it allowed so many colleges to reach out to me and provide information that I could digest and review. I would then turn to the Newman Guide to further enlighten me about the most vital and important aspects of a truly Catholic college education. With your fantastic resources, I was able to confidently find a home for the next four years that would equip me to become the man of God that this world so desperately needs.

The annual contest is open to high school seniors in the United States who participate in the Newman Society’s Recruit Me program and use The Newman Guide in their college search. The innovative Recruit Me program invites Newman Guide colleges to compete for students while providing information about faithful Catholic education. Rising high school seniors who wish to enter next year’s essay contest can sign up for Recruit Me online here.

Kristine’s $5,000 scholarship is made possible by the generosity of Joseph and Ann Guiffre, supporters of The Cardinal Newman Society and faithful Catholic education.

“We are grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Guiffre for enabling this scholarship,” said Newman Society President Patrick Reilly. “They understand the unique value of a truly Catholic education, and they are thrilled to help a student experience all that a Newman Guide-recommended college can provide.”

Each year’s winner of the contest also has the opportunity to receive an additional $15,000 from participating colleges over the course of their college education. Sixteen of the Newman Guide colleges, including Christendom College, have agreed to supplement the Newman Society’s scholarship with additional $5,000 grants over three additional years, under certain conditions including full-time enrollment and academic progress.

Newman Guide Colleges Prepare Students for Happiness, Says African Missionary

A graduate of Wyoming Catholic College who now serves as a teacher and missionary in Africa says that there’s “no better option” than faithful Catholic colleges for “being formed as a whole person for happiness and flourishing.”

“Any college can provide job training, but Newman Guide colleges are looking at students as a person created in the image of God, so yes, providing the skills and education needed to work in this life, but also to be happy, both in this life and the next,” says Hannah Graves.

Currently serving as a teacher and missionary in Malawi, Africa, Graves credits her faithful Catholic education with giving her the “perspective” she needs to continue her service. “While there is a lot that is beautiful here in Malawi, there are also lots of major problems. Corruption and destitution are ubiquitous.”

After graduating from WCC, Graves worked for a parish in Washington state that wanted to set-up a sister relationship with a parish in Malawi. Inspired to share the joys of her Catholic faith and support the sister parish, Graves took a trip to visit St. Mary’s in Ntaja. During her visit, Graves discovered, “there was a lot about the life in Malawi that appealed to me.” She was drawn to a life of simplicity.

“I have wanted to live so as to ‘tread lightly on the earth,’ and in Malawi I saw the possibility of stepping out of the materialist consumerist culture that has dominated America and to learn to live without ‘essentials’ like refrigeration, air conditioning, dishwashers, and washing machines,” Graves said.

After Graves returned from that trip, she explored the opportunity to share her faithful Catholic education and teach in Malawi full-time.  She contacted the Sacramentine Sisters and moved to Malawi in July 2022. She currently teaches high school students in a Sacramentine school, but she also volunteers regularly at a local orphanage run by Franciscan sisters.

Hannah Graves volunteers at an orphanage run by Franciscan sisters.

Living in Malawi, Graves has noticed that “so much poverty is caused by poor agricultural practices and broken family units.” Despite the poverty, Graves admires the joy she sees. “The women are always so thrilled that I am there… They take such joy in the simplest gestures and so frequently break into song.”

“My neighbor is an Italian nurse who runs physical therapy centers for disabled children (cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, osteogenesis, club foot). On my days off, I go with her out to the villages for the PT sessions. The monthly gatherings at the centers always end with a simple meal. I love ‘helping’ the women in the kitchen and trying to communicate.”

Graves is striving to live a life detached from worldly things, a life of prayer and service for the Catholic Church and the people of Malawi. She plans to stay in Africa for the length of her work permit which is two years, but is “open to considering a longer stay depending on what God seems to want.”