A Crucial Line of Defense for Catholic Education

Catholic education could face severe hardships should the religious protection that is built into Title IX — the federal law banning sex discrimination — be taken away. And that is exactly what some activists and the Biden administration hopeto do.

The Administration and some federal courts now interpret Title IX as a ban on teaching and upholding authentic gender, sexuality and marriage. But since the law was first enacted in 1972, Title IX has exempted religious schools and colleges from any application of the law that conflicts with their religious beliefs. Predictably, LGBT activists are now striving to undo that exemption.

For Catholics, it should be a top priority to hold that line. It doesn’t mean that we should focus only on exempting religion from bad laws while our culture collapses. But ultimately winning the culture war requires that we form young people in faith, reason and wisdom — all of which are in short supply today. I see no path to a renewal of the Church and culture without a renewal of faithful Catholic education.

We must carve out protection for Catholic education if we are ever to win the larger battle. If the religious exemption to Title IX falls, Catholic schools and colleges will probably fall also, and even Catholic homeschooling may be targeted. That’s because the impact will be felt far beyond restrictions on federal money for education, which is the trigger that subjects an institution to Title IX. Even more, a collapse of the Title IX religious exemption is likely to cascade into anti-Catholic bigotry in state law, accreditation, academic associations, athletic leagues, etc., until there is minimal tolerance for any form of truly Catholic education.

 

Lawsuits target exemption

Among the threats to the Title IX religious exemption are two lawsuits which are unlikely to succeed — but if they do, the consequences could be devastating.

One of the lawsuits seeks to exploit a narrow interpretation of the Title IX exemption itself. The exemption states that Title IX “shall not apply to an educational institution which is controlled by a religious organization, if the application of this subsection would not be consistent with the religious tenets of such organization.”

Two students who were expelled from Fuller Theological Seminary for violating rules against same-sex unions have asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to deny the seminary access to the Title IX exemption, because Fuller is nondenominational and independent of any organized religion. This, they argue, is not within the scope of institutions that are “controlled by a religious organization.”

The danger to Catholic education is enormous, should this argument prevail. Most Catholic colleges and many lay-established Catholic schools in the U.S. are not legally owned by the Church. They have independent boards of trustees that legally control the institutions. If the Title IX exemption is interpreted to exclude such independent operations, many of our Catholic schools and colleges as well as America’s nondenominational Christian institutions would no longer be protected.

Just last month, the Cardinal Newman Society and a number of faithful Catholic schools and colleges joined an amicus brief urging the Ninth Circuit to acknowledge that an institution controlled by a board of trustees that is committed to certain religious beliefs is, in fact, “controlled by a religious organization” for the purposes of Title IX. That is precisely how the U.S. Department of Education has always interpreted the exemption. The regulations implementing Title IX exempt any “educational institution [that] has a published institutional mission that is approved by the governing body of an educational institution and that includes, refers to, or is predicated upon religious tenets, beliefs, or teachings.”

But there’s another lawsuit that takes aim at the entire Title IX exemption. A group of students and alumni from various Christian colleges have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education, calling for the religious exemption in Title IX to be struck down as unconstitutional because, by protecting religious institutions, it creates an “establishment of religion.” This contradicts longstanding practice of the Education Department and religious exemptions throughout federal law.

 

Stand firm

If the religious exemption to Title IX were struck down, Catholic schools and colleges could be forced to give up federal aid and, much worse, face a growing number of legal and social obstacles that could render Catholic educators unable to promote and educate their students in the eternal truths of the Church, both moral and academic.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is pursuing an end run around the Title IX exemption that could have similar consequences. By promoting the Equality Act — which was approved in the House and has been introduced in the Senate — the Administration has pinned its hopes on expanding the definition of discrimination under the separate Title VI and thereby opening the door to lawsuits and restrictions against religious education.

Catholic schools should be prepared to defend against these ever evolving and worrisome attacks on religious freedom. Courts have historically turned a kinder eye to institutions that maintain a sincere and consistent adherence to their professed moral beliefs. The best defense against these attacks, then, is for Catholic schools and colleges to consistently uphold the truths of the Church in their teaching, policies and activities.

The Church is used to weathering attacks. It has endured far worse than agenda-driven activists and lawyers seeking to overturn U.S. civil rights law. And recent court victories for religious freedom offer hope that the latest attacks will fail. But the attacks are worrisome nonetheless because of their direct opposition to religious freedom, and if they succeed, they could hurt thousands of Catholic families.

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

‘Fulton’ Ruling Teaches Important Lesson to Catholic Educators

A leading attorney for the defense of religious freedom says Catholic educators can learn an important lesson from the Supreme Court’s recent Fulton ruling, which allowed Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to uphold its faithfully Catholic practices. The lesson: Have courage and stand firm in the Faith.

Like Catholic social and medical services, Catholic education faces growing threats from the Biden administration and many states and localities because of Catholic beliefs about the sanctity of life, the human person and marriage. While educators may be tempted to compromise on programs like women’s athletics or on policies like moral standards for teachers, doing so violates the very mission of Catholic education, and there is no escaping confrontation with gender ideology. The best legal protection is to be consistently and firmly committed to the Catholic faith.

“As Fulton shows, religious freedom is stronger when Catholic apostolates are standing in a long historical tradition and have the courage of their convictions,” says Eric Kniffin, legal adviser to The Cardinal Newman Society and attorney with Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP. He also worked previously for the Becket Fund and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

“On the contrary,” he warns, “if Catholic schools disregard their calling and lose their saltiness, they will have a much harder time convincing students, parents and judges that they need religious accommodations.”

The Court’s June 17 ruling in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia protects the right of Catholic Social Services to continue receiving City of Philadelphia funding, without yielding to the City’s demand that it place children for foster care with same-sex couples. The Court’s deference to Catholic Social Services’ mission and beliefs, says Kniffin, is heartening given the Biden administration’s efforts to impose broad accommodations for homosexuality and transgender behavior in schools and colleges by twisting the nondiscrimination provisions of the federal Title IX education law.

Last Wednesday, the Biden administration released a “Dear Educator” letter insisting that “Title IX’s protection against sex discrimination encompasses discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” despite the fact that Congress never intended the law to have such a meaning. On Monday, the Court declined to consider a Virginia school board’s appeal to preserve the privacy of boys’ and girls’ bathrooms, leaving educators vulnerable to the Administration’s gender ideology.

The Education Department’s letter last week indicated that it expects schools and colleges to allow students to choose athletic teams based on their stated “gender identity” and give them access to the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice. Moreover, the Department indicated that it would mandate what educators can believe and teach about sex, warning against a scenario in which “the teacher tells the class that there are only boys and girls and anyone who thinks otherwise has something wrong with them.”

Good for education

But the Fulton decision offers some hope of protection for religious education, to the extent that the Supreme Court respected Catholics’ right to uphold fundamental truths about human nature and sexuality.

“One of the most important victories for the Catholic Church in Fulton is that the Supreme Court voted unanimously in favor of a religious entity that believes that ‘marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman,’” Kniffin says. “Some on the left have argued that such a statement is akin to racial bigotry. The Court’s unanimous decision is a strong repudiation of that analogy.”

Instead, the Court remained consistent with its Obergefell ruling in 2015, which said, “Many who deem same-sex marriage to be wrong reach that conclusion based on decent and honorable religious or philosophical premises, and neither they nor their beliefs are disparaged here.”

In his majority opinion in Fulton, Chief Justice John Roberts took notice of the Catholic Church’s long history of serving children as an extension of its religious exercise, not apart from it. Catholic education is no different. This was a point that Kniffin made in the amicus brief he authored last year for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference.

“This history was important in the Fulton case, because the City and its allies claimed that foster care has now become a ‘public service,’ which means that the contracts at issue here had no more religious significance than contracts for ‘road maintenance,’” Kniffin explains. His brief for the USCCB noted that the Court had already rejected this line of argument with respect to Catholic education in the 2012 Hosanna-Tabor ruling, which affirmed the ministerial exception for certain Catholic school teachers. In that case, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission made the outrageous argument that the First Amendment does not apply to Catholic schools providing a “socially beneficial service … in compliance with State compulsory education laws.”

Just as Hosanna-Tabor helped the Archdiocese of Philadelphia make its case, the Fulton ruling gives Catholic education an even stronger argument for religious freedom, Kniffin says. “While caring for orphans falls under the corporal works of mercy, the work of Catholic schools falls under the spiritual works of mercy. When carried out as the Catholic Church intends … Catholic schools are carrying out a core religious exercise.”

On the other hand, the Fulton ruling is also a reminder of how fragile such rights can be in today’s secular society. Although the Supreme Court had the opportunity with this case to overturn its 1990 ruling in Employment Services v. Smith, it avoided the issue, thereby allowing states and cities like Philadelphia to attempt further discrimination against Catholic organizations as long as their laws and rules are generally applicable without exceptions. Catholic Social Services may soon have to return to court to protect its foster care services and force a review of Smith— or that review might occur because of a case involving Catholic education, which faces challenges with licensing, school choice funding, accreditation, participation in athletic conferences and other state and local attempts to impose gender ideology despite Catholic beliefs.

“The good news is that five justices in Fulton said that they believe that the Free Exercise Clause protects more religious liberty than the Smith decision might indicate,” Kniffin says. “Hopefully, this consensus will help dissuade government from even stronger efforts to force Catholic schools to abandon their convictions on matters of sexual morality and the human person. But if they do, the Court seems poised to protect the First Amendment right to free exercise.”

As for federal programs like college student loans and aid for textbooks and busing, Catholic education is protected by the religious exemption in Title IX — except that the Biden administration wants to maneuver around that exemption with the harmful Equality Act. Activists are also attempting to dismantle the Title IX exemption in court. To counter their arguments, the Cardinal Newman Society recently joined an amicus brief with the Christian Legal Society, several groups representing various religious beliefs, and Catholic schools and colleges that are recognized by the Newman Society for their faithful education.

By standing firm and refusing to yield our religious freedom, Catholic educators can hopefully continue to win in court. Moreover, the formation that Catholic education provides young people — if it remains consistently faithful to the teachings of the Church — can eventually renew society and restore respect for truth.

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

U.S. Capitol

60 Pro-Abortion Congressmen Flunk Catholicism 101

When 60 members of the House of Representatives — all of them baptized Catholics — issued their ultimatum last week demanding access to the Eucharist despite their pro-abortion politics, it became apparent how little they know about the Catholic faith and Christ’s invitation to communion with him.

The signers clearly hope to turn the bishops’ appeal for “Eucharistic coherency” into a partisan issue, even though it impacts Catholics of every political stripe. But regardless of which party these politicians belong to, what most concerns me is the fact that prominent Catholics displayed such ignorance of the Church’s fundamental teaching and practice concerning the Eucharist. Which made me wonder: how many attended Catholic schools and colleges?

In the past, I have lamented the number of pro-abortion members of Congress who graduated from Catholic colleges, mostly Jesuit institutions. Often they are celebrated as successful alumni, despite their flagrant opposition to the Church’s reverence for the sanctity of all human life.

The bewildering fact is that half of the 60 who signed last week’s letter received a Catholic education. Of those 30 representatives, at least 15 attended Catholic high schools and 22 attended Catholic colleges, 16 of them Jesuit institutions.

What does this say about Catholic education in recent decades? Perhaps these politicians received a good education and later turned away from the Faith — that certainly is possible. But given the abundance of evidence of the poor catechesis of Catholics, widespread dissent on abortion and contraception, and weak Catholic identity in many schools and colleges over the last five decades, the Church likely bears some responsibility for failing to properly form these men and women as saints instead of obstinate sinners.

On the other hand, the fact that 31 never had a Catholic high school or college education (I was unable to find much information about their elementary schools) also raises serious questions about the lack of adequate formation for most baptized Catholics. The consequences are clear: too many people claim to be Catholic but lack respect for the Eucharist and are unashamed of their support for abortion, same-sex marriage and other obvious moral evils. They should be ashamed — and so should we — for not doing everything possible to ensure a faithful Catholic education for every Catholic child.

We must do better. And if we do, the impact on society and the Church will be something wonderful to behold.

 

A version of this article by Patrick Reilly, president and founder of The Cardinal Newman Society, first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

Benedictine­ College Raises the Bar in Fight Against Porn Addiction

Students at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., made national headlines in 2019, when they petitioned the university to block pornographic websites on the campus Wi-Fi network. The university administration readily agreed, joining the growing number of faithful Catholic colleges that realize just how damaging pornography use is for students and therefore block pornography on their campus networks.

But in the past year, the social isolation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic has only solidified the place pornography websites hold as among the most trafficked in the world, reminding even the most devout Catholic institutions that this evil is more rampant now than it has ever been.

A thousand miles to the west of D.C., at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, administrators have embraced a much broader approach to tackling this crisis of health and virtue, driven by the knowledge that “personnel is policy.” Instead of simply blocking websites, the college has developed a multi-pronged approach to tackling the issue, providing a model for other Catholic institutions to follow.

In an ever-changing digital and social media landscape, leaders at Benedictine understand that the social and personal ills from pornography consumption will never be fully quashed, especially since most students have been exposed or addicted prior to attending college. Benedictine has developed a robust support system designed to help students struggling with pornography and sex addiction, while also encouraging healthy social behaviors that limit the opportunities to slip into temptation.

And while these policies have been effective and have proved immensely beneficial to the student body, Benedictine’s dean of student life, Joseph Wurtz, says they would be nothing without the right staff implementing them.

“Having the right people who can interpret … policies and create the right culture is critically important to maintaining the Catholic identity of an institution,” Wurtz said. “This does not diminish the need for sound policy. As administrators committed to Catholic identity, we should have clear and unambiguous polices that support the Church’s teachings — intellectual, moral and social.”

The “hiring and promotion of personnel who ‘strive to live a life of virtue guided by the teachings of the Catholic Church’ must be one of the highest institutional priorities,” Wurtz said, citing The Cardinal Newman Society’s recommended Human Sexuality Policies. “Culture is most effectively transmitted by people. To the degree Catholic institutions can attract personnel who themselves are committed to creating a strong Catholic culture, and model it joyfully, then good policy can be generated and successfully implemented.”

The Newman Society last year highlighted the efforts of Benedictine College and other faithful Catholic colleges in a report that offered a blueprint for combatting pornography on campus. For Benedictine, the effort began two years ago with a committee of religious leaders, campus staff and counselors who were tasked with establishing a strategy to combat pornography use among the student body.

Benedictine’s approach follows extensive research showing that, in order to overcome addiction and dependency, students greatly benefit from group therapy, an accountability partner and counseling.

Benedictine has both a male and a female counselor trained in pornography and sex addiction at the campus counseling center. It hosts a presentation on the topic at least once a semester, and single-sex group therapy is available, with tailored approaches to men and women.

Encouraging healthy and chaste behaviors, establishing an emotional and spiritual support system, and developing healing programs are all essential tools in the fight against pornography addiction in a world that promotes it. Benedictine College’s embrace of these tools — in addition to regular access to the sacraments, especially confession — has yielded positive results.

Catholic colleges would do well to emulate Benedictine’s approach to promoting virtue, healing and forgiveness. It is precisely this sort of Christian communion that Catholic families seek in authentic Catholic education.

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

After Crazy 2020, Students Seek No-Nonsense Catholic Colleges

During uncertain and troubling times, what’s a Catholic high school senior to think about attending college?

Christ promised, “I am with you always, until the end of the age.” For young people across America, the year 2020 was tumultuous and often difficult, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the election, racial tensions and violence. Did any of this affect students’ resolve to attend a faithful Catholic college?

That was the question posed to high school seniors competing for scholarships in The Cardinal Newman Society’s annual essay contest, and the responses we received give me great hope for the future. Indeed, the events of the past year have made me even more certain of the need for wise and virtuous graduates of faithful Catholic schools and colleges. We rely on them to renew our culture.

Trinity Chester, a homeschooled student in California, writes that the “challenges of the past year” left her with the conviction that she “could not possibly settle for anything less” than a faithful Catholic college.

“As colleges across the country have shut down or taken classes completely online, faithful Catholic colleges have gone above and beyond to minister to their students in these trying times and keep classes in-person, if at all possible,” Chester reflects in her winning essay. “These schools are truly almae matres — nourishing mothers who care for their children’s physical, emotional, and spiritual welfare.”

She looks forward to attending a college where “Christ is at the heart” of campus and the education “seeks knowledge of the true, the good and the beautiful.” She believes a liberal arts education is practical, too:

In a post-COVID economy … graduates will need a holistic education that will equip them for life and give them a versatile skillset. Catholic colleges, with their strong focus on the Liberal Arts, give students the knowledge, critical thinking skills and flexibility to succeed in any venture.

Chester will use her $5,000 scholarship to attend Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California, where students are being prepared “each in their own way … to live lives of service.” About 10 percent of the College’s alumni have entered the priesthood or religious life, a third of the graduates have gone on to graduate studies or other advanced education, and others have pursued a wide variety of careers.

“Faithful Catholic colleges equip their students to be missionaries for the faith by carrying Christ with them into the world after graduation,” Chester writes.

“The events of the past year have taught us that our broken world desperately needs young people with a love for the Lord and a missionary spirit, who will dedicate their lives to service and evangelization,” says Chester.

Praise God for faithful Catholic colleges and for the students who attend them! They are a great light in the darkness of our culture today. May God bless Trinity and all her fellow students who are preparing to attend college this fall.

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

More information about the Essay Scholarship Contest:

The Newman Society’s annual Essay Scholarship 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 at https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/the-newman-guide/recruit-me/.

Trinity Chester describes her use of The Newman Guide:

The Newman Guide was incredibly helpful to me in my college search. I found it so encouraging to read the winning essays from past years and know that there were other young people out there who wanted the same things I wanted in a college experience. The Newman Guide website made it easy for me to compare faithful Catholic colleges and narrow down the factors that were important to me. I also enjoyed the student takeovers on the Newman Society’s Instagram account because they allowed me an inside look at campus culture and student life.

Chester’s $5,000 scholarship is made possible thanks to 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.”

The winner of the annual 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 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.

Pro-Life Colleges Won’t Be Silenced

What an inspiration! Several Catholic colleges, undeterred by their inability to attend this year’s physical March for Life in Washington, D.C., have found new and exciting ways of witnessing to the gift of all human life.

Every year, huge numbers of students at faithful Catholic colleges make heroic efforts to travel across the country, brave cold temperatures, and bear with uncomfortable sleeping conditions to attend the annual demonstration in Washington, D.C.

This year, the March for Life rally is a virtual event, and the March itself is limited to a small group of pro-life leaders. But these changes have not stopped faithful Catholic colleges from finding creative ways to witness to life.

Throughout the month of January, they are remembering the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and peacefully protesting and praying for an end to abortion. Several Catholic colleges are taking part in local pro-life marches. The University of Mary in Bismark, North Dakota, is helping organize a march in which pro-lifers will walk to the steps of the state capitol.

A junior at the University of Mary and president of the Collegians for Life club, John Brule, says that while he would have “liked to be able to witness to life by attending the national March for Life” again this year, he thinks the local march will make a big impact. “It brings our minds closer to where the real fight for life takes place — in our local communities and families.”

Also, this Friday, Benedictine College will lead a pro-life march through its hometown of Atchison, Kansas, which will include a ceremony at the Memorial of the Unborn and Mass on campus. Students at Wyoming Catholic College attended a walk for life in Lander, Wyoming, and Franciscan University of Steubenville students will hold a Life Chain in Steubenville, Ohio.

Prayer for an end to abortion is at the focus of Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. The College was supposed to lead this year’s March for Life, but that honor has been postponed to 2022. Instead, the College’s schedule includes Mass, praying three mysteries of the Rosary in a procession around campus, and a Holy Hour for an end to abortion, followed by Adoration until midnight in the chapel.

Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, has organized a 40 Hours for Life campaign on campus, with perpetual Adoration running from Friday to Sunday. “I have always loved going to late-night Adoration, and in my time at the Abbey I have found that a lot of students share my love for it,” says Michaela Mosher, a sophomore at the Abbey who serves as the president of the Crusaders for Life club on campus.

“Even though we cannot physically be at the March, we want to show our support for the cause,” Mosher explained, “Everyone is involved! We have teachers, some of the monks, the FOCUS missionaries, and tons of students coming to fill those 80 slots!”

Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California, organized its own virtual events, with Dr. Janet Smith speaking to students about the connection between abortion and contraception, and Don Blythe tackling how to effectively sidewalk counsel outside of abortion clinics.

Some Catholic colleges are encouraging students to take part in the virtual March for Life events, including The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. At the University of St. Thomas in Houston, the campus ministry office plans to livestream the virtual March in their offices.

For faithful Catholic colleges, attending the annual March for Life or another local march is just part of their pro-life efforts. For example, the Crusaders for Life club at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, regularly prays and engages in sidewalk counseling on Saturdays at a local abortion clinic. In faithful Catholic education, the dignity of the human person from conception until natural death is upheld, inside and outside of the classroom. There are no referrals to Planned Parenthood from their health clinics, pro-abortion speakers, and pro-abortion clubs on campus, as at many wayward Catholic colleges that have sadly betrayed their mission.

Despite an unusual year, faithful Catholic colleges are again leaders in organizing pro-life witness across the country. These colleges are building up the next generation of pro-life leaders and spreading the message of life far and wide.

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

School of Athens

Father McTeigue Wants You to Learn Philosophy

Socrates had important answers to the big questions in life. But he was especially good at asking questions, helping his students use their own reason to discover answers that were available to them all along.

I have had a similar experience whenever I am a guest on Jesuit Father Robert McTeigue’s “Catholic Current” radio show (distributed by the Station of the Cross Catholic Radio Network). He asks great questions, arising from a great depth of knowledge and his long experience as a philosophy and theology professor in North and Central America, Europe and Asia.

So when I read his new book, Real Philosophy for Real People by Ignatius Press, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to ask him a few questions myself.

I asked Father McTeigue about the importance of Catholics studying philosophy and noted Saint John Paul II’s teaching that faith and reason — theology and philosophy — are closely related. Father replied that philosophy is “the love of wisdom,” and the wise man’s task “is to put things in their proper place and order,” as taught by the great St. Thomas Aquinas.

Many great thinkers have noted the importance of philosophy to everyday activity. “Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living; but examining it is not enough,” Father noted. “One has to act upon what one has discovered via the examination. Aristotle, I believe, would agree that the disordered life cannot be lived well. Saint Augustine said that peace is the tranquility of order.”

Relevant to life

It’s common to think of philosophy as something that is highly abstract, controversial, above the heads of most people, and irrelevant. Not so, says Father McTeigue.

“Philosophy, done well, helps one to attain the peace of a well-ordered life, a life that can be lived well,” he told me. “Catholics know that we are meant to serve God in this life, to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to be ready to enter eternity prepared to see the face of God and live. The guidance of true philosophy can help one to arrange one’s life, community, culture and civilization towards that end.”

But what about students — and maybe even their parents and educators — who find philosophy to be of little practical value?

Father McTeigue said “they’re likely doing it wrong.” He acknowledged that philosophy “is a work of leisure, done for its own sake. At the highest level, it is speculative rather than practical, contemplative rather than constructive.” The average student might have difficulty with that, because “humans are more than intellects, more than just souls. We are physical, appetitive and social. We need guidance to coordinate all those dimensions of our lives.”

He recommends studying “real philosophy for real people” — not the theoretical conundrums that have obsessed philosophers for centuries, but the truthful and practical knowledge about such things as justice, prudence, and temperance that correct reasoning and a proper moral formation can discern.

Catholic education

I have been teaching logic and basic Aristotelian philosophy to Catholic homeschool students in grades 7 through 12, and they understand it quite well. So although Father’s book is aimed broadly at equipping “real people” of all ages with “real philosophy,” it made me even more eager for Catholic schools to teach philosophy and reasoning skills at younger ages.

This is especially important today, since many students never study logic or philosophy in college. If they do, it is often highly distorted and even dangerous.

In Real Philosophy for Real People, Father McTeigue writes that we should expect education “to inform — to impart knowledge. A proper education will also form — that is, actualize heretofore untapped potential. The best education will also transform — that is, correcting what is in error and improving what could be better.”

I asked him to put this in the context of a Catholic education, which is grounded in the truths of the faith, grace of the sacraments, and sure guidance of the Church. “For a human person to live and become all that God intended for us who are all human yet also distinct individuals,” Father explained, “we must have the healing, illumination and inspiration that can come only from a Catholic life lived fully.”

“The essential dynamics of true education — to inform, form and transform — are best done in the context of a robust Catholic community that can draw upon the graces of the faith as well as the tools and treasures of the Catholic intellectual, moral and aesthetic heritage,” he said.

That context is missing from secular education, where Father said philosophy is often taught like this: “In the beginning, there was Plato and Aristotle… then nothing happened for 2,000 years… and then one day, Descartes emerged from nowhere.”

“That’s as unhelpful as it is dishonest,” he warned. “Also, non-Catholic schools can be more prone to be subject to philosophical trendiness, because they don’t have the tradition of perennial philosophy to draw upon, unlike faithful Catholic schools.”

A true philosopher

Of course, learning philosophy — like anything else — often depends on an excellent teacher. For Father McTeigue, that was the late Paul Weiss, to whom Real Philosophy for Real People is dedicated. The book describes him as “a philosopher, a scholar, a teacher, a mentor, a friend, and a father.”

“If I believed in reincarnation (which I don’t, of course),” Father told me, “I would say that Dr. Weiss was the reincarnation of Socrates. He had a relentless, fearless, unselfconscious, uninhibited commitment to finding the truth.”

Unlike many academics, Dr. Weiss was “not simply a curator of ideas or a custodian of texts,” Father recalled. “He was a true philosopher — he wanted to know; he drew upon the works of the best and brightest; he devised his own tools for finding the truth. I could never repay him for what he gave me and the example he offered me; but I can honor him by teaching others as he taught me.”

Father McTeigue has surely accomplished that throughout his life, and it is no small work. He said that Dr. Weiss “told me that he would like his legacy to be that he helped the next generation to see farther than he did.” I have no doubt that Father wishes the same for his readers.

May God grant that many generations of students and teachers continue the legacy of these devoted philosophers and educators, and may they extend the great Western and Catholic philosophical tradition far into the future. St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.

 

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

Blessed Mother

College Students Organize Nationwide Marian Consecration

It only takes a spark to start a fire. That’s exactly what a passionate group of students at Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida, are doing again this year.

For the third time, students who are a part of the Mary and Mercy Center, which is adjacent to campus, are organizing college students across the country to make a Marian consecration. The Consecration begins on Nov. 5 and ends on Dec. 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

Students use Father Michael Gaitley’s bestselling 33 Days to Morning Glory book for the consecration. The Mary and Mercy Center is shipping out free copies to college students who request them. Alternatively, they’ve also developed an app to help students stay on track during the consecration.

Marian consecration is about entrusting one’s life to Our Blessed Mother, knowing that she will lead us to her Son. Some of the most popular Marian consecrations include St. Louis de Montfort’s 33-day guide, St. Maximilian Kolbe’s nine-day consecration, and in recent years, Father Michael Gaitley’s 33 Days to Morning Glory.

“Marian consecration totally changed my life,” says Alex Showman, who graduated from Ave Maria University in May 2020 and is now the director of the Mary and Mercy Center. “I made my first consecration for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception shortly after my conversion to Catholicism in 2017. Since then, I have seen myself grow in so many ways to become a holier person. Mary has guided me down the path to obtain my degree and to show me where the Lord is asking me to be for him.”

“I know that if it wasn’t for my consecration or the Mary and Mercy Center, there is a chance I would have fallen away from the faith,” Showman continues.

The Center was founded by Bill and Donna Bradt, who are eager to reach the “everyday Catholic who has limited time and resources but wants to grow in their faith.”

The Center’s outreach to college students is impressive: Just three years ago, a group of 25 Ave Maria students began spreading devotion to Marian consecration, including to other faithful Catholic colleges in The Newman Guide. Now, thousands of copies of 33 Days to Morning Glory have been shared with students at more than 200 public and Catholic colleges across the country.

“The joy and excitement that we have experienced from working with these young students has been such a blessing,” says Donna Bradt. “Witnessing their growth in love and trust for Mary and her Son and hearing their stories of how they now can see Mary working in their lives brings hope for the future.”

The location of the Mary and Mercy Center couldn’t be more appropriate, according to Maria Rubio, a sophomore at the University. “To have the Mary and Mercy Center be based right next to campus helps all of us to really focus on the mission and the identity of our school: That this is Mary’s University, and she desires us to become ambassadors to bring our fellow brothers and sisters home to her.”

Rubio had “no clue what Marian consecration was before college,” but believes that making the consecration has helped her to “live my essence of being a daughter of God to the fullest extent possible.”

While COVID-19 restrictions are holding back some universities from being able to hold many in-person gatherings and events this year, the students at the Mary and Mercy Center remain committed to spreading Marian consecration. One consecration at a time, they are helping Our Blessed Mother lead souls to her Son.

 

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

Catholic Colleges Should Fight Pornography

To combat pornography, Catholics should take the lead in the home and in our institutions. It should be a high priority for Catholic colleges.

Recent controversy over the Netflix movie “Cuties,” now the target of a Texas indictment for “lewd visual material,” helped bring renewed attention to the devastating impact of pornography. Society is taking a new, hard look at this moral pandemic that is corrupting souls as well as the mind and body — but shouldn’t Catholics be in the lead?

Dr. Chad Pecknold, theologian at The Catholic University of America, responded to “Cuties” by  warning families, “We must guard our senses. We must guard our children.”

He’s absolutely right. Parents need to be vigilant, and our pastors need to preach openly about it. But what about Catholic educators who are committed to forming students in moral conduct and authentic love for Christ and others?

Pornography not only harms the user. It makes people commodities for fleeting pleasure, even to the point of violence and human trafficking. While Catholic colleges strive to form students to be more fully human, the most inhuman activity is prevalent — as best we know by anecdote and studies of college-age behavior — in the dorm rooms.

Studies indicate that upwards of two-thirds of high school and college-aged Americans view pornography at least weekly. These rates may be higher amid the coronavirus pandemic, with students spending more time alone and in their residences.

Social distancing limitations are difficult for college students, who are asked to avoid gatherings and campus events. Students are spending even longer hours in front of computers and cell phones, because of schoolwork or as an escape from boredom, isolation and loneliness.

For young people at home and in campus residences, the temptation and opportunity to view online pornography has probably never been higher.

Jason Evert of the Chastity Project warns of “a pandemic of porn addiction for men as well as women.” He told the Newman Society that the challenge of pornography, “perhaps more than any other, is in need of a thorough, pastoral and effective response.”

Experts have identified serious mental and social health problems related to pornography consumption. Catholics know it to be a grave and often mortal sin.

For the user, pornography erodes the Christian response to others and even the desire for authentic human relationships, especially in dating and marriage. It is highly addictive. There is every moral reason to tackle this terrible activity, but Catholic colleges also have a clear practical concern: pornography addiction can be a serious impediment to an academic life.

Without question, the battle against pornography begins in the home, through the witness, formation and rules set by Catholic parents. But once students go off to college, they face a whole new set of challenges that Catholic colleges should help students overcome. They are on their own, often for the first time, away from parent supervision. They have a lot of free time.

Catholic colleges should set the example on fighting pornography. It really ought to be a concern for secular colleges as well, given the clear warnings of mental health experts and the impact on a student’s studies and participation in campus life. But with the added concern for students’ moral formation and the danger of grave sin, Catholic colleges should take the lead in mitigating pornography use on campus, helping students avoid the temptation, and counseling students with addiction.

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

John Henry Newman

John Henry Newman, a Saint for Students

Here is an important saint for our times — and with a special love for students! Any student or parent seeking intercession would do well to pray to St. John Henry Newman (1801-1890), who was canonized last year and is celebrated on his feast day, Oct. 9.

Newman has had such a big impact on my life, and so I speak about him from the heart. I discovered him only after graduating from college and wish I had his example much earlier. Across nearly 30 years of promoting faithful Catholic education, I have looked to Newman as a patron because of his lifelong devotion to teaching and his important writings on education. Newman has also been important to my family; my wife and children joined me at both his beatification in England and his canonization in Rome.

Newman’s writings are voluminous, and the average Catholic will probably find his theological and philosophical works abstract and difficult to comprehend. But his prayers, sermons and poetry are eloquent and inspirational. They invite the reader to share in his passion and fervent devotion to Jesus Christ, especially in the Eucharist, and to Mary. Students will also find abundant hope in Newman’s unwavering trust in Providence.

St. John Henry can be a valuable spiritual guide to students determined to deepen their relationship with God despite the toxic campus environment at most colleges. At faithful Catholic colleges, Newman’s vision for Catholic education will resonate across the curriculum and campus life. The wisdom of his sermons can help set young adults on the narrow path to heaven.

Newman is perhaps best known in the United States as patron of the “Newman Centers” at secular colleges, which are patterned after the student organization at Oxford University, England, that was founded in Newman’s honor. Today, campus ministries across the U.S. often pray to Newman, although Americans often confuse him with St. John Neumann of Philadelphia, also a champion of education and founder of Catholic parochial schools.

Both saints, in fact, were critical of secular education, and after his conversion from Anglicanism in 1845, St. John Henry focused his efforts on Catholic formation. He was founding rector of a Catholic university in Dublin, where he delivered the lectures that were later compiled into his Idea of a University — one of the most important and influential works on higher education ever written. He spent the remainder of his life as founding leader of the Oratory School, a reputable boarding school for Catholic students who were barred from attending England’s other top schools.

Every high-school senior and college freshman should read Idea of a University, a persuasive defense of liberal education for its own sake — not simply for the utilitarian objective of securing a first job. Some have tried to box Newman into the liberal arts, which he wholly embraced, but Newman was less concerned about which academic disciplines a student pursued and more interested in cultivating “philosophical” thinking across education. By this, he meant the skills and experience of “ascending” above knowledge, contemplating how it relates to other knowledge and coming to a larger view of reality — ultimately rising all the way to the Creator, if not for the imperfections of human reasoning and virtue.

In its essence, Newman argued, education is about cultivating the mind — not moral or religious formation. But herein lies the great danger of secular education, as we see so often in today’s universities: The scholar becomes prideful, enamored by the accomplishments of science and creativity, making a “religion” of human reason and ignoring the truth of God. A student comes to school or college with the intellect, conscience and appetites all “warring in his breast,” warns Newman; likewise, education quickly falls prey to the disintegration of reality that began with the first sin. Without the Church to provide true moral formation, and without the grace of God found in the sacraments and in prayer, secular education loses its “integrity” and becomes distorted and even dangerous.

Moreover, Newman famously argued, the knowledge of God is the most important discipline of study, because it is foundational to every other art and science. A secular education is incomplete because it rejects theology. It can distort rather than form the student to be fully human.

St. John Henry would then advise Catholic high-school students today to seek a truly Catholic education that is focused not purely on job training but on cultivating the mind. But Newman’s insights are valuable even for a student who attends a secular college. Every student needs sound moral formation, frequent prayer and the sacraments. If a student lacks teaching that integrates the Catholic faith into every course of study, then additional reading and lectures that supplement regular coursework are necessary to gain some portion of the authentic education that Newman proposed.

Newman was a great intellect, and his greatness was rooted in fervent prayer and meditation. Students would flock to hear his sermons at Oxford, in Dublin and at his oratory in Birmingham. He loved his books but was also known as a loving pastor, as indicated by his episcopal motto, “Heart speaks to heart.”

Newman’s personality and devotion come through clearly in his many prayers, sermons, poetry and even his letters, which he carefully preserved by handwriting a copy before sending them off.

Students will benefit from a few minutes or a few hours of reading Newman, perhaps in the evening or at Eucharistic adoration. (Newman himself wrote many of his works in front of the Eucharist.) The National Institute for Newman Studies in Pittsburgh, in partnership with the Birmingham Oratory in England, has generously provided many of Newman’s key writings free of charge at NewmanReader.org. You might begin with selections from Sermons Preached on Various OccasionsMeditations and Devotions and Verses on Various Occasions — but every Newman-phile has a different recommendation.

Students will be moved by Newman’s tender love for the Holy Mother and his sense of divine Providence working throughout his life. Newman was certain that “God has created me to do Him some definite service,” and that if he would only commit to do good, God would make him “a preacher of truth in my own place.” (Those lines are from a Newman meditation that I prayed with my children when they were younger; it’s probably even more appropriate for a teenager or young adult looking to the future.)

Another of Newman’s works — his most famous poem, Lead, Kindly Light — should resonate with students who are striving for God’s wisdom and calling amid the fog of contemporary American life. Do a student a favor: Share just a few lines and bring him or her into a lifelong friendship with one of the Church’s greatest inspirations.

Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,

Lead Thou me on;

The night is dark, and I am far from home, Lead Thou me on.

Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see the distant scene;

one step enough for me.

… O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till

The night is gone;

And with the morn those angel faces smile,

Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

 

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.