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Supreme Court Rulings Already Impacting Catholic Schools

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This month, even before the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, the Court’s importance to Catholics was made apparent — and Catholic educators especially should take notice.

The Supreme Court’s summer rulings are now being tested in Indianapolis, where a teacher who was rightly dismissed from Cathedral High School because he entered into a same-sex civil marriage has filed a federal discrimination complaint. His case will likely rest upon the Court’s Bostock ruling in June, which forbids employers from considering homosexuality or transgender identity in employment decisions.

The same teacher has also sued the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, claiming that Archbishop Charles Thompson improperly interfered with Cathedral’s personnel decisions by requiring Catholic schools to uphold moral standards for teachers. The policy complies with the Church’s Canon 806:

“The diocesan bishop has the right to watch over and visit the Catholic schools in his territory, even those which members of religious institutes have founded or direct. He also issues prescripts which pertain to the general regulation of Catholic schools….”

Thankfully, Archbishop Thompson has an ally in the Trump administration. On September 8, the U.S. Justice Department filed a brief in Indiana court supporting dismissal of the lawsuit by Cathedral’s former employee. The brief relies in part on the Supreme Court’s July ruling in Our Lady of Guadalupe School, which upheld the “ministerial exception” for Catholic schools. The exception prevents discrimination lawsuits against Catholic schools, when they are brought by employees who teach the Catholic faith.

Moreover, the Justice Department’s brief makes a First Amendment case for the right of Catholic schools to choose employees according to their Catholic mission. This effectively calls for a religious exemption to the Supreme Court’s Bostock ruling.

“Our ancestors arrived on our shores to establish a country where the people would be secure to practice their faiths and to gather freely with their religious communities,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division when filing the Indiana brief. “To that end, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of religious institutions and people to decide what their beliefs are, to associate with others who share their beliefs, and to determine who will teach the faithful in their religious schools.”

Also this month, the U.S. Education Department issued a final rule to protect religious freedom in higher education. In addition to enforcing free speech and the rights of religious groups at public universities, the rule clarifies that a college with a clear religious mission is exempt from Title IX, the federal law banning sex discrimination in education. This is especially important in helping protect Catholic schools and colleges from the Bostock ruling, which directly concerns only Title VII regarding employment discrimination, but is expected quickly to impact interpretations of Title IX.

“Federal law provides that Title IX ‘shall not apply’ to educational institutions that are ‘controlled by a religious organization,’ to the extent that application of Title IX would not be consistent with the religious tenets of such organization,” the Education Department explained. But it has never been clear how courts should determine whether a school is “controlled by a religious organization.”

The final rule includes a “non-exhaustive list” of common factors that a school or college may rely upon for Title IX exemption. These include an “institutional mission” statement that “includes, refers to, or is predicated upon religious tenets, beliefs, or teachings,” which should cover schools and colleges that are openly faithful to the Catholic magisterium.

All of this is good news for Catholic educators, so long as the federal government remains supportive of religious freedom. We do not yet know the outcome of these interventions. But it is clear that Supreme Court rulings have serious consequences, and the direction of the Court is of great importance to Catholics.

Catholic educators need to do everything possible to protect against lawsuits, and that begins with a clear and consistent Catholic identity. The ability to maintain faithful Catholic education depends on a vigorous defense of religious freedom. Schools and colleges need to be prepared to go to court and demonstrate their uncompromised commitment to their Catholic mission.

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

Colleges Keep It Catholic Amid the Epidemic

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While avoidance of COVID-19 has forced many schools and colleges to shift to online classes this fall, a few faithful Catholic colleges are attempting in-person education — and they are making extraordinary efforts to preserve the spiritual life on campus.

Impressively, the fast-growing Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, doubled the number of priests on campus this year and added additional Mass times to help offset limited seating in the campus church due to COVID-19 restrictions. There are now four Masses on campus every Sunday and three every weekday, including a new 9:00 p.m. weekday Mass.

“At Benedictine College we are committed to providing a dynamic, faith-filled environment for our students,” says Father Ryan Richardson, associate chaplain at Benedictine College. “I like to advise students to be intentional about prayer, sacramental life and Christ-centered community.”

The campus ministry office at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, is also adjusting to best serve the spiritual needs of students. Since the university altered its class schedule this fall to better ensure student safety, it also changed its Mass and Confession times to be available to the most students. A Sunday Mass was added, and campus chaplain Father Thomas More Barba says he is open to adding more as needed.

Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, decided that its education “can only truly be offered in-person, with our students studying together and challenging each other to be better leaders and better Catholics.” Its reopening plan received laudatory remarks from the Virginia State Council of Higher Education, and the college even proceeded with its week-long summer conferences for prospective high school students, immersing them in the faith and giving a taste of Christendom’s courses and faculty.

Also opening in-person this fall is Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida, which had the distinction of never fully closing its campus last spring when the COVID-19 epidemic began. “Sacramentally, after only a six-day hiatus, our community returned to receiving our Lord in the Holy Eucharist,” reported President Christopher Ice. “We live-streamed Mass daily out of our St. Sebastian Hall Chapel and distributed Communion outside,” he said.

Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, is “ensuring students have access to the Sacraments and to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, even though our spaces might look a little different with social distancing,” says campus minister Sarah Gohn. The college also plans to make frequent use of outdoor space and small-group Bible studies.

“In a time when people in our world are feeling very isolated from one another, we know that Christ still unites us as brothers and sisters and that we have communion with one another through the Eucharist,” Gohn says.

 

Prayer, sacrament and community

Such opportunities are important for young adults, whose faith is seriously endangered. After college graduation, nearly 75% of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. And even among those who attend Catholic colleges, nearly one in eight Catholic students leaves the faith by graduation.

It is crucial that students preserve their faith in college. But even more, the college years are a time when students should be formed for sainthood, and that requires a lot more than simply “holding on.”

Prayer, the sacraments, and community are key to helping students keep the faith on campus, according to campus ministers at Catholic colleges across the country. And its very difficult to find the support students need, even at a Catholic center at a secular college. Faithful Catholic colleges like those recommended in The Newman Guide offer a truly Christian environment, where students are free of the toxic lifestyle at many colleges today.

“At the University of Mary, I see every week more and more students who are ‘catching’ the routine of prayer, visiting the chapel, attending Holy Mass, going to confession,” says Father Craig Vasek, chaplain for the athletic teams at the faithful college in Bismarck, North Dakota. “Even if people aren’t doing it, they are seeing people, hearing of people, and it brings God to mind.”

He recommends that college students “go to Mass and a chapel more than just your Sunday obligation. It changes things. Daily study of the Catechism with daily practical application, or even monthly ones, to establish a new virtue each week or month.”

“Surround yourself with others who are striving to live their faith,” he adds. “You are who you hang out with. Don’t be the best person in your friend group — I mean, strive to be — but if you are the best person in your friend group, who is going to call you upward?”

Gabriel Salamida, coordinator for household life at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio, agrees. “Community is absolutely vital during one’s college years. Students are ‘on their own’ for the first time, and they are faced with an opportunity to grow into a better version of themselves.”

More than 900 students at Franciscan are a part of its faith household system, which connects students to accompany one another on their faith journeys. “Jesus didn’t draw us into relationship with him to keep our faith to ourselves. If we don’t share it, then our faith will die,” Salamida says.

 

Don’t be a statistic

At secular universities, students are often taught by professors who push ideologies that are contrary to the faith. They are surrounded by a binge drinking and hook-up culture on campus and in the dorms. Access to campus ministry offerings may be limited and vary in quality.

At a faithful Catholic college, students see the integration of the faith across campus. They are formed in mind, body and soul for this life and for the one to come.

“College is such a time of questioning and growth, and attending a faithful Catholic college allows young people to find the answers to their deepest questions in Christ and his Church,” says Gohn. “I have so many peers who abandoned their faith in college or allowed it to dwindle, because when challenged in their faith, they had no community around them to support them, and they were easily swayed by alternate ideologies.”

Students should “not simply have the mindset of keeping the faith, but growing it,” advises Austin Schneider, director of campus ministry at John Paul the Great Catholic University in Escondido, California.

“In the spiritual life, staying where we are at is stagnation and ultimately leads to a weak, tepid faith,” Schneider says. “Instead, Christ calls us forward and draws us by the beauty of his love. Holiness isn’t simply keeping or maintaining the faith. Holiness means gaining momentum, accelerating toward Christ.”

While many students will tragically lose their faith on campus this year, others attending faithful Catholic colleges have the support they need to grow into sainthood. A Catholic college that fully embraces its mission — and sadly many do not, so investigate carefully — can do so much good for the souls of students.

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

homeschool

Take a New Look at Catholic Education

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After a summer of disappointment — closed camps, museums, movie theaters, even many pools, beaches and restaurants due to COVID concerns — the decision of many public and private schools to go entirely online is a crushing blow to parents.

Now I see that some localities are doing everything possible to interfere with Catholic schools that want to open for in-person learning. Montgomery County in Maryland backed off a ruling that Catholic schools were forbidden from opening, only after families and educators heroically opposed the order. Catholic schools are demanding that California Gov. Gavin Newsom allow in-person classes.

Why is this happening? Because public schools — which increasingly embrace anti-Catholic, radical secularism and feed it to our children — are afraid of losing families to Catholic education.

This should stir every Catholic parent to ask the question: Have I given serious thought this year to the option of Catholic education? Whatever the barriers that stood in our way in prior years, might something have changed that makes it possible now?

Cost is the most significant barrier to Catholic schools, and it remains a major concern. But increasingly there are cost-effective ways to provide your child a Catholic education. (Keep reading to the end.)

Also, fidelity and Catholic identity have been a serious concern over the past 50 years. Tragically, many Catholic families have found that the experimentation, immorality and downright nuttiness at many Catholic schools is scandalous. Many families have turned to homeschooling, but others have chosen public schools rather than confusing students with wayward Catholic education.

These are important concerns! However, the declining numbers of Catholic in faithful Catholic education is a catastrophe. Today we have a laity and even clergy that seem far less concerned about ensuring a Catholic education for every Catholic child.

That’s not a utopian dream. It is a clear teaching of the Church that every child has a right to a Catholic education… that every parent is the primary educator of their child and has the responsibility of ensuring a Catholic education… and that the Church is obligated to do everything it can to serve the needs of parents in providing Catholic education.

Sadly, we are far from this today. But the options are increasing, and unlike many public schools, much of Catholic education is open for in-person formation this fall.

Parochial schools: If you haven’t looked lately at the local Catholic school managed by your parish or diocese, it’s worth another look. There is an ongoing renewal of fidelity and Catholic identity across Catholic education, and many schools have re-emphasized the Mass, Eucharistic adoration and prayer. Catechesis is improving at many schools. Perhaps most importantly, there is growing emphasis on hiring teachers who fully embrace the Catholic faith and witness to Catholic moral teachings in both their words and their behaviors.

The cost of a parochial school education is still generally high — much too high, in my opinion. But dioceses have made a concerted effort to ensure financial support for low-income families. It’s the middle class that often has the greatest difficulty affording parochial schools.

Most parochial schools still embrace methods of modern education and the Common Core State Standards, which have been detrimental to education across the U.S. Some dioceses, however, are embracing explicitly Catholic curriculum standards, classical learning methods and a renewed focus on the liberal arts, with great results. Overall, Catholic schools still boast higher graduation rates and college acceptance rates than public schools.

Lay-run schools: There is a growing number of lay-run schools that provide a superior Catholic education at far less cost. Not every diocese is willing to recognize these schools, so you need to look very carefully to ensure that they are faithful to Catholic teaching, but I have visited and studied many of them, and for the most part they are very faithful schools that do an outstanding job of education and Catholic formation.

If you are looking for first-class facilities, computer labs, well-funded athletics programs and Ivy League graduates among the faculty, generally these schools are not the place for you. Most make every effort to keep costs low, aware that they serve the needs of parents before school prestige. You are highly likely to find teachers who graduated from faithful Newman Guide colleges and were homeschooled and classically trained.

Homeschooling: It is difficult to get exact numbers, but Catholic homeschooling seems to be growing rapidly. Whereas its growth initially was fed by the decline of American schooling and especially problems with Catholic identity in many Catholic schools, today it has much to do with the multiplication of strong, faithful curricular materials and online services that make homeschooling easier and better.

It would be a big mistake to confuse homeschooling with what many schools are doing this year because of COVID. Homeschooling is a lifestyle that prioritizes the family’s needs and the complete formation of the child: intellectual, moral and physical. It is a rare homeschooling parent that would put their child in front of a computer each day for long hours, taking direction from a teacher and supplementing class time with homework. Even online homeschool programs rely heavily on self-learning with the aid of the parent and course materials that promote observation, contemplation and confidence in knowing truth.

Hybrid options: It is becoming increasingly difficult to label programs a school or homeschool curriculum — the lines are blurring rapidly. Many homeschool programs are far more than a curriculum, providing advice, tutoring, grading and a community of faithful Catholics sharing experiences and resources. To save costs, some schools are sending students home for a couple days to engage in self-learning. Homeschoolers are developing school-like tutoring programs for a day or two each week, with tutors in classrooms and students in uniforms, engaging in dialogue and public speaking. These hybrid options enjoy benefits of both homeschooling and brick-and-mortar schools, with Christian community and shared formation.

Parents may think that homeschooling or hybrid schooling are not available options, because they usually require one parent to stay at home, but it is worth a careful review of the family’s finances. The cost is low, and a truly Catholic formation for your children, the renewal of family relationships and even the opportunity to welcome more children are enormous blessings.

The most important point is that Catholic education is a responsibility of every Catholic parent, so if there is no good option for a formally Catholic school or program, then the parent must supplement with Catholic formation — and this should not consist only of sacramental preparation and catechesis, but also integrating the truths of the Catholic faith into every area of study. If parents understand this to be essential — and if dioceses and parishes acknowledge that parochial schools serve the needs of many Catholic families, but not all — then together we might continue to develop new solutions.

I’ve worked for the renewal of faithful Catholic education for 27 years. In that time, The Cardinal Newman Society has worked to identify the key elements of Catholic education as defined by Vatican documents. We have seen the exciting growth of truly outstanding Catholic schools and colleges, such as those recognized by our Catholic Education Honor Roll and Newman Guide. My own family has experienced the great benefits of Catholic homeschooling and a classical hybrid program that my wife developed.

Catholic education is moving in the right direction, better fulfilling the needs of Catholic families who take seriously their responsibility to their children. But it’s tragic that not every family finds adequate solutions, especially as public schools flounder amid the COVID challenges. Still, Catholic families should be aware of the growing options for a strong Catholic education and strive to make it work.

This is critically important for young people, for the Church and for society. If your child is in a public school, now may be a great time to reassess your options.

This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register.

St. Peters Square

One Year Later, No Resolution on Brebeuf Scandal

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Catholic schools across the nation are striving to keep their doors open, but Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis is not one of them… or is it?

There’s no question whether Brebeuf will open; students are scheduled to start in-person classes on Aug. 13. What’s unresolved is whether the school can be counted among Catholic schools. Brebeuf Jesuit certainly has proven itself unworthy of the label, as Archbishop Charles Thompson rightly declared last summer, because it refuses to dismiss a teacher in a same-sex civil marriage.

On Aug. 4, 2019, Brebeuf’s president, Jesuit Father Bill Verbryke, announced that the school had appealed to the Vatican, challenging Archbishop Thompson’s authority to determine whether the Jesuit-owned school could identity as Catholic. Thompson is accused of meddling in the internal operations of a wayward school.

Now, a year later, the stakes are getting higher. The Supreme Court has ruled that employers may not discriminate based on homosexuality, and so Catholic schools must fight to defend their First Amendment right to uphold moral standards for employees. But what will the Vatican say about those same standards?

The Archdiocese of Indianapolis requires that all teacher contracts designate “ministerial witnesses” who must “convey and be supportive of all teachings of the Catholic Church,” including its teaching on the “dignity of marriage as one man and one woman.” This complies faithfully with canon law, which requires Catholic school teachers to uphold Catholic morality in both teaching and practice.

Because of the policy, Cathedral High School in Indianapolis obediently dismissed its teacher Joshua Payne-Elliot, because he was in a same-sex civil marriage. But his partner, Layton Payne-Elliot, has continued to teach math at Brebeuf Jesuit, and the school refuses to conform to the Archdiocese’s rules. That’s after two years of patient dialogue led by Superintendent of Catholic Schools Gina Fleming.

“It was through much prayerful discernment over the course of that two years, and really, much conversation on what it truly means to be ministers of the faith and how we would uphold that in our Catholic schools, that led to the schools to make their own decisions as to whether they would wish to retain that Catholic identity,” Fleming said.

The Vatican likewise moves slowly and carefully, and this year it had the added difficulty of COVID. Nevertheless, a delayed ruling on Brebeuf’s appeal poses significant problems for the Church and for Catholic education.

 

Question of authority

For one thing, Archbishop Thompson’s authority has been challenged, which makes it more difficult for him to watch over his archdiocese, especially Catholic schools.

The details of the Brebeuf situation are more complicated than they look to the average Catholic and the secular media. The appeal concerns the managerial independence of Jesuit schools from the local bishop and whether Archbishop Thompson got too involved in a particular employment situation. But the appeal also casts a larger shadow on the Archbishop’s authority to enforce clear guidelines for Catholic schools, which is essential to his role as shepherd of his archdiocese.

According to Canon 803, “A Catholic school is understood as one which a competent ecclesiastical authority or a public ecclesiastical juridic person directs or which ecclesiastical authority recognizes as such through a written document. …no school is to bear the name Catholic school without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority.”

And Canon 806 goes further: “The diocesan bishop has the right to watch over and visit the Catholic schools in his territory, even those which members of religious institutes have founded or direct. He also issues prescripts which pertain to the general regulation of Catholic schools; these prescripts are valid also for schools which these religious direct, without prejudice, however, to their autonomy regarding the internal direction of their schools.”

Did Archbishop Thompson properly regulate Catholic schools, or did he interfere too directly in the internal management of Brebeuf? It’s a blurry line. While the Congregation for Catholic Education decides, it has suspended Thompson’s decree removing the “Catholic” label from Brebeuf, leaving the public to wonder if he will be overruled.

But regardless how the Vatican views the particular circumstances of this case, it will be important that the Congregation makes it clear to everyone that both Canon 803 and Canon 806 are fully supported, without qualification.

 

Question of integrity

No less important is the Vatican’s support for moral standards for teachers, protecting students from scandal and ensuring that teachers witness to the Catholic faith.

According to Canon 803, “The instruction and education in a Catholic school must be grounded in the principles of Catholic doctrine; teachers are to be outstanding in correct doctrine and integrity of life” (Canon 803).

Not just satisfactory, without apparent scandal. Outstanding.

We live in a difficult time, when society and even some Catholics vigorously promote the lie that it’s acceptable to engage in all sorts of sins against chastity. Faithful Catholics strive to be compassionate with those who suffer from deep confusion. But there is no reconciling a Catholic school teacher’s sacred duty to form young people in the Catholic faith — which includes teaching and witnessing to moral behavior — and the very public, persistent offense of living in a same-sex relationship that is formally declared by the state.

Today the Vatican’s clear support for moral standards is all the more crucial, given the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, which forbids employers from considering homosexual or transgender status or behavior when making employment decisions.

Catholic schools must claim a religious freedom exemption from this ruling  —  at all costs! Yet, if Brebeuf is somehow permitted to persist in its scandal, it could undermine the renewal of faithful Catholic education. It will confuse school leaders about whether they should conform to Bostock or fight in court to protect the mission of Catholic education.

The only true path forward, as always, is fidelity to Catholic teaching. Catholic educators do this for the good of their students, for their families, for the Church, and for society. May the Brebeuf debacle prove an important lesson to all Catholics about the harm caused by scandal and the importance of leading young people on the path of sainthood.

This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register.

Supreme Court Defers to Canon Law in Catholic School Decision

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There is an admirable concession to Catholic Church authority in the Supreme Court’s July 8 ruling on the “ministerial exception” for Catholic schools.

Justice Samuel Alito, in his majority opinion for Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Agnes Morrissey-Berru, defers to the authority of the Catechism and the Church’s canon law with regard to Catholic education.

In Guadalupe, the Court ruled that two Catholic school teachers, despite teaching secular subjects in addition to religion, are “ministers” of the Catholic faith whose employment is a religious matter that lies outside the jurisdiction of secular courts.

To justify this finding, Alito turns to the Catholic Church’s own requirements for Catholic school teachers:

In the Catholic tradition, religious education is ‘intimately bound up with the whole of the Church’s life.’ Catechism of the Catholic Church 8 (2d ed. 2016). Under canon law, local bishops must satisfy themselves that ‘those who are designated teachers of religious instruction in schools … are outstanding in correct doctrine, the witness of a Christian life, and teaching skill.’ Code of Canon Law, Canon 804, §2 (Eng. transl. 1998).

In other words, because Catholic school teachers must be faithful to Catholic teaching and witnesses to the Catholic faith by both word and example, their employment depends on criteria that only religious school leaders or church leaders can properly judge.

It would have been helpful if Alito also cited Canon 803, which applies to every teacher in a Catholic school — not only those who teach designated religion courses. It says much the same thing, which may support arguments that all Catholic school teachers should fall within the ministerial exception:

The instruction and education in a Catholic school must be grounded in the principles of Catholic doctrine; teachers are to be outstanding in correct doctrine and integrity of life. (Canon 803, §2)

Likewise Canon 810, regarding Catholic higher education, calls for professors “who besides their scientific and pedagogical qualifications are outstanding in integrity of doctrine and probity of life.”

 

Rightful authority

The Court’s willingness to respect religious authority over religious activities is fundamental to the First Amendment. Alito wrote:

In a country with the religious diversity of the United States, judges cannot be expected to have a complete understanding and appreciation of the role played by every person who performs a particular role in every religious tradition. A religious institution’s explanation of the role of such employees in the life of the religion in question is important.

Such deference was the core principles of the three-part test for applying the ministerial exception that was proposed to the Court in an amicus brief filed in February. It was authored by the outstanding attorneys of Alliance Defending Freedom and Troutman Sanders LLP on behalf of The Cardinal Newman Society, the Association of Classical Christian Schools, the Association for Biblical Higher Education, and William Jessup University. The brief argued:

(1) a “minister” is an employee who performs “religious functions”;

(2) the functions that the minister actually performs should be proven with evidence from the religious organization such as written organizational bylaws, position descriptions, and other such competent evidence; and

(3) the court should determine which functions are, in fact, “religious” by deferring to the religious organization’s own good-faith understanding of its own religion.

The Guadalupe ruling largely adopts these principles and offers additional clarity to religious employers. The Court relies on Catholic schools’ definition of an employee’s ministerial duties, as long as the employer shows “good faith” in seeking the protection of the ministerial exception.

What constitutes “bad faith” is something that will likely be litigated in future cases. One thinks of the many Catholic schools and colleges that have greatly secularized, yet claim religious freedom whenever it is convenient. If there is reasonable doubt about the religious identity of an employer or its sincerity about an employee’s religious duties — challenged by evidence that the employee does not in fact do what is stated in a position description or other employment document — then courts might restrict application of the ministerial exception.

The amicus brief cites the 1971 case Tilton v. Richardson, in which four Catholic universities were found to provide a primarily “secular education,” because religion did not “permeate” the coursework and was not promoted to students. For 27 years, the Newman Society has urged such institutions to strengthen their Catholic identity, and now their ability to claim the ministerial exception may depend on it.

 

Some schools need not apply

The Court’s ruling rests on whether an employee is a “teacher of religion” and therefore a minister of the faith.

This should be relatively easy for a faithful Catholic school or college, where the Catholic faith enters into all studies and teachers are required to be strong witnesses to the faith. It may even be possible to apply the ministerial exception to non-teachers — including school administrators, coaches, guidance counselors and support staff — if they are also expected teach religion by their words and witness, while advancing the Church’s mission of evangelization through Catholic education.

However, the ministerial exception further separates weak Catholic schools and colleges from faithful Catholic education. Only schools and colleges that intentionally form students in the faith are likely to gain broad protection from employment lawsuits. Secularized schools are more vulnerable than ever, if they fail to require teachers to catechize and uphold Catholic teaching.

Ultimately it is unlikely that any Catholic school or college will be entirely protected from the Supreme Court’s Bostock ruling and state laws adding homosexuality and gender identity to nondiscrimination provisions. The lawsuits, government coercion and social pressure to compromise the faith are only increasing the threats to Catholic education.

As before, the best protection for Catholic education is to be faithfully, thoroughly and consistently Catholic and to ensure that all school or college policies are firmly tied to Catholic teaching. In this way, a school or college is prepared to go to court to claim its natural and First Amendment rights.

 

This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register.

Maria Schmidt

Extraordinary Teens Love the Eucharist, Catholic Education

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Wow! Thank God for hopeful signs, even in the darkest hours.

I just read the most extraordinary, heart-warming testimonies by teenage Catholics who are in love with Jesus in the Eucharist. They refuse to succumb to secularism, and they are unwilling to attend colleges that fail to embrace his Real Presence with confidence and reverence.

Each year The Cardinal Newman Society invites high school students to submit essays for a scholarship contest, and this year’s topic was especially timely. The students were asked to write about the following, even as they were shut out from public Masses during the COVID lockdown:

“A recent Pew Research study found that only 26 percent of self-professed Catholics under the age of 40 believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. In light of this finding, why do you think that it is important to attend a faithful Catholic college?”

Maria Schmidt of Providence Academy in La Crosse, Wisconsin, is proudly among the minority of believing Catholics. In her winning essay, she proclaims that the “Eucharist is the greatest Sacrament — the entirety of Jesus.” And she blames poor catechesis for the fact that so many of her peers do not understand.

Catholics should face the crisis of faith “with a renewed commitment to strong Catholic education and faith formation,” Schmidt argues. She will take her $5,000 scholarship this year to Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida, with the possibility of renewed scholarships in subsequent years, generously provided by the University.

Schmidt chose Ave Maria, because she wants to study psychology and theology at a faithful Catholic college. Studies in psychology at Ave Maria are “carried out in conversation with philosophical and theological insights into the human person,” which is not possible at a secular college and potentially dangerous at a Catholic college that does not guarantee orthodoxy.

“A good education helps form the whole person, laying down proper philosophical principles necessary for the pursuit of truth in all its classes and activities,” Schmidt writes.

Outside the classroom, Schmidt hopes for a strong Christian formation. “The influence of one’s companions, most importantly in the still-formative years of young adulthood, should not be overlooked. People are social creatures and will often think like those with whom they spend the most time.”

There is no better place than a faithful Catholic college to find good role models and faithful peers. The spiritual opportunities are plentiful, often providing access to multiple priests and religious, Mass and Confession throughout the week, celebration of religious feast days, pastoral counseling, and more.

Ave Maria offers perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during the academic year, and many students are grateful for the opportunity, even if they never spent time in Adoration before college. Schmidt is also looking forward to learning more about the Extraordinary Form Latin Mass, which is offered three days each week on campus.

Exposing young people to beautiful, reverent liturgy, Eucharistic adoration and authentic Catholic education can go a long way toward restoring belief in the Eucharist. Schmidt reminds us that the crisis of faith in our country and in the world is “not unprecedented.”

“Like the monks of Cluny Abbey who saved the faith of Europe in the tenth century, let us first reform ourselves through strong Catholic education and spiritual nourishment,” she writes. “That is the first step towards the reform of the crisis, and another of many steps toward heaven.”

Her full essay is posted online here. May God bless Maria and all her fellow students at faithful Catholic colleges, as they prepare for the fall and get ready to embark on exciting journeys of faith, fun and learning.

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/.

Maria Schmidt describes her college search:

While my search for a major was relatively easy, my search for a college would have been insurmountable without The Newman Guide. With about 197 professed Catholic colleges in the U.S, it would have been nearly impossible for me to find an authentically Catholic college that was just right for me. Thankfully, The Newman Guide did all the hard work for me, excluding the schools that are only nominally Catholic, and providing a detailed analysis of the fifteen U.S. residential colleges that make the cut.

With such a comprehensive and trustworthy list available, I did not have to waste my time considering schools which would only dampen my hopes and threaten my faith. Instead, I could focus my attention searching for the college that best fits my needs and expectations.

Schmidt’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, including Ave Maria University, 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.

This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register.

Pope Saint John Paul II

Theology of the Body for Schoolchildren

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If ever there was a time to teach young people about human nature and our common human dignity, it’s now.

They need to know that race, sex and their very lives are willed by God. They need to know that marriage and family are also willed by God, and that the collapse of the family has contributed to many of the social ills that are on display today.

The timing is right, then, for newly published educational standards that help schools teach St. John Paul II’s “theology of the body” in a progression from kindergarten through eighth grade. They help transmit to students a “vision of the human person according to God’s loving design,” and Catholic education is uniquely situated to teach it.

“It’s a gamechanger for someone to be deeply convinced of their personal self-worth, dignity and purpose, knowing themself to be infinitely and unconditionally loved by God and called to live in a communion of persons in his image,” state the new “Standards for Christian Anthropology,” co-authored by Dr. Joan Kingsland of Ruah Woods Press and Dr. Denise Donohue of The Cardinal Newman Society.

“This self-knowledge includes respecting and revering oneself, others and above all God. It affects the choices made by young people about how they will treat others and expect others to treat them.”

The standards explore the foundations of personal identity and are a key solution to the problems we face in society right now. Just consider, what if every student in Catholic schools across the country was taught authentic Christian anthropology? How would society look different, if graduates of Catholic education could clearly articulate and defend the value of every human person?

“In recent years there’s been a surge in the ever-widening gap between the mainstream take on the identity of the human person versus a Christian vision rooted in Sacred Scriptures,” explain Dr. Donohue and Dr. Kingsland. Gender ideology, racial division, pornography, premarital sexual activity, contraception and abortion are just some of the challenges facing Catholic educators, and increasingly they are pressured to compromise Catholic teaching.

Understandably, then, many Catholic education leaders welcome the standards.

They “provide much-needed guidance for more deeply understanding who we are as human beings, made in the image of God,” says David McCutchen, coordinator of the office for catechetical formation in the Diocese of Toledo.

“These standards present, at age-appropriate moments, the foundational truths upon which an authentically Christian view of the human person must be built,” he continues. “The burning questions and confusing issues of our time regarding human dignity, sexuality and gender can be effectively addressed only in light of these fundamental truths.”

Jill Annable, assistant superintendent of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Grand Rapids, agrees. “It is a difficult task to articulate the Catholic worldview of Theology of the Body, yet the Standards for Christian Anthropology provide us key teachings for each grade level that will be understandable to families and assist teachers in critical aspects of this formation in a logical sequence,” she says.

Jim Rigg, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago, adds that the standards help ensure that “students are able to tangibly uphold the sanctity of human life.”

Ultimately, the goal of an authentic Catholic education is to form students with the foundation they need for this life and the one to come. Given the recent struggles in our society, it is imperative that young people know their own worth and the dignity of every human being they encounter.

This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register.

doctor

These College Grads Are Saving Lives

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Light shines bright in the darkness! One highlight among the COVID doldrums has been the heroism of so many Catholics and others in our nation’s hospitals and doctor’s offices.

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

In particular, I often receive updates from the faithful Newman Guide colleges, and they have been full of stories about valiant alumni on the frontlines. These men and women are putting their lives on the line for the good of their fellow man, and they draw strength from their years of Catholic formation in faith, truth and virtue.

One such hero is Dr. Thomas Heyne, a graduate of the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas. He is treating patients with COVID-19 at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

“Caring for patients suffering from COVID-19 has been challenging,” he says. “It takes courage, charity, patience and endurance — even simply wearing those N-95 masks for prolonged periods is physically painful.”

That’s all the more reason that Heyne is “grateful for UD for helping to foster those virtues — first imbued by my parents — while I was in my first years as an adult.”

“My four years at the University of Dallas were some of the happiest, most positively forming years of my life.” He explains:

First, the premedical formation in the sciences was quite strong, and helped to open the way to a good medical school and residency program…

Second, the academic habits that I learned at UD served me well in medical school and beyond. All students are required to complete a large cadre of humanities courses in the core curriculum. These humanities courses honed my skills at reading critically and writing convincingly.

Third, the humanistic virtues that were inculcated at UD have helped me be a more compassionate physician. I was blessed to have friends who cared about their faith, about living a life of virtue (including the practice of charity). But also, friends that were normal and fun. I learned how to socialize and have fun (e.g., after finishing exams) in a way that was healthy and wholesome.

Finally, Heyne credits extracurricular activities, such as spring break trips to Mexico and student leadership positions, for helping him develop as a person and even discern his calling to medicine.

Another doctor responding to COVID-19 is Dr. Mark Kissinger, medical director for Jefferson County, Ohio, which includes his alma mater Franciscan University of Steubenville. The county has not seen a large surge in patients, but Kissinger’s days are occupied with “disaster planning, tracking patients with the disease and educating the public.”

Kissinger says his education is impacting the way he does his work. “My Franciscan education has taught me to remember that we are dealing with people, not statistics and cases. As such, all people deserve respect and dignity as God’s own.”

Claire Pedulla, a registered nurse in an intensive care unit at University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, discovered her calling to medicine while on a Benedictine College mission trip to Saint Lucia. She told her alma mater that the words of one of her professors have helped her greatly during this difficult time: “You are God’s earthly hands, eyes, ears and words. You are caring for his most vulnerable children. Show your servant heart for his work.”

Katie Ellefson, a graduate of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California, is now a nurse in a Virginia hospital, where her entire floor was turned into a COVID unit. She explained to the College that nurses are often the “only people who are physically coming into the room to check on these patients,” and they are “generally more lonely, scared, and anxious than our typical patients.”

“Being able to be the person who can go in there and cheer them up and make their stay even just a little better has honestly been such a gift,” she says.

Surely her patients are at least as grateful for Ellefson and her Christian heroism! The work of these graduates and so many others is a great blessing and inspiration, and it reflects well on the faithful Catholic education that they received.

May God bless all who are keeping us healthy in these dangerous times, and may he protect them as well.

This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register.

For Catholic Schools, Now’s a Time to Shine

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For students and educators, these are difficult times. But in hard times, Catholics shine — and that’s certainly true now for Catholic schools.

Across America, most schools have adjusted to the COVID-19 shutdown by shifting to distance learning via webinars and emails. While this may suffice for teaching basic facts and skills, Catholic educators are striving to do more. The best Catholic education goes well beyond worksheets and quizzes — it provides formation for life and beyond.

“Learning is simply not a transactional endeavor,” says Derek Tremblay, headmaster of Mount Royal Academy in Sunapee, New Hampshire, which is one of the schools recognized by the Cardinal Newman Society’s Catholic Education Honor Roll for their strong Catholic identity.

“Instead of putting teachers and students in front of devices for hours upon hours, we are inviting students to pause, pray and ponder,” Tremblay says. “If we are to become who God made us to be, we have to be willing to think more deeply about meaning and moments.”

Such is what makes Catholic education special, whether in the classroom or over the internet: forming students in faith, virtue and wisdom, not just knowledge. A devotion to truth, both discovered by man and revealed by God. A Christian community of people who truly care for students’ entire well-being—mind, body and soul.

“The toughest question to answer in this odd reality of remote learning is the most rudimentary: is this exercise meaningful?” asks Tremblay, who warns of the limitations of Zoom instruction. “We are meant for personal encounter. There is so much to be lost if all we do right now is mimic the misplaced urge to move along, cover curriculum and gather grades.”

Opportunity for Reflection

That’s why many faithful Catholic schools have made changes during this time of social distancing that are substantially different from other schools.

Students’ days are no longer filled with direct interactions with teachers and classmates, community prayer and Sacrament, and after-school events. It is in classroom dialogues and group activities when Catholic schools are at their best, teaching and witnessing to Christian ideals. So Catholic schools are adapting and finding ways of “keeping it Catholic” while students are far apart, without letting education decline into cold remote lectures and tedious homework.

One excellent innovation is Mount Royal Academy’s new, weekly essay assignment for students, which isn’t focused on mastering content but encourages students to reflect more deeply. One essay prompt asks students to reflect on which virtues have been the most challenging for them to exercise lately, noting that “virtue is grown during challenging times.” Another prompt asks students to reflect on both the social and individual nature of education, since students have transitioned to at-home learning.

With just this simple assignment, students are finding meaning in their current circumstances. A seventh-grade student writes that he has learned the value of “having a slower lifestyle, because there are fewer distractions which allow for more personal reflection.”

“Having faith in the Lord gives us hope when we need it most,” he writes. “I have certainly gained a new perspective on life through this experience. Overall, I feel blessed for what I have and hope we are stronger after this is over.”

A ninth-grade student writes that he has found himself “not only doing things differently, but also thinking about things from a different perspective.” He has found time to practice playing the piano, connect with siblings who are away from home, and even read the Gospels. “So far I have finished the whole Gospel of Matthew and half of the Gospel of Mark.”

Formation of Mind, Body and Soul

At another faithful Catholic school — Saint Theresa Catholic School in Sugar Land, Texas — leaders are finding ways to engage students from a distance.

One of the “distinctive aspects” of the classical Catholic education at St. Theresa “has always been direct student engagement with topics in ways that augment physical, auditory and visual stimulation,” says Headmaster Mark Newcomb. The COVID-19 pandemic has inspired a new method of integrating the senses, through a collaboration between Latin class and physical education.

“For the past few weeks, students are sent a video that opens with both a vocal recited prayer and a Latin chant that highlight the life of one of the saints, before introducing physical activities that are described in Latin terminology,” Newcomb explains.

“Students strive to master Latin vocabulary through total physical response, performing leaps while reciting saltus (leap) several times in a row. Mini-workouts follow the vocabulary drills, complete with timed rests between kicks, pushups, etc.,” he says.

The new initiative developed by the school’s talented faculty has been well-received by parents, Newcomb says. “How helpful to exercise the mind and the body at once, for the benefit of both, while reflecting on the heritage of our faith.”

Creative Solutions

At Everest Collegiate High School and Academy in Clarkston, Michigan, teachers are going above and beyond their regular catechism courses for students. They are also providing resources and ideas for students and parents to use with each other to engage in the faith, taking advantage of the increased time that families have together at home.

“These resources and initiatives are being provided to the families each week, allowing them to learn together, to pray together and to share back their photos in solidarity,” says Everest Headmaster Greg Reichert.

“During Holy Week, for example, Everest families had the opportunity to participate in a ‘Walk the Walk’ challenge during which they were guided through the process of preparing Stations of the Cross within their homes that could then be prayed as a family,” Reichert says.

At St. Mary Catholic School in Mokena, Illinois, a teacher recently used a common food item to teach an important faith lesson and engage with students.

“On St. Patrick’s Day, teacher Deanna Wolff… shared with her fifth-graders how the shamrock represents the Blessed Trinity, by creating one out of round pretzels,” reports the Diocese of Joliet. “She invited them to also make shamrocks out of materials they had at home and to send her photos of their creations.”

At St. John Paul II Catholic High School in Tallahassee, Florida, the whole school participates in prayer at 7:55 a.m. each morning via Zoom. They pray a morning offering, followed by a special prayer for an end to the coronavirus and for all of those affected. One of the school’s service clubs, the Squirettes of Mary, has continued its weekly Rosary online.

And at St. Patrick Catholic School in White Lake, Michigan, Principal Jeremy Clark posts a daily Gospel reading and a reflection each day on the school’s Facebook page. Some schools, like St. Paul on the Lake Catholic School in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, are recording and sharing daily Masses.

Maintaining Catholic Identity

Despite the limitations of distance learning, the best Catholic schools are finding every possible way of maintaining their Catholic identity.

In the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts, Superintendent Dr. Daniel Baillargeon is posting a daily YouTube video called “Keep the Faith.” A school in the diocese has also created a Facebook page called “Faith and Fun from Home,” so that families can connect and share ideas.

“While it has been challenging to keep the faith at the center of what we are doing in a remote learning environment, we have noticed that the majority of the information shared by our schools has been related to the faith,” Baillargeon says. “We have seen videos with images of students sharing the faith at home, and the most active posts we have on our social media pages have been faith-driven.”

Indeed, the forced break away from the classroom could be a good reminder to Catholic educators to emphasize the most important things, especially when students are living in doubt and fear. Catholic education’s success begins with its Catholic mission, at all times but especially in these times.

“There is a desire for the faith community present in our schools,” Baillargeon says. “My hope is that when we are together again, we reflect on these lessons learned and are even more intentional about how we provide strong Catholic identities in our schools.”

This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register.

Keeping the ‘Catholic’ in Distance Learning

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Faithful Catholic schools are far better for Catholics than public schools. But how do they maintain their distinctive advantage when students are forced to stay home?

In important ways, Catholic schools are doing just that with the help of students’ parents. And in this time of anxiety and isolation, the special character of Catholic schools is more important than ever.

“For Catholic educators, this trying experience can serve as a time to recall what Catholic schools do both differently and do well,” write Dr. Denise Donohue and Dr. Dan Guernsey of The Cardinal Newman Society in “Maintaining Catholic Identity in Distance Learning Instruction.” “We are good at community, prayer, integral formation, and creating a Catholic worldview.”

Those four characteristics are repeatedly cited in Vatican documents as essential to Catholic education, and they suggest a good framework for ensuring that the “Catholic” of Catholic education remains strong, even when it is done remotely.

Community life under quarantine

In a crisis, families need community like never before. And even with social distancing—or perhaps especially because of social distancing—Catholics need each other for support and sanity.

For many families, a good Catholic school is a center of Christian fellowship with school leaders, teachers and other families. That’s because Catholic schools teach students how to build authentic human relationships, and since witness is a powerful teacher, they model Christian communion in every classroom and activity.

“It is through the community that students receive ‘a systematic and critical assimilation of culture’ which passes along our Catholic traditions, values and beliefs,” note Donohue and Guernsey. “In Catholic education, the community itself is considered a formative and educative means of student formation and development, where students learn Christian values by being exposed to Christian values—primarily through the witness of adults and others with whom they interact daily.”

This community remains vital to Catholic distance learning, and teachers especially can be present to students and parents in their online classes, communications and prayers together.

“How much more important now is the presence of the teacher in these unsettling times, when coming together is difficult and ‘social distancing’ is the norm,” ask Donohue and Guernsey.

Teachers can make a special effort to write handwritten letters to students, make phone calls and send video clips—always communicating through the parents, of course. In addition to giving lessons online, teachers should be “speaking from the heart and saying and doing human things to lighten the load and let students know you miss them but are in good humor.” Most importantly, teachers and families should be praying for each other and with each other, whenever possible.

Prayer and sacrament

At faithful Catholic schools, students experience reverent Mass, Confession, frequent prayer and Eucharistic adoration. But confined to home without physical access to churches, Catholic school students may be feeling as much of a loss as adults.

Still, this “does not mean that our hearts and minds should be allowed to go on a spiritual vacation,” warn Donohue and Guernsey. Teachers should begin every online class with prayer, just as in the classroom. And parents should be encouraged to continue school practices such as morning prayer and the Angelus at Noon.

Involving parents and siblings in the school’s daily prayer life can be a positive outcome of schooling at home. “Helping families start these family rituals now can have a lasting effect on children’s faith development for years to come. In some cases, families may be relying on us to pray with and form their students, and now is an opportunity to fully engage the domestic Church and leverage fuller participation moving forward.”

Parents should be encouraged to mimic the physical arrangement of the school—not only designated work spaces and well-lit, quiet rooms for online coursework, but also the distinctive Catholic imagery and prayer spaces found in a Catholic school. If a home does not already have a substantial amount of Catholic artwork and a dedicated prayer corner (with crucifix, Bible, prayer cards, etc.), that can be easily remedied.

Forming mind, body, spirit

A faithful Catholic school is not only concerned about academics. It looks to form the student to be physically healthy and strong, morally clean and virtuous, and spiritually on the path to sainthood.

“Specifically tying subject-area materials to lessons on virtue or the faith can help make connections between course subjects such as history or English,” suggest Donohue and Guernsey. “Identifying virtues and essential questions will help parents enter into the teaching, exemplifying concepts through discussion and example.”

The loss of school athletics will be keenly felt by students, and they are likely to get less exercise at home, especially if they have access to computer games and television. Educators can encourage walking and bike riding, as well as physical activities like arts and crafts or playing instruments.

A Catholic school teacher, concerned as much for the student’s welfare as for the ease of using computers for teaching and communication, will also recognize the dangers of forcing students to sit at a screen for much of the day.

“Whenever possible, break up discussion with individual work that students can do with pencil and paper or reading from a physical text,” advise Donohue and Guernsey. “Teacher teams may want to quantify, coordinate, and ration screen time as a ‘corporal work of mercy’ to our poor students!”

Teaching a Catholic worldview

“…Catholic education does not just teach secular subjects like other schools but also imparts a Christian vision of the world, of life, of culture, and of history, ordering the whole of human culture to the news of salvation,” write Donohue and Guernsey.

This integrated approach with God the Creator as the foundation of every study requires some effort within distance learning. Teachers will be tempted to water down courses to facts that are easiest to teach remotely, but good Catholic school teachers will not neglect the importance of group discussion and opportunities to highlight truths that are evident in math, science, history, literature and more.

Ultimately, “a Catholic school can never go wrong with a good supply of literature to recommend.” Allowing more time for students to read classic works at home does not detract from a Catholic education—it enhances it.

Overall, the COVID pandemic is making it very tough for Catholic schools to pay employees and plan for the future, but students can still be given an excellent Catholic education. If Catholic educators work to develop “thoughtful and comprehensive strategies to try to compensate for the suspension of in-person instruction,” argue Donohue and Guernsey, then they can continue to exhibit the strengths of Catholic schools.

The greatest of these strengths is love. Educators can show “comfort and mercy” to “stressed and overwhelmed” students and be true partners to parents, who may be trying to work from home while ensuring that students’ education continues without interruption.

When this time of “stay at home” and social distancing is over, teachers and students will be eager to return to their schools. In the meantime, distance learning can be truly Catholic and preserve the unparalleled advantages of Catholic education.

This article first appeared at The National Catholic Register.