David Ancell / Friday February 20, 2004
Steve Kellmeyer, after writing Why Catholic Schools Don’t Matter, now writes about Why Catholic Schools Matter So Much. All joking aside, there is great insight in what he writes. If you want an example of the problem, take a look at this article (free registration required) in the newspaper of a “Catholic” university. The author suggests that “religious” concerns should be thrown out the window when addressing the issue of gay “marriages.” Where did she get this idea? She definitely didn’t get it from the Catechism of the Catholic Church or Vatican II.
What kind of faith formation does this person have? Better yet, what kind of faith formation is she not getting from the university? Our Catholic schools should be helping to foster a true understanding of the faith and a zeal for living it out in the world. Instead, we find that most of the textbooks used in formation of high school students are trash. The bishops of this country can’t even decide to require that Catholic Universityies teach what is in conformity with the Catholic faith. No wonder the aforementioned article can find its way into the newspaper of a school that is supposed to be Catholic.
However, there is hope . . . . .
There are Catholic college students who are really concerned about the direction their schools have taken. Collen Carroll’s The New Faithful talks about students who are growing in faith despite the official “campus ministry” of their schools. However, this is now how it should be. Not everyone can grow in faith in these circumstances. For every one person who grows in faith, there are many who have fallen away because they have no idea of the treasure that they are leaving behind. Some may make it back, but they will be quite battle-scarred when they do.
Still, one can find good Catholic formation if one knows where to get it. Orthodox schools are available. I do believe that slowly, but surely, we will see more coming. The people who have mismanaged the Church all these years are dying out.
I do appreciate the fact that Archbishop Hughes noticed the deficiencies in high school Catholic textbooks. Now, the bishops need to get off their rear ends and do something about it. If they don’t, then they shouldn’t ask us to waste our money on “Catholic” education.
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