A Noble Defense of Liberal Arts Education

 

Humanist, Where Art Thou?

This brought tears to my eyes.  Why are we taking away the fundamental human search for the beauty and the truth that do not contradict. We were given five senses to experience the world before we ever engage in technology etc.  Why are we making our children slaves to the technological world without first giving them the joy of the created world?

Common Core to Conflict with Parental Choices in Catholic Education in Diocese of San Jose

 

Update on the situation with St. Clare School  From California Catholic Daily

From the article: 

  The diocese has now instructed all parochial schools in the diocese not to accept refugees from St. Clare School and other Drexel schools whose parents do not want their children to become guinea pigs in the new blended learning experiment, which also separates schools from their host parishes.

Between Lay Boards, Conformity to Public Education & Diminishing the Leadership Responsibility of the Parish Pastor-Why Are We Surprised that Catholic Schools Form Poor Role Models Like Melinda Gates?

 

Schools entrust religious mission to lay boards, trustees | National Catholic Reporter

The article above from the National Catholic Reporter, that quotes San Francisco Auxillary Bishop Robert McElroy, provides a clue as to why our Catholic schools are degrading today.  Progressive policies that seek to appease the public education system where curricula that coincides with public education and replacing knowledge of the faith with the activism of CCHD-Alinsky style community organizing social justice can only lead to the question why do we need dogma? 

Exhibit One: Melinda Gates

After all, it is about being a good person and always having a good intention.  You don’t need the faith to get to heaven. 

The parish priest who used to hire and fire the principal was the person who guaranteed that what was taught was faithful and worth parents making the sacrifice to send their kids to the local parish school.  Catholic education was about forming the person and guiding them in see what the gifts God gave them and seeking a direction in how they would be used within a Catholic mindset.  Now it is about getting to the next school and the right college.  Now with lay boards, how does a parent discern what the board feels the “order of grace is” and is it something they agree with. What certification process is the board following and who has the last say in the school’s mission  and evaluation of the outcome?  Is the parish suppose to see the school as a mission to be supported, but not scrutinized, not even by the pastor?  How do you force a board which is a democratic entity to change direction to a position lacking in popularity?  How do you get a school that has to stay solvent to accept larger families with deep cuts in tuition to accommodate the financial demand on such a family?  One could go on with all these questions, but, the point is made.

For a better discussion on the points made above and even more, the reader is directed to The State of the Catholic Schools in the US, a Catholic World Report article that is worth taking the time to read.  The CWR article quotes Bishop Robert Carlson who puts the bottom line in a succinct quote:

“The school must have a vibrant Catholic identity,” Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis said in a March 2011 pastoral letter. “It must be clearly and unquestionably a Catholic school, and everything about the school’s academic and formation programs must be grounded in the teaching and practice of the Roman Catholic Church. Every person in a Catholic school—regardless of his or her faith tradition or social, economic, or ethnic background—should be growing in their understanding and appreciation for what the Catholic Church teaches.”  

The only way to ensure this is to keep the schools and the governing entity under the control of the local Bishop by ensuring that he can hire or fire the board and/or the principal directly or through the parish pastor he appoints.

EWTN.com - Denver Archbishop Explains Why Lesbian Couple's Child Not Admitted to School

EWTN.com - Denver Archbishop Explains Why Lesbian Couple's Child Not Admitted to School

People need to remember Catholic schools have a primary mission to teach the faith, not provide an excellent education at a subsidized cost. Many parishes have the great divide between the schoolhouse door and the church door.

Delaware pediatrician charged with multiple child rapes

Delaware pediatrician charged with multiple child rapes: "A grand jury indictment unsealed on Monday by Delaware's Attorney General's office charges Earl Bradley with sexually assaulting and molesting 102 girls and one boy in the years since 1998."

This is an excellent example why a parent should never step out of the room while their child or adolescent is examined. That became standard practice in the 90's where parents were pressured to leave the room while the physcian talked to their children about sex. Bad idea to do so even though you trust your kid or the doctor. Avoid the near occasion of sin is a good suggestion and prudent behavior.

Here is one such article encouraging this: http://wcbstv.com/topstories/tweens.physicians.doctors.2.1150206.html
How can parents do this? Do they know what the physicians personal values are and how they feel about abortion? Are they going to tell them all the facts and show them pictures of diseases that come from have sex with multiple people? Are they going to educate about the post traumatic syndrome people suffer years later? Are they going to tell them about breast cancer? Are they going to tell them they will be there to treat them for the sexually transmitted diseases? Are they going to tell the child that they need to worry about the state of their soul? Do they tell their own children the truth? If they say they leave it to another MD, then why are they talking to your child?