A Philosophical Observation on Catholic Education in the DBQ Archdiocese

Last week I got a fundraising letter from the DBQ Archdiocese Office of Educational Development. (Don't you just love the title? Sounds just like a government agency.)

The 1st paragraph raised a observation in my mind that I have often raised in recent years. It also convinced me that, despite claims to the contrary, the Catholic schools & religious education were, for the most part, were providing anything but a quality "Catholic" education.

The paragraph said: "There is overwhelming evidence that Catholic education leads to personal growth and community service. Students learn in an environment that helps them appreciate their talents and gifts while learning to share those God-given gifts with others." (emphasis mine)

Did you notice what was missing? In the midst of personal growth & community service (not bad in themselves) there is no mention about educating them in the Catholic faith.

40 years ago when I was in grade school at Sacred Heart we got a quality Catholic education that included solid teaching about what the faith is (in part, using the Baltimore Catechism). It was aimed at teaching you the faith & building you up in living it out. & while it didn't always immediately take root in my life, the seeds were planted. & they are bearing fruit in my life 40 years later.

Back then everyone knew a school was Catholic without them having to identify themselves as such. But in recent years I have seen a trend to add the word Catholic to the name of the school. Wahlert in DBQ is Wahlert Catholic, Columbus is Columbus Catholic, Beckman is Beckman Catholic etc. It is all being done in the name of Catholic identity. The reality is, IMHO, it is false advertising. These days, much of what is taught in religious education tears down the faith, undermines the authentic teachings of the Catholic Church & promotes New Age rather than the truth. (Yes there are exceptions, but they are just that, the exception. & they are often persecuted & driven out when they do stand up for authentic Catholic teaching.)

If these schools were really Catholic they wouldn't need to put the word Catholic in their names to prove it. What they taught would provide more than enough evidence that they were truly Catholic.

While personal growth, community service & using your talants properly is a fruit of a good Catholic education, it is not the end goal. The end goal is simple. To borrow a question from the Baltimore Catechism:

Q. Why did God make you?

A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.

& how do we achieve this happiness? Not by simply taking care of our body as so much of the emphasis is on today. We need to pay more attention to our soul. Why, again from the Baltimore Catechism

A. We must take more care of our soul than of our body, because in losing our soul we lose God and everlasting happiness.

In knowing, loving & serving God we will serve others because we are serving Him in doing so, we will attain true personal growth by growing in the 1 way that is important, spiritually & we will truly appreciate our God given talents by giving the praise & honor & glory to God in all we do with them.

I suspect by now you know that the Archdiocese will not be getting a cent from me for this campaign. & any money I give for education will go the the DBQ Co. Right to Life education program I talked about earlier this week.

This is not ment to be an inditement of Catholic education as a whole. There are clearly some schools out there that are truly quality as well as truly Catholic. Esp those run by religious orders that are faithful to the Magesterium of the Church & the Pope. All I am saying is that arround here the most Catholic thing about the schools is their name. (FYI: This doesn't include St. Mary's in E DBQ, I am focusing in on the DBQ Archdiocese.)