Friends, this couldn’t be more timely as we move into a new academic year across the United States. I yield this space to my colleague Heidi Indahl, who consults with parishes and schools on Catholic catechesis and education. Her contact information is below. Enjoy!

I’m not sure in my work in parishes I have encountered any topic more divisive than the Catholic schools. Depending on who you talk to, Catholic schools might be the future and center of evangelization or an outright factory for nones that should be shut down forever (not to mention every opinion in between).  Let’s talk about it at a view of about 25,000 feet and then zoom down to what that might mean for your local Catholic school.

Why Catholic schools?

As a previously self-admitted, non-theologian I want to start with what the Church says to inform the discussion before jumping into possible paths forward.  Let’s look at passages from two key church sources that I think can help bring these seemingly opposing views into a reality we can all agree on (emphasis mine). 

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the duties of parents,

The parish is the Eucharistic community and the heart of the liturgical life of Christian families; it is a privileged place for the catechesis of children and parents. (2226)

and

As those first responsible for the education of their children, parents have the right to choose a school for them which corresponds to their own convictions. This right is fundamental. As far as possible parents have the duty of choosing schools that will best help them in their task as Christian educators.  (2229)

From Gravissimum educationis*, the Second Vatican Council document on Christian education,

The family which has the primary duty of imparting education needs help of the whole community. In addition, therefore, to the rights of parents and others to whom the parents entrust a share in the work of education, certain rights and duties belong indeed to civil society, whose role is to direct what is required for the common temporal good. Its function is to promote the education of youth in many ways, namely: to protect the duties and rights of parents and others who share in education and to give them aid; according to the principle of subsidiarity, when the endeavors of parents and other societies are lacking, to carry out the work of education in accordance with the wishes of the parents; and, moreover, as the common good demands, to build schools and institutions.(13) 

My humble observations about the ways that the current reality of many Catholic schools may not line up with what the Church is looking for. 

1. The parish is the Eucharistic community and heart of liturgical life. 

The life and mission of the Catholic church flows from Jesus in the Eucharist.  Hard stop.  The parish is the Eucharistic community and heart.  That means what the Catholic school does is secondary to everything the parish does, especially when it comes to catechesis and faith formation. This is why sacramental preparation should be limited to the parish- although many faith formation directors find themselves in a state of frustration over the issue as schools and parents fight against it. 

This excerpt doesn’t mean that what the formation schools provide is unimportant, but it does mean that when the Catholic school allows parents to seemingly bypass the parish in the formation of their children they are not respecting the proper relationship between the parent and child, the family and the parish, or the parish and the school.

2. Parents have the duty of choosing schools that will best help them in their task as Christian educators. 

Parents are the primary educators of their children. Throughout the Catechism and Gravissimum, this is consistent.  The Church never wavers in her insistence that parents hold the primary responsibility for the education of children.  This does not mean that parents have to do 100% of educating themselves. It does mean that parents need (in fact have a right to, if you look further into GE) help from a supportive community, which in many cases does include access to a faithfully Catholic school that can assist their child both in moral and spiritual development and human intellectual formation that will someday allow the child to recognize and follow their God-given vocational path.

3. The family which has the primary duty of imparting education needs help of the whole community…according to the principle of subsidiarity, when the endeavors of parents and other societies are lacking, to carry out the work of education in accordance with the wishes of the parents; and, moreover, as the common good demands, to build schools and institutions.

This is a mouthful but let me put it into more simplified language.  Not only do faithful Catholic families need the help of the whole community in the education of their own children, when parents and society are lacking in their educational responsibilities, the community has a responsibility to the common good- specifically in building schools and institutions. This is the social mission of the church as it applies to schools.  Much has and will continue to be written about this topic.  Those who see the evangelical nature and possibilities of Catholic schools understand this responsibility and take it deeply to heart.  

Isn’t educating minds a good all by itself?  My answer is yes…but. The Church (as she often does) calls us to something even better if we are willing to go after it. The common good can’t ever truly shut out or turn down Jesus. 

Unfortunately, all too often strong advocates of Catholic schools seem willing to bypass or compromise on the needs, rights and relationships laid out above for the sake of the “common good”. These schools may succeed in the mission to educate minds, yet fail to form hearts or truly support families in their role as primary educators. They also run the dangerous risk of becoming merely exclusive private schools that fail to reach out to the poor and disadvantaged in their community at all.  In not understanding how the social responsibility to the common good flows from the Eucharist, through the parish and the family they hamstring their own best efforts. In times of social and financial uncertainty, these schools lack the proper foundations which significantly reduces their resilience.  

On the other side of the equation, sometimes those who only see the faults of the Catholic schools are tempted to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater and shut them all down.  If we truly desire to follow the church this is not a real option either.

Restoring Right Relationship

In our work with schools and parishes, my husband and I almost always run into the same first hurdle- restoring right relationship. We have seen discouraged men and women ready to walk away from their jobs, go on to influence incredible transformation in the hearts and lives of students and families when they put Jesus first in their own work and support others in doing the same.  They learn to work within the model the church has already provided for their work and suddenly find the Holy Spirit moving in ways they had never previously imagined.

Ask yourself the following questions about your Catholic school:

Building Evangelizing Catholic Schools

To be Catholic is to evangelize. The mission of evangelization flows directly through discipleship. If there is no discipleship, there is no evangelization. In many cases, the first hurdle a school has to overcome is that the individual discipleship of faculty and staff is critically low.  A few board members, teachers, or families with the right(ish) idea is not enough. To truly embrace this mission, there has to be an overwhelming majority of evangelizing Catholics in roles from the lunch room to the board room. If this does not describe your school, use the questions listed above and get together with your local parish to start addressing this first. 

The Catholic identity of a school is not a sparkly little tiara to put on a shelf and dust off for a few important public moments or special donors, it pervades to the very bones of the entity.  To thrive, Catholic schools need to work with their local Catholic parishes and families and they need to embrace the social mission of the Catholic school to serve those who are unable to help themselves.  

Students and families need to be welcomed and invited into this place of education to meet Jesus.  They need to hear the gospel proclaimed within its walls.  Students must learn the truth about this person of Jesus, his Blessed Mother, and the Church they both love.  When all of that is finished, you must send students into the world ready to take on the great evangelical mission of Jesus himself.  

Did you know? The Designed for Discipleship team works with both Catholic parishes and schools.  While Heidi (who wrote this article and others for M5:19P) does a significant portion of the program and design work, her husband Tim joins her regularly for boots-on-the-ground work, especially in schools. He holds a PhD in Educational Psychology, is a Minnesota licensed teacher for grades K-6 with middle school emphases in math and science, and is Elementary Montessori Certified (Grades 1-6).  In addition to their parish-based services, they are available for teacher workshops and school consulting services. Learn more on their new website : designedfordiscipleship.org .

*I highly recommend that all with a particular interest or responsibility in education take the time to make themselves well familiar with this document. It can be accessed in its entirety on the Vatican website: https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_gravissimum-educationis_en.html#