Catholic educators must catechize without compromise

As we consider Catholic education, we tend to focus on our elementary and secondary schools as well as colleges. One could also include CCD (or PREP), RCIA, adult education or enrichment, Pre-Jordan and Pre-Cana. There are probably more than listed here. Each of these has a particular purpose at a particular moment in the life of a Catholic, whether it is teaching the three Rs to young children, instructing converts in the faith, or enriching understanding of a particular sacrament.

However, regardless of these differences, the overarching purpose of Catholic education is to inculcate our holy Catholic faith in the hearts of Catholics. Ideally, this serves to make them good, practicing Catholics for the sake of the salvation of their souls. An important secondary benefit of Catholic education in general is that it also generates a love of country, inspiring patriotic citizens to become leaven in our society.

For the sake of simplicity, let us focus on Catholic elementary and secondary schools. The Third Plenary Council of Baltimore stated, “We not only exhort Catholic parents with paternal love, but we command them with all the authority we possess” to send their children to parochial schools. It also provided penalties for priests who didn’t make Catholic education available. The first Catholic school was established at St. Mary Parish in Philadelphia, the second church built in the city. By the 1960s, enrollment in Catholic schools had reached a high of over five million children.

Things have changed in the decades following the 1960s. The number of practicing Catholics has steadily dropped as has the population of children being born. This has had an impact on school enrollment as a whole. The future of Catholic schools depends on how the Church approaches the challenge of competing with taxpayer-funded public and charter schools.

The Church in America today is smaller, for all practical purposes, as are our school systems. Catholic schools cannot and should not try to compete with public schools on the basis of state-of-the-art pools, sports fields, and classrooms. Obviously, things need to be up-to-date and operational. Diocesan structures must be nimble enough to innovate themselves or to allow local schools the flexibility to innovate in varying circumstances. For example, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, one bright spot that largely was not covered by the media was the success of the Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Unlike the public schools, the Catholic elementary schools were able to accommodate both virtual and in-person instruction long before the public schools did. Despite the hysteria on the part of some, children were able to go to school and receive education safely and effectively. That is a praiseworthy accomplishment, demonstrating an ability to innovate and adjust to changing circumstances.

In April 1979, in his message to the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), Pope St. John Paul II stated, “But no Catholic school can be effective without dedicated Catholic teachers, convinced of the great ideal of Catholic education. The Church needs men and women who are intent on teaching by word and example – intent on helping to permeate the whole educational milieu with the spirit of Christ ... the goal of Catholic education itself must be crystal clear ... Catholic education is above all a question of communicating Christ, of helping to form Christ in the lives of others.”

For our schools to survive and to flourish, Catholic schools must focus on their primary mission, which is to teach the Catholic faith, whole and entire, and without compromise, preparing Catholics to live virtuously in a difficult world until the Lord calls the child home to heaven.

FATHER HAROLD B. MCKALE is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He has taught Catholic high school, and is a graduate of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary (Philadelphia).