Chipping Away at Parental Rights

Parental Rights: A Christian Natural Law Primer by Andrew T. Walker at Ethics and Public Policy Center. The next frontier of the sexual revolution is parental rights. That might initially sound hyperbolic. Governments are not, after all, removing children from their homes in any sort of systematic way. The problem, banal as it may seem, is that the intellectual superstructure is already in place to chip away at parental authority over children’s lives…. In Ohio, a child was removed from a home (and placed with grandparents) where Christian parents did not affirm the child’s gender transition. Read

Catholic Students Want a Catholic Education by Paul Krause at Crisis Magazine. We now see the exodus from the parish school system to independent and classical curricula Catholic schools, schools focused on holding Catholicity at the center of their identity: theology; beauty; the Great Books; math and science, yes, to be sure. But there is no mistaking that the burgeoning classical and humanities Catholic schools that have been slowly emerging outside diocesan structures are blossoming because parish schools are failing to promote deep Catholicism. Catholic education should not, and cannot, sacrifice Catholicity in pursuit of secular excellence. Many Catholic students are ill-prepared, despite all those years and all that tuition spent on a supposed Catholic education, to enter the non-Catholic world. Those who find themselves treading difficult water take up the task of deepening their faith on their own; or they altogether succumb to the failures of four, or even 12, years of “Catholic” education. Read

Pope Francis: Catholic Schools Should Not Be Christian in NameOnly by Courtney Mares at National Catholic Register. Pope Francis said Saturday that Catholic schools should not be Christian in name only, but in fact. Speaking to the De La Salle Christian Brothers, the Pope underlined that Christians educators must first of all be witnesses to the Gospel. “The Christian educator, in the school of Christ, is first of all a witness, and he is a teacher to the extent that he is a witness,” Pope Francis said on May 21. “And above all I pray for you, that you may be brothers not only in name, but in fact. And for your schools to be Christian not in name, but in fact,” he said. Read

Here’s the New Left-Wing Theory Parents Are Battling in Schools:What is Social Emotional Learning (SEL)? by Kendall Tietz at The Stream. McWilliams said educators now see it as their job to teach children certain life skills that they no longer believe should be left up to parents and should instead be controlled by the government and the public school system. She argued that the education system is producing a generation of children who will go into the workforce with the belief that the U.S. is oppressive and the only way to change that is to become what educators call “agents of social change” or more simply, “social justice warriors.” Read

Report: State Farm Backs Down On Donating Transgender BooksFor Five-Year-Olds To Schools by Mairead Elordi at The Daily Wire. State Farm is backing down Monday after outrage over its plan to donate books promoting transgenderism to schools and public libraries for children as young as five years old…. “Conversations about gender and identity should happen at home with parents,” reads Terry’s email. “We don’t support required curriculum in schools on this topic.” Read

Why I Stopped Teaching by Kali Fontanilla at PragerU. An obsession with race and gender has taken root in our educational system. It’s the weed that’s rapidly overtaking the garden. What can we do to get rid of it? First, advocate for academic transparency. Demand that your school district’s lessons and materials be made accessible online so you can see what your child is being taught. Watch

Throwback Thursday

Parents’ Role in Education by St. John Paul II at The Catholic Thing on October 4, 2021, from the Meeting with the Representatives of [American] Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools and Leaders in Religious Education (1987). Permit me, brothers and sisters, to mention briefly something that is of special concern to the Church. I refer to the rights and duties of parents in the education of their children. The Second Vatican Council clearly enunciated the Church’s position: “Since parents have conferred life on their children, they have a most solemn obligation to educate their offspring. Hence, parents must be acknowledged as the first and foremost educators of their children” (Gravissimum Educationis, 3). In comparison with the educational role of all others their role is primary; it is also irreplaceable and inalienable. It would be wrong for anyone to attempt to usurp that unique responsibility (Cfr. Ioannis Pauli PP. II Familiaris Consortio, 36). Nor should parents in any way be penalized for choosing for their children an education according to their beliefs. Read