Mar 9, 2023
A Man and a School Awaken by Austin Ruse at Crisis Magazine. A number of things happened. First, [theology teacher John] Olon woke up. He realized he had been too “cowardly.” While thoroughly orthodox, he says his faith had been too personal. He understood at that moment the students wanted more, that they would respond to more. And he realized the school needed to give it to them. Now on fire, Olon pestered the head of the school and was made chief mission officer. Read
Is Anyone Listening? by Randall Smith at The Catholic Thing. The young people I teach want something serious. They want to know that the people talking to them believe what the Church teaches because they understand that, if they give themselves to the faith in this culture, it will require nothing less than everything. They want a serious Church that can stand in the bitter winds they know are blowing. Read
‘Abortion Doula’ at Notre Dame Speaker Series Adds to Catholic Concern by Kevin J. Jones at Catholic News Agency. In the wake of the Dobbs Supreme Court decision overturning the pro-abortion rights Roe v. Wade ruling, several bodies at the University of Notre Dame are hosting an event series dedicated to “reproductive justice.” The series has attracted criticism for its decidedly pro-abortion slant: an “abortion doula” with a tattoo of abortion equipment is one of the speakers at its next event. Critics say the series conflicts with university policy requiring the presentation of Catholic teaching at such events. Read
On Our Kinder, Gentler Tyranny by James Kalb at Catholic World Report. Many people today deny nature, history, and the transcendent as guides to life, in favor of viewing the human world as a social construction that can be reconstructed at will. Judging by public statements, most influential journalists, educators, and government officials accept some variation of that view. Read
The Tyranny of Gender Ideology in Practice by Scott Ventureyra at Crisis Magazine. Educational institutions, from junior kindergarten to graduate level studies at the university, have pushed forward in full force the social-constructionist position, which promotes the idea that people are the gender they identify as, regardless of whether it contradicts their actual sex and the realities of biology and sexual dimorphism. It has also become commonplace for professional colleges of psychology, psychotherapy, pediatrics, physicians, and surgeons to peddle these unscientific and unethical gender ideologies; there is also an incessant push from medical doctors and psychologists to administer puberty blockers to children and adolescents and to aid their undergoing genital mutilation and mastectomies. Read
Texas Tech Suspends Head Basketball Coach for Quoting the Bible by Jordan Boyd at The Federalist. Less than one month after Texas Tech University was busted for using race-based ideology as a litmus test for hiring candidates in the school’s biology department, the four-year university suspended head men’s basketball coach Mark Adams for quoting the Bible to a student athlete. Read
Schools Are Pushing Gender Pronouns and Hiding It from Parents by John Ransom at The Daily Signal. A new report reveals students in the nation’s largest school districts are encouraged to change their names and pronouns without parental knowledge, even though those same schools require parental approval for over-the-counter medicine. Read
What to do When Your Son Says He’s a Girl by Leila Miller at Catholic Answers. I simply handed on the wisdom of the Catholic Church and the moral law of God. God has a created order. He made us male and female, and we are complementary—equal in dignity, but not the same. And we are most certainly not interchangeable. Read
Critical Race Theory Teaches Kids to Hate Each Other, and the Proof is on the Playground by Stephanie Lundquist-Arora at The Federalist. When people with authority, such as school teachers and administrators, tell children that one group is the oppressor and the other is oppressed, children tend to listen. These critical race theory lessons are fostering anger and aggression instead of empathy among children. Read
Why Homeschool Families Should Support (or at Least Not Oppose) ESAs by Michael Clark at Goldwater Institute. Arizona law… expressly prohibits state control or supervision of nonpublic schools, even if they receive ESA funds. Being on the ESA program has allowed my wife and I to tailor our children’s education to meet their unique needs, without giving up any control on the curriculum, textbooks, or other educational resources we choose to use. Read
Republicans Introduce ‘Bill of Rights’ to Give Parents a Voice in Education of their Children by Tyler Arnold at Catholic News Agency. Republican lawmakers introduced a resolution to establish a “Parents Bill of Rights” this week, which is meant to bolster parental rights in the public education system with a new set of federal standards for schools. The resolution, which has 73 Republican co-sponsors, would make parents active participants in the education of their children. Read
Tennessee Governor Signs Laws Protecting Minors from Drag Shows, Gender Transition Procedures by Joshua Arnold at The Washington Stand. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R) on Thursday signed two bills designed to protect children under the age of 18 from harmful applications of transgender ideology. Tennessee Senate Bill 1 forbids gender transition procedures on minors, while Tennessee Senate Bill 3 forbids drag performances with minors present. Read
DeSantis Opens Legislative Session with Education Overhaul: 'All Eyes are on Florida' by Jeremiah Poff at Washington Examiner. [W]ith a new supermajority in the legislature and a governor fresh off a double-digit electoral romp, Florida Republicans are poised to build upon the 2022 session by expanding prohibitions for classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity so students are not exposed to the topics before high school. The legislature also plans to take up bills that would add Florida to a growing list of states with universal school choice programs, ban diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, departments in Florida universities, and give university boards of trustees more power to fire tenured faculty. Read
Red States Are Taking the Lead to Protect Teens from Big Tech by W. Bradford Wilcox at Institute for Family Studies. A mounting body of evidence indicates social media are a big factor in skyrocketing rates of anxiety and depression among adolescents, especially teenage girls, with these rates surging since 2010, when smartphones became widely available. Depression more than doubled in this same period, from 12 percent in 2010 to 26 percent today, for teen girls. Teen suicide among girls has risen to a 40-year high and, just last week, the CDC released a new report indicating that almost three in five teenage girls felt persistent sadness in 2021—the highest rates of sadness recorded in a decade. Read
Throwback Thursday
‘Woke’ Catholic Schools Offer Poison in Place of the Gospel by Noelle Mering at National Catholic Register on May 19, 2021. A truly Catholic education shares common aims with families, knowing that they share the same purpose: the formation of the students in the moral, intellectual and theological virtues. But as schools get woke, prioritizing ideological power over human flourishing, that relationship between school and parents is thrown into chaos. Read