Oct 20, 2022
Destroying Culture Through Amnesia by Sarah Cain at Crisis Magazine. The folktales that have been repeated throughout the ages don’t just share moral messages. They enable us to abstractly examine the spiritual battles that take place within, as we struggle to choose the paths we ought to embrace at difficult moments in life, often while being lured elsewhere by our vices. The stories endure through time because they share these truths that speak to our souls and to our experiences. We share them with our children to teach them messages that they might easier learn from a book than from painful trial and error. They were as relevant a century ago as they are today because man has the same innate impulses, needs, desires, and temptations throughout the ages. What summons man today is also what beckoned him in yesteryear. Each was made by God and was born after the Fall. Read
Following in the Medical Footsteps of St. Luke — and Padre Pio by Susan Klemond at National Catholic Register. [T]he St. Pio medical school [at Benedictine College] will be the only medical school in the world that is in accordance with Ex Corde Ecclesiae, explained [Dr. George] Mychaskiw, referring to Pope St. John Paul II’s 1990 apostolic constitution on Catholic universities. In addition, the proposed school also will offer significant coursework in Catholic bioethics, theology of the body and theology of suffering, and students will receive spiritual direction in their own faith tradition. Read
A Bold New Approach to Reform Teacher Licensing by Max Eden at Washington Examiner. While CRT bans reset expectations, they did not address the reason why so many teachers felt that teaching activism was appropriate in the first place: because they were trained to. That’s what makes recent model legislation from the National Association of Scholars such a welcome development. Assembling a coalition of allies, including the Goldwater Institute, the James G. Martin Center, the John Locke Foundation, and the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, last week, the NAS released three model bills to reform teacher training and licensure systems. Read
Virginia Democrat Plotting To Take Kids From Parents Who Won’t Trans Them Is Just Saying The Quiet Part Out Loud by Nathaniel Blake at The Federalist. Virginia Democrats plan to put us in prison and take our children from us if we do not endorse LGBT ideology. Democrat Elizabeth Guzman has announced that she is introducing a bill in Virginia’s House of Delegates to “expand the state’s definition of child abuse and neglect to include parents who do not affirm their child’s gender identity or sexual orientation.” When asked about the possible penalties, Guzman replied, “It could be a felony, it could be a misdemeanor. … We know that CPS charge could harm your employment.” In short, not helping your confused adolescent daughter amputate her breasts and sterilize herself would be a crime for which the state will take your child away from you, ruin your career, and maybe lock you up. Read
Innovative Steps to Reclaim a Human Way of Life for the Next Generation by Noelle Mering at Newsweek. Wyoming Catholic, the… liberal arts college that established a phone-free culture, is part of a growing movement to reject smart phones and their attending addictions in favor of a more human way of life—even if it feels as wildly old fashioned as the set of Friends. Inspired in part by this experience, and with their eldest child studying at their alma mater, Franciscan University of Steubenville (FUS), the Schneirs considered what they could do to encourage a similar movement. They reached out to fellow alumni and to FUS president Fr. Dave Pivonka. The result of their efforts and fundraising is the "Unplugged Scholarship," a pilot program that awards financial help to students who choose to forgo smart phones for the duration of their college life. Read
Fairfax School Board to Vote on 'Truthful Education' Resolution Tied to CRT by Jemeriah Poff at Washington Examiner. The Fairfax County School Board is slated at its Thursday meeting to vote on a "Truthful Education" resolution that promises to support and protect teachers who espouse critical race theory…. The resolution says the FCPS board "commits to protect and support educators and school-based administrators in FCPS as they develop and implement antiracist, equity- and justice- based classroom resources and pedagogy that meet the high aspirations of each and every one of our students and of the Fairfax County community." The terms "antiracist" and "equity" are commonly associated with critical race theory, an academic theory that says U.S. institutions and culture are systemically racist and oppressive to racial minorities. Read
Throwback Thursday
Letter to the U.S. Bishops from Phyllis Schlafly concerning the implementation of the Common Core education standards in public and private schools, including Catholic schools, reprinted in Crisis Magazine, on August 8, 2013. Catholic educators who propose to “adapt” the Common Core to the Catholic model forget the purpose of Catholic education. The mission of the Catholic school is to prepare students for eternal life with God while its secondary goal is to prepare them for temporal work. They accomplish this by pursuing Truth and by seeking to acquire Knowledge for its own sake. In contrast, the goal of Common Core is the narrow training of students to become mere functionaries educated solely for earthly success. Catholic educators should be leery of any standards that create automatons rather than humane individuals. Read