Learn Well, Do Good

Learn Well, Do Good by Andrew Zwerneman at Cana Academy. God and society need well-educated men and women who have developed the habits of knowing and loving by which they are ordered to what is good. Such an education is both an education for a lifetime of learning, which is a good itself, and a preparation for a lifetime of service to the good of others. To put this another way, what our students learn, what they know, is inherently wed to their responsibility. The education they receive frees them to respond as they are called to respond. A genuine academy serves that purpose in two necessarily related ways: The curriculum cultivates knowledge among the students and, by that knowledge, it fosters an informed ability to respond to one’s calling to serve. Read

The Catholic Crisis Over “Us” by George Weigel at First Things. [T]he third crisis, through which we’re living? That, Professor Rex argued, involves “. . . a question that would once have been expressed as ‘What is man?’ The fact that this wording is now itself seen as problematic is a symptom of the very condition it seeks to diagnose. What is it, in other words, to be human?” That, Rex rightly contends, is what’s at issue in “an entire alphabet of beliefs and practices: abortion, bisexuality, contraception, divorce, euthanasia, family, gender, homosexuality. . . .” And so forth and so on, across the cratered battlefields of a culture war that, beginning outside the Church, is now being fought within the household of faith. Read

Partnering with Parents: Some Implications of Parents as Primary Educators by Michael Moynihan at Heights Forum. The best schools have a vision of human flourishing rooted in what is true, good, and beautiful, and they seek to partner with parents who share this vision. They actively partner with parents in two ways: first, by supporting parents in their roles as parents, a task that is mostly extrinsic to the day-to-day educational program provided to the students, and secondly, by leveraging the insights of parents in matters intrinsic to the way education happens in school, while still respecting the integrity of the educational programs of the school. Read

Forming Students Who Will Build Up the Kingdom: An Interview with Mark Middendorf by Paul Senz at Catholic World Report. I think one of our important responsibilities when you’re forming the intellect and the will is: what are your unique gifts and talents that God has given you, that nobody else has, for the kingdom, to build up the kingdom? And the four years the students are here, for me, that’s one of the best opportunities to cultivate and understand and discover those truths about you personally, your God-given gifts. And I think one of the best places to do that is in the adoration chapel, with Our Lord. Read

The Crucial College Prep Your Children Need If They’re Going to Survive It Spiritually by Tom Gilson at The Stream. If spiritual life matters; if marriage relationships matter; if it matters whether your child can tell true from false, up from down, male from female, then college is almost the last place a young adult should be. Virtually every school in the country has an array of torpedoes aimed at the kind of life you’ve brought them up to live. Not every college is that bad, but the exceptions are very few. If you’re aiming your child toward one of them, good going. If not, chances are you’re sending your child away to get buried under anti-Christian beliefs along with anti-moral lifestyles, and total confusion about just about everything that really matters. Read

New Book Pulls Back Curtain on Public Schools’ ‘Mediocrity’ Sending Parents, Students to Exits by Tony Kinnett at The Daily Signal. Connor Boyack and Corey DeAngelis’ new book, “Mediocrity: 40 Ways Government Schools Are Failing Today’s Students,” provides a concise explanation for why Americans have begun abandoning the woefully inept public school system. Forty chapters rife with examples of failure paint the American public school system as a catalyst for the exodus to alternative options. Case after case of sexual abuse, academic inaction, hemorrhaging budgets, political strong-arming, and a lack of vision showcase a public education environment that is anything but beneficial for the students of the best nation on Earth. Read

Biden Admits Why the Left Opposes Parental Rights in Education by Kaylee McGhee White at Washington Examiner. Speaking at a White House event on Monday, President Joe Biden railed against conservative legislation restricting inappropriate and/or woke material in classrooms, accusing Republicans of “book banning.” He then admitted why such legislation frustrates him so much. “There's no such thing as someone else's child. No such thing as someone else's child," he said. "Our nation's children are all our children." Read

How to Stop the Gender Cult in Education by Debra Soh at Washington Examiner. The debate on early transitioning is steeped in false premises.... There is an assumption that poor mental health is the result of gender dysphoria, as opposed to the other way around. In actuality, high rates of co-morbidity abound in individuals with gender dysphoria, with 70% or more of such youth presenting with an additional diagnosis (including autism, depression, anxiety, or an attention deficit disorder) prior to experiencing issues with their gender. From what I’ve witnessed in the years I’ve been fighting this cultural battle, even when presented with evidence to the contrary, trans activists and their allies happily disregard this information in favor of plowing forward with their preferred narratives. Read

5 Things to Know about British MP Miriam Cates, Who Isn’t Afraid to Challenge the Status Quo by Madeleine Teahan at Catholic News Agency. Miriam Cates, member of Parliament (MP) for Penistone and Stocksbridge... delivered an impassioned speech to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak regarding sex education in U.K. schools. “Across the country, children are being subjected to lessons that are age-inappropriate, extreme, sexualizing, and inaccurate, often using resources from unregulated organizations that are actively campaigning to undermine parents,” she told the House of Commons. “This is not a victory for equality; it is a catastrophe for childhood.” Read

Georgia School District Forced to Reinstate Fired Christian Teacher by Jeremiah Poff at Washington Examiner. “Terminating a teacher for engaging in First Amendment protected expression creates an atmosphere of fear and sends a message to the teacher and others in the community that, if they criticize the school’s approach to cultural or political issues or express viewpoints contrary to the school’s preferred viewpoints, they will face consequences,” Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Tyson Langhofer said.... “That’s unlawful and why we had to file suit in Lindsey’s situation. The settlement the school district agreed to is a victory for Lindsey, the families of Bryan County Schools, and every parent’s fundamental right to speak out concerning their children.” Read

Throwback Thursday

The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-Earth by Anna Mathie at First Things in January 2004. For Tolkien, as for St. Augustine, evil is not a positive reality, but a falling-away from the reality the creator planned for the creature. He speaks of evil as a marring of what was made, and as a shadow. All beings have been created good, even Sauron and his orcs. They fall away from their intended goodness by rejecting what their maker intended for them. In the Silmarillion, the demonic Melkor first sins by inventing his own dissonance instead of singing the part God gave him in the angelic harmony. Rejecting one’s own created nature is the original sin. Lesser beings also sin by trying to re-create themselves. Part of why the Ring tempts mortals so strongly is its promise to let them escape the physical mortality God has intended for them. The sinner seeks a more independent existence, but he ends up losing his individuality. The Ring-wraiths fade to shadows and puppets of Sauron. Gollum falls so far that he loses his true name and even his nature, scarcely remaining a hobbit. Read