Dec 21, 2023
The New Paganism by Nathaniel Lamansky at Crisis Magazine. This modern paganism is far worse than the one of old. The ancient pagans were required to be humble; to submit to a force larger than themselves. The modern pagans say in chorus with Lucifer: “I will not serve.” They will not serve God, men, the laws of nature, or the dictates of reason. Gender ideology especially is imbued with a mystical and amorphous character, such that rational attempts to combat its rhetoric quickly reach a dead end. Its advocates operate on the premise that they are sovereign gods over themselves; to what higher power, then, can we appeal to show them the truth? Read
‘Forty Years I Endured That Generation’ by Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas. In my four years of Catholic high school, we had a different religion textbook each term. Three-quarters of the Sisters who taught me in high school fled the coop, as well as half the priests, thus discrediting themselves and many others as models for commitment to any vocation – marital, clerical or religious. Entering the seminary just three weeks after Humanae Vitae, I embarked on the worst eight years of my life: heresy in the classroom, a liturgical nightmare, and a moral cesspool – all orchestrated by the pre-Vatican II generation (or at least countenanced by them). Read
Faith and Reason at Hillsdale College by Monica Seeley at Catholic World Report. In this unique environment, conversions are happening. And a significant number of those conversions are to Catholicism. As my son forged lifelong, close friendships during his undergrad years, he walked with friends as they traveled from Protestantism to Anglicanism or Eastern Orthodoxy to Catholicism. Between 2016 and 2019, St. Anthony’s welcomed 76 people into the Catholic Church, many of them Hillsdale students. In 2019 alone, 12 out of 24 converts were Hillsdale students. Remarkably, 2020—a year when Covid was closing schools and churches across the country—saw 18 students enter the Church. Read
Rainbow is Thy Fame by Mary Frances Myler at First Things. University of Notre Dame president Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C., transformed Catholic education. In the 1967 Land O'Lakes Statement, he laid out his vision for the Catholic university in the modern world, calling for autonomy from the Catholic Church’s authority. Charismatic and well-connected, he was a liberalizing force in an increasingly secular educational environment, transferring ownership of Notre Dame from the Congregation of Holy Cross to a lay board, admitting women into the student body, building the school’s capacity for research, and chasing prestige while expanding the school’s footprint. Hesburgh was a tough act to follow, but if there’s anything to learn from the recent history of Notre Dame, it’s that transformational leaders aren’t always visionaries. Read
Shocking Poll Reveals Extent of Critical Race Theory Brainwashing by Jason Bedrick at The Daily Signal. Nearly 80% of Americans aged 18 to 24 agreed that white people are “oppressors,” and that the American ideal of a colorblind society should be jettisoned in favor of racial preferences in university admissions and employment…. These are the fruits of a noxious ideology that radicals are implanting in America’s youth. Universities and K-12 schools are pushing a Marxist worldview that divides everyone into two categories: “oppressors” and the “oppressed.” CRT teaches that America is structurally racist, and therefore, any individual or group that is successful in America is the beneficiary of racism and “white privilege.” Read
50,000 Students Still Missing from School Three Years After Pandemic Closures by Jeremiah Poff at Washington Examiner. At least 50,000 students are still missing from the nation's schoolrooms more than three years after the pandemic lockdowns and school closures led to an increase in chronic absenteeism. According to a review of U.S. Census Bureau data in 22 states and Washington, D.C., by the Associated Press, an estimated 50,000 students are still not attending any kind of public, private, or home school. The number of children who have effectively vanished from the education system nationally is likely even greater. Read
Throwback Thursday
Reclaiming an Education for Joyful Hope by Elisabeth Sullivan at Catholic Exchange on January 5, 2021. In this time of year when we journey through the joyful hope of Advent, to the wondrous gift of the Incarnation, and on to the Epiphany of the Magi, we are immersed in a transcendent reality that lifts us from the concerns of the here and now…. Wonder is the natural state of the child, continually surprised, delighted, and drawn to that which he cannot quite grasp. Persistent and inquisitive, he is rewarded by the joy of discovery. So how is it that so many of our young people lose their hunger to know the world and fall into apathy or anxiety during their years of schooling? And how does this impact their natural desire to know God? Read