Apr 24, 2024
The Best Books Episode 3: Why Every High-Schooler Should Read Plato's Republic by the Cana Academy Team at Cana Academy. In the third episode of The Best Books with Andrew Zwerneman, he discusses Plato's great dialogue, The Republic. Why should every high-schooler read Plato's Republic? Watch to the end to find out. Watch
The Humanities in Georgia by Mark Bauerlein at First Things. I’m listening to a seminar in early modern thought. The subject is Meditations, the landmark treatise on doubt and knowledge by René Descartes. Inside a stately nineteenth-century mansion on one of the squares in old Savannah, eleven students pull up to a table and turn toward the man seated at the end, Professor Douglas Hedley. For the next two-and-a-half hours, with a short break partway through, Hedley leads a discussion of “I think therefore I am,” the evil genius, and God’s infinitude. Read
Telling Children the Story of St. Dominic, with Help from Man’s Best Friend by CWR Staff at Catholic World Report. Eleanor Bourg Nicholson is an award-winning novelist, scholar, Victorian literature instructor for Homeschool Connections, a Dominican tertiary, and a homeschooling mother of five. Hound of the Lord: The Story of Saint Dominic, written for children and from the perspective of a dog, was published recently by Magnificat and Ignatius Press. She corresponded with CWR about St. Dominic (she says he is “difficult” and not known well enough by most Catholics), what attracted her to him, the Saint’s greatest weapon, and the Dominican order. Read
Summer Course for High Schoolers Merges Business and Catholic Social Teaching by J-P Mauro at Aleteia. A Silicon Valley entrepreneur who spent time as a seminarian discerning a vocation to the priesthood is trying to bring religion back to business. He’s teamed with the Catholic University of America (CUA), in Washington DC, to reach the younger generations. Read
For American Catholic Schools, an Encouraging Trend in Florida by Lauren May and Ron Matus at The Hill. You don’t have to be Catholic to appreciate how Catholic schools offer high quality at low cost; how they lifted generations of working-class families into the American mainstream; and how entire communities can be set adrift, when the Catholic schools that anchor them fade away. Margaret F. Brinig and Nicole Stelle Garnett documented this in their book, “Lost Classroom, Lost Community.” For this reason, the closing of 7,000 Catholic schools over the last 60 years has been a national tragedy in slow motion. But there are good reasons to be hopeful those trend lines will change. Read
Schools Want to Ban Phones. Parents Say No. by Julie Jargon at The Wall Street Journal. Students’ phone use is disruptive, but teachers and administrators seeking a fix face an unlikely opponent. A rural school district in Colorado tried to ban smartphones. Parents stood in the way. Phones were at the center of more than half the schools’ disciplinary issues by 2022. Read
Catholic School Gushes Over Meeting with Pro-Abortion, Lesbian Governor: Our 'Personal Values are Closely Aligned' by Cortney Weil at Blaze Media. An elite Catholic prep school in Massachusetts gave a glowing summary of a recent visit from Democrat Gov. Maura Healey, who openly promotes abortion and LGBTQ+ issues in defiance of Catholic teaching. On April 9, Healey made her first visit to St. John's Prep, an all-boys, 6-12 grade school in the Boston area sponsored by the Catholic religious group the Xaverian Brothers, named after St. Francis Xavier. There, the governor spent almost an hour engaging with five student groups. Read
Many in Gen Z Ditch Colleges for Trade Schools. Meet the 'Toolbelt Generation' by Windsor Johnston at National Public Radio. Sy Kirby dreaded the thought of going to college after graduating from high school. He says a four-year degree just wasn't in the cards for him or his bank account…Instead, at the age of 19, Kirby took a job at a local water department in southern Arkansas. He said the position helped him to develop the skills that helped him start his own construction company. Read
Catholic Institute of Technology Becomes World’s First Catholic University Distinctively Focused on STEM Research by William Hemsworth at Catholic365. Born from a vision to fuse rapid scientific and technological advancement with the wisdom of the Catholic faith, Catholic Institute of Technology forms scientists, engineers and mathematicians who are dedicated to upholding the Catholic faith. This brand new university will welcome students for the first time in Fall 2024 to its campus in Castel Gandolfo, Italy. Read
Highs and Lows of Catholic Commencements in 2024 by Cardinal Newman Society Staff at The Cardinal Newman Society. You can tell a lot about someone by the friends they keep. And you can tell a lot about a college by whom it chooses to honor by delivering a commencement speech or receiving an honorary degree. The distinctly faithful Catholic colleges recognized by The Cardinal Newman Society in The Newman Guide have chosen outstanding speakers for this year’s commencement ceremonies. Many are witnesses to the Catholic faith and the sort of people graduates should emulate. Here are some examples. Read
Lessons from Lewis’s “Learning In War-Time” by Lindsey Ralls at Circle Institute. In October of 1939, at St. Mary’s Church in Oxford, C.S. Lewis spoke to an audience of undergrads who were questioning the futility of a college education in the midst of a country at war. To them, attending lectures and writing papers bordered on frivolity and selfishness when their fellow countrymen were fighting, not only for their lives but for the fate of Europe as well. Lewis reminded them that “A man may have to die for his country, but no man must, in an exclusive sense, live for his country.” Read
Throwback Thursday
Literature: What Every Catholic Should Know by Joseph Pearce at Catholic Education Resource Center, 2019. In the great works of literature we discover a deep understanding of man's being and purpose. We discover that the human person is homo viator, a pilgrim or wayfarer who journeys through mortal life with eternal life always in mind. This understanding of who we are has been lost. "The modern man," wrote Chesterton, "is more like a traveller who has forgotten the name of his destination, and has to go back whence he came, even to find out where he is going." In fact, things are even worse than Chesterton imagined because modern man has not only forgotten the name of his destination, he has even forgotten that he has a destination. Read