Catholic Education

One day, probably in 7th or 8th grade (1962-64), I came home from my Catholic grade school for lunch and complained to my mom about one (or more) of the Dominican Sisters that taught there. My mom said something like, “Oh Mike, you should appreciate them! The day might come when there aren’t many Sisters around, and you’ll be sorry.” I remember thinking, “Why wouldn’t there be Sisters around?”

Sure enough, a few years later the number of teaching Sisters began dropping dramatically, and to my knowledge there are now no Sisters teaching at my old grade school. I am sorry for my ingratitude. These educated and consecrated women gave up everything to teach us, and they did so in their words, actions and patience in classes of 40 plus students.

They taught us: “God made you to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in Heaven.”  We were taught that after death our bodies and souls would reunite and our eternal destiny would be determined by whether we had loved God and neighbor, lived by the Ten Commandments and Beatitudes, and practiced the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy. What a motivation to live rightly!

One assignment was to memorize St. Paul’s words: “Love is patient; love is kind. Love is not jealous, it does not put on airs… Love is never rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not prone to anger; neither does it brood over injuries. Love does not rejoice in what is wrong, but rejoices with the truth.” (1 Corinthians 13) We were told to not just avoid sinful deeds, but to nip them in the bud, by not even thinking about doing them.

After grade school, I attended an all-boys school taught by Christian Brothers. Since then, some former students have complained that the discipline was too severe. I never thought that at all, but I also didn’t appreciate the Brothers or the education I received as much as I should have.

In sophomore year, Brother George assigned us the book Quo Vadis. What a delight, reading about the emergence of early Christianity in Rome. Bishop Sheen once described a “good book” as “any book that inspires us to lead a better life.”  Quo Vadis was a “good book.”

Mr. Ryan, an English teacher, told us that if we wanted to fully appreciate Western literature, we needed to know the Bible, Greek mythology, and fairy tales--- because the stories and moral lessons are alluded to again and again. There is a similarity, for example, between the promise of a savior after Eve eats the Forbidden Fruit, and the myth of Pandora’s Box: after Pandora opens the box, all these evils fly out and the only thing that remains is Hope. In the tale of Daedalus and Icarus, there is a similarity between Icarus’ flying too close to the sun and his fall into the sea, and the Biblical admonition “Pride goes before the fall.” (Prov 16:18) When Pinocchio lies, his nose grows. This is an allegory of the spiritual defacement caused by sin.

An education that leaves out God is incomplete. In the book Theology for Beginners, author Frank Sheed says “God is the explanation of everything. Leave out God, then, and you leave out the explanation of everything, you leave everything unexplainable. Science studies the constitution of matter, but no science can study the two far more vital questions--- by whom they were made, for what were they made.” 

So thank you, Catholic Sisters and Brothers and Catholic school teachers that helped so many of us enjoy and appreciate this central and richest part of our cultural heritage! You taught us the purpose of our lives. What can we do in return? We can personally thank those who taught, or now teach, in Catholic schools. We can support Catholic schools financially. We can send our children or grandchildren to a Catholic school, or help others who want to send their children to one. We can pray for more Catholic Sisters and Brothers willing to devote their lives to Catholic education. A good Catholic education imparts the Truth, thereby alerting and arming the student against the false teachings of the world, and enabling him to act as the body of Christ for the salvation of his own soul and the souls of others.

Please continue to support this apostolate through your prayers, by telling others, and if possible, a financial contribution. We need volunteers, especially those with filming, editing, and digitizing media skills. We have the equipment, but we need people. We would like more involvement by young Catholics.

+ In Hoc Signo Vinces