41 minute read
Inequality Is a Condition for Social Harmony
not only to the environment but to the American mainland. The answer, as report ed in the hearings on August 1, in the esti mate of the General Accounting Office, is 54 million Americans affected by a radioac tive plume from Cuba. The House
International Affairs Committee's internal estimates put that number at over 80 million Americans. Press reports more recently have put the number as high as 120 million. By day four of a nuclear accident in Cienfuegos in the spring or summer, a radioactive plume like Chernobyl's would sweep over the lower third of the United
States to Texas. In the winter months it would race up the East Coast and pass Washington, D.C., on day four. So, wc are talking about a cataclysmic circumstance for the American people, not to mention the fisheries, the ocean-oriented pollution.
The irony here is that Greenpeace, which was almost completely silent—as
was World Watch and the other environ mental organizations—has more recently recognized this lopsided attention, this seeming, almost politically inspired inatten
tion to the Cuban deal, and has now come out with its biggest concern, which is that the spent fuel storage pool on the Aragua site is only sufficient to hold the waste from this plant for a period of twenty-five years, and they would like that to be longer Well, with all due respect, spent fuel waste is. rel atively speaking, such a minor problem compared with what we have just discussed that I have to discount seriously that the
environmental movement of the world is paying any particular attention to this pro ject at all.
If you compare the Brentspar Mobil Oil storage facility, which received such world wide publicity because of Greenpeace and others, with the dangers of the Cienfuegos complex, Brentspar is relegated to insignif icance. So what we may be seeing at work here is the environmentalists politically dif ferentiating projects in the world. Perhaps they are still intrigued by the revolutionary mystique of Fidel Castro. Perhaps a social ist nuclear power plant is okay, but a Western governments and big-oil plant is not okay. That seems to be suspiciously in evidence in this case. ■
Robinson: "This project is an environmental catastrophe waiting to happen."
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Inequality Is a Condition for Social Harmony
Just as a perfect condition of the body results from the conjunction and composition of its various members, which, though differing in form and purpose, make, by their union and the distribution of each one to its proper place, a combination beautiful to behold, firm in strength, and necessary for use; so, in the commonwealth, there is an almost infinite dissimilarity of men, as parts of the whole. If they are to be all equal, and each is to follow his own will, the State will appear most deformed; but if, with a distinction of degrees of dignity, of pursuits and employments, all aptly conspire for the common good, they will present a natural image of a well constituted State.
Pope Leo XIII Encyclical Humanum Genus, April 20, 1884
by Thomas Becket
Times of persecution and cri sis have always been times of reinvigoration for Christians. Persecutions have dismally failed as means of stamping out the truth, and heresies have provided occa sions for the clarification of dogma.
No matter how irreversible a situa tion seems. God raises up new
saints, new movements, and new methods to call His people back to
the truth.
Two centuries of vigorous edu
cational innovation, social change, and revolution had promised us that Utopia was just around the comer. Fueled by the wave of enthusiasm for public schools in the nineteenth century, self-proclaimed reformers spearheaded the implementation of the modem school system. And they insured that attendance was obligatory. In some places they even attempted to stamp out all pri
vate education.
Catholics, sensing the dangers, responded by building their own
schools. Primary and secondary schools for Catholics were operat ing from almost the beginning. In 1884 the Third Plenary Council at Baltimore ordered the building of Catholic .schools in every parish. Soon there was a completely paral lel system at every level.
Reaction
Was this an over-reaction? Not if you are concerned with the salva
tion of your children. The new ideas flowing into the .schools came from
the Enlightenment and the concep tions of man and .society springing from the Utopian Socialism of the
nineteenth century.
The Catholic hierarchy had a
two-fold concern. First was the direct danger to Faith. Even where
the influence of these new ideas was felt less, the public schools still inculcated a Protestant spirit. Secondly, the public schools were
often mixed, while the Church teaches that co-education presents a
moral threat to children.'
The Holy Office raised these objections in an 1875 instruction to the Catholic bishops of the United States, warning parents who sent their children to public schools that:
[I]t is a well-known fact that, according to Catholic moral teaching, such parents, should they persist in their attitude, cannot receive abso
lution in the Sacrament of Penance.^
It would have been hard to put that in stronger terms.
Pope Leo XIII also reminded Catholic parents of their duties as primary educators of their children in the encyclical Sapientiae Chris-
lianae.
It is incumbent on parents to strain every nerve to ward off such an outrage [the destruction of the family through the subversion of parents' rights], and to strive manfully to have and to hold exclusive authority to direct
the education of their off spring, as is fitting, in a Christian manner, and first and foremost to keep them away from schools where there is risk of their drinking in the poison of impiety.^
Pius XI quoted Leo XIII in the encyclical Rappresenianti in Terra
in 1929.-'
The Holy See recently reaf firmed this teaching in guidelines on sex education, stressing the fact that parents are the primary educa tors of children, especially in regard to chastity.^
The situation in
Catholic schools
Both the tragedy of sex educa tion and new methods in religious
instruction in Catholic schools began to alarm parents. A Catholic priest affirms about his own experi
ence:
I discovered that the chil
dren in the full-lime Catholic grade school now did not
know the basics of the Faith.
Catholic students in the local high .school, most of whom had gone through the local You Can Home School Too
Where to start if you are thinking about home schooling
You do not have to be Super-Mom or Super-Dad and have Super-Kids. The people who home educate are ordinary human beings concerned with the same problems as you. Fed up with sex-education, poor or non-existent religious instruction, drugs and violence, they are just looking for a way to save their children.
The prospect of teaching at home could frighten anyone. New ideas usually do.
Two months researching home education con vinced me that ra y original preconceptions were
flawed. I found out that:
• The era of home education has arrived. • Home schoolers are not far-out child prodigy types with strange backgrounds.
• Home education is effective. • It is possible. • It costs very little. • It is entirely legal.
You will find a universe of support groups enthu siastically wanting to help. Start by looking up your State home-education organization and write to them. You will be surprised by the response, I was. Discover for yourself the
amount of material around.
There are schools that provide whole curriculums, that test, and give support on the phone. The Home School Legal Defense Association can take care of any legal problems you might run into.
Home schoolers help other home schoolers. They can provide support. They live all around you. A little asking will go a long way towards getting in touch. I came across several families that meet on Fridays to home school together. They share each other's talents.
Catholic home schooling associations exist in almost every State. Contact them. Once you know the regulations, the next step is to choose a method.
Several complete Catholic home-schooling sys tems provide all the material and support nece> Seton Home Schooling in Virginia is one.
Some schools are accredited. This helps when answering questions from school board authorities and applying to college. The wide variety of options makes it possible to cater to specific needs.
Secular educators feel threatened by the home school alternative. They try to scrutinize home schooling.
The result: now more that ever the empirical data justify home education. Home-schooling supportgroups ensure the effectiveness of their materials. They want your home-schooled child to succeed. If you try it and you are committed, it will work for you.
Source: National Center for Home Education, Paeonian Springs, Virginia
HomaSc loolNatior &l Ave^
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parish school, had no idea that in Holy Communion we receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. They
had no idea that the Mass re-enacts throughout all time the Sacrifice of the
Cross.^
By the late 1960s the situation in both public and Catholic schools was becoming intolerable. The unfounded hopes of the nineteenth century had not led to the promised Utopia but instead had given way to declining academic standards and achievement, metal detectors in schools, drugs, free distribution of contraceptives, abortion coun seling services. And the list goes on.
A nation at risk
Regarding academics, the Reagan administra
tion's National Committee on Excellence in Education (NCEE) came to depressing conclu sions in its 1981 study "A Nation at Risk." The study pointed to a "rising tide of mediocrity" in public school education. Americans scored below other developed countries right across the board.^
Richard J. Herrnstciri and Charles Murray state the same problem in The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life. They conclude that American education is acade mically okay, as long as you do not happen to be intelligent,"
While academic levels declined, crime increased. At the same time, parents were horri fied by the destruction of innocence taking place with the introduction of new pedagogic methods and the implementation of programs designed to create a new morality through the teaching of cor rupt sexual practices and the means to avoid their consequences. They grouped together to protest, but they often found themselves ignored or even ridiculed by people who held what pas.sed for avant-guard ideas. Home schooling came into being in response.
An uphill struggle
At first it seemed like an unusual, almost underground, thing to do. Its legality was uncer tain, its effectiveness unknown. It was a leap in the dark, taken by parents who found themselves increasingly frustrated by the lack of feasible
alternatives.
This new current in educational philosophy and method faced an uphill battle. In people's minds, compulsory attendance at schools was
almost a constitutional mandate. Even if the law permitted it, neighbors or relatives who did not understand might report you for child abuse or neglect. It has taken great efforts to give home education the reputation it is beginning to enjoy.
The law on home schooling developed during the early part of this century. The State of Oregon tried to ban private schools in 1922, but the Supreme Court tested the law in Pierce v. Society of Sisters in 1925. Following an earlier decision in Meyer v. Nebraska, the Court held the law to be
unconstitutional. It said that "The child is not the
mere creature of the state."" In Wisconsin r. Yoder the Court recognized that the parent had a "pri mary role" that was more important than the State's in educating children.
The exact limits of these rights still need defi
nition. The Constitution does not address the issue of education. It does not establish a right to be educated. The law generally considers education to be a State matter or to rest residually with the people.
Lobbying by powerful organizations like the Home School Legal Defense Association and the grass-roots efforts of thousands of home .schoolers has brought these issues out in the open. The legal questions are quickly disappearing and problems for home-schooling families are too. An expert in
the field affirms;
Statistically speaking, only one home.schooling family in a hundred will ever be contacted in any sort of negative way. and only one in one hundred of that group will have any kind of serious legal trouble such as a trial or charges fi led against ihcm.'"
There are now home-schooling organizations, even specifically Catholic ones, in evei7 state. There are sixty-eight support groups in the State of Maine alone. Estimates of how many children are being taught at home put the number between 300,000 and 500,000, They come from main stream backgrounds that differ vei^ little from others except in their educational methods."
The truth ahout home schooling emerges
Parents are fi nding out that there is more potential in home education than their original
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motives had suggested. "Perhaps the most dynamic and creative educational movement in decades, says one couple."'- A survivalist tactic has become a whole movement and is growing into a full-nedged philosophy of education. They are finding out that home education may be more than just a catacomb to hide in while the storm of immorality rages.
The home-schooling parent has the potential to tailor the curriculum to the specific needs of the child. In a world that is becoming increas ingly de-standardized, this has a modern appeal. For the child there is often only one choice of school. The choice of subjects is very limited. With home .schooling the possibilities are infi nitely variable. Demand has driven the develop
ment of a universe of resources.
Part of the crisis in education is due to the perception that the "traditional" school setting does not prepare the child for the world in which he must live. The school seemed practical in an age when society required basic academic stan dards. A "hidden curriculum" produced workers that knew how to show up on time and follow simple instructions.
Today there is a universal trend away from regimented industrial-style mass-production. Experts say the office or factory environment is outdated.'' The home is now taking the place of the office. When the move is not directly to the home, the tendency is still toward more individ ualistic work. Living-room-educated young sters who have developed a high degree of selfmotivation to learn at home may be better pre pared.
The home environment can provide an island of stability in a world of change. As families become more mobile, home schooling reduces the trauma that children suffer from being uprooted from one learning environment and transplanted to another strange and often hostile
one.
Notes
Academic viability
When home schooling began, one of the obvi ous questions asked was about its academic via bility. One answer that could have been given would echo St. John Chrysostom's advice to par ents in the fourth century.
The choice lies between two alterna tives. a liberal education, which you may get by sending your children to the public schools, or the salvation of their souls, which you may secure by sending them to the monks. Which is to win. learning or salvation? If you can unite both, do so; but if not. choose the more precious.'"'
This response may no longer be necessary. As home schooling has come under scrutiny, the truth that emerges from the data shows its effec tiveness. A recent study puts home schoolers in the seventy-ninth percentile in reading and in the seventy-third in both math and language.'-'' while the national average for public school students is the fiftieth percentile. Other studies consistently fi nd home schoolers well above average.
Parent's rights restored
Home education represents innovation, but at the same time it is a return to the past. It was the norm before the long flirtation with universal public education began. If the current trend con tinues. it may be so once again.
Home education ree.stablishes the possibility for parents to give their children an excellent edu cation and put them on the road to sanctity at the same time. It has circumvented the attempts by the secularists to implement their soul-robbing agenda. It has restored to parents their right to be the primary educators of children, and it has cre ated a way for fervent Catholics to preserve the Faith for future generations. _
1. "Instructions of the Holy of the Holy Office to the Bishops of the United States." November 24. 1875, cited in Mary Kay Clark, Catholic Home Schooling: A Handbook for Parents, (Rockford, IL; Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1993), p. 46. 2. Ibid., p. 47. 3. Leo XIII, Sapientiae Christimae (January 10, 1880). 4. Pius IX. Rappresentanti in Terra (December 31, 1929). 5. The Wanderer, January 25. 1996. 6. Robert J. Fox, from the Forward to Catholic Home Schooling: A Handbook for Parents, p. xi. 7. John W. Whitehead and Alexis Irene Crow, Home Education: Rights and Reasons (Wheaton, IL.: Crossway Books, 1993). p. 19. 8. (NY: The Free Press, 1994), p. 417. 9. Whitehead and Crow. p. 120, 10. Kenneth Clark, "Responding to Authorities," in Catholic Home Schooling, A Handbook for Parents, p. 361. 11. Dr. Brian Ray, A Profile of Home Education Research (Home School Legal Defense Association. 1992), p. 5.
12. David and Micki Colfax, whose three homeschooled sons were accepted at Harvard. Cited in Home Education: Rights and Reasons, p. 75. 13. See Alvin Tofler, The Third Wave and Power Shift. 14. Cited in W. Kane, S.J., An Essay Toward A History of Education (Chicago: Loyoia University Press, 1938), p. 85. 15. National Center for Home Education, News Release (Paeonion Springs, Virginia, 1994).
the Family"
An interview with Dr. Mary Kay Clark
Dr. Mary Kay Clark has taken an active part in education and policy issues for over 25 years.
She and other Catholic parents established a private Catholic elementary school, Mater Dei Academy, in 1971, in Columbus, Ohio, where she served as principal for nine years.
In 1980, Dr. Clark left Mater Dei and began teaching her own children at home. She helped found state home-schooling associations in Ohio and in Virginia, serving as Executive Secretary in the latter for .several years. In 1983, she joined Seton Home Study School, and under her direction, Scton has grown from a few hundred students to more than 9000 cur rently enrolled in the United Stales and many foreign coun
tries.
Dr. Clark holds master's degrees in library science and
school administration, and a doctorate in education. She is a frequent speaker at home-education and family conferences around the country, and a frequent guest on radio and televi sion programs. She has written many articles on home-school ing, edits a monthly newsletter, and authored the best-selling book Catholic Home Schoolitig: A Handbook for Parents.
Crusade: Would you say that it was exterior factors that led you to home schooling, like the state of the schools, or was it something
intrinsic about it as a better form
of education?
Dr. Clark: When people started home schooling back in the sixties and seventies, they were unhappy with the school situa tion. Parents were upset with the curricu lum, primarily with the religious program.
Sex education came into the schools at that time, which many of us parents knew was strictly forbidden by the Church to be taught in a classroom situation.
In the nineties, parents are choosing home schooling because they see the posi tive benefits. Home schooling strengths the family, gives Dad time with the kids, builds the relationships of the kids with each other, and helps children to score, on average, in the eighty-forth percentile on standardized
achievement tests. Above all, there is the huge benefit of passing along the Catholic
Faith to the children.
When children go to school, they come home too tired to have a religion class. With home schooling, the family can learn their religion together, pray the Rosary every day, start the day with the Morning
Offering, say prayers before and after all meals, and participate in various customs related to the liturgical feast-days.
Father John Hardon, S.J., noted theolo gian, said one of the reasons the Pope is supportive of home schooling is what it does for parents. Parents learn the Faith, learn to live the Faith more fully, through teaching their own children.
There are young adults now who have been home schooled and are considering marriage and starting their own families. They are thinking about what they are going to do. Home schooling is very much on
their minds.
Crusade: Could you tell us a little about some of the ups and downs you have experienced with home schooling?
Dr. Clark: I receive phone calls from parents telling me what their problems are. The basic one is discipline. Young parents do not know how to discipline. Society and television are telling parents, "These little people are children but should be treated as little adults, who should be allowed to make their own decisions so they can have .selfesteem and feel good." We need to encour age parents to understand that children need their true authority and parental supervision in order for them to grow into making cor rect decisions latter when they mature.
Discipline was not a problem for me. I was the oldest in a large family, and helped Mom and Dad with the younger children. 1 was never unsure about disciplining. There was never any interior doubt or question
such as "Should 1 reason with them?" When you are dealing with young children, they
do not want to sit down and have a conver sation. They just want a yes or a no, they want to know where they stand. And they expect the discomfort of the consequences when they are disobedient.
Crusade: How do you .suggest p: cuts overcome the discipline pro
lem?
Dr. Clark: I suggest "tough love." According to the Bible, Dad is the head of the family and the chief disciplinarian. Dad needs to oversee home schooling. Just because he goes off to work at seven does
not mean he cannot be involved. In the evening, he should ask, "How were the chil dren today? Was everyone good to Mom?" He should set down rules of discipline.
One of the greatest challenges in home schooling is persuading some dads to exer cise their role as head of the family and as "headmaster" of the home school. Many
mothers are truly heroic in seeing the need for home schooling and proceeding with it despite great obstacles. Nevertheless, moth ers should not have to be always heroic. They should receive the firm backing and support of their husbands.
I tell mothers to call Dad at the office and say, "You have to talk to little Joey because he just spoke back to me." Dad is essential, Just for Mom to know he is there supporting her.
Crusade: How do children react to home schooling?
Dr. Clark: Most Children, especially at the elementary level, love the idea of being home with Mom. At the high school level,
sometimes teens want to be with their
friends more than at home for academics. However, some teens have terrible emotion al conflicts when their peers and school pro mote certain ideas which are opposed to the ideas which they are learning at home. These teens want home schooling.
Home schooling also brings about better relationships among family members. Brothers and sisters come to like each other, and to be friends, an older brother may be having trouble in English, and sister can help. Meanwhile, sister is having trouble in math, and brother can help.
Siblings begin to develop a real appreci ation of their gifts and differences. Nobody has to say, "I'm dumb," or "I'm stupid." They come to find out that Mom is strug gling with diagramming too. That is fine because they are learning.
Parents tell us how much they are learn
Dr. Mary Kay Clark presents her book to His Holiness John Paul li
ing when they teach their own children. There is a real joy in learning together, in praying together, in struggling together, and in sacrificing together.
Crusade: Parents must derive a lot of satisfaction from teaching their
own children.
Dr. Clark: Yes. The high points are times when the children say something spe cial about the importance of Jesus in their lives, or when they read a saint's biography on their own, or when they fi nally under stand a difficult concept in math or religion.
It is sad that parents are relinquishing to strangers these precious times. You would not want to miss their first step or their first word; and you do not want to miss the first step they take in math, or the first word they
can read.
A satisfaction that has come as a real surprise to parents is seeing how much the children can learn at an early age. Some kindergarten-age children are reading thirdand fourth-grade level books. One fiveyear-old girl has read all the Little House
books and while this is not the rule, it is cer tainly by no means a rare exception either.
Many parents tell me that their children are way beyond where they themselves were in their educational and spiritual growth at the same age.
Crusade: What about socializa tion? Don't children need time to be with their own age group?
Dr. Clark: Sometimes dads are con cerned about the socialization, but we are not hearing about that issue much anymore. After all, the newspapers are filled with the stories of drugs and violence in the schools.
This question about children learning to get along with their peers is a false issue. Except for the classroom situation, no one spends his life working or living with peo ple of his own age.
The Church documents are very clear
that children learn the social virtues at home, from their mother and father, from their relationship with their brothers and sisters, interaction with their grandparents and with their neighbors. The difficult thing is not learning to get along with peers at the
same level of intellectual or emotional development. The difficult thing for chil dren is learning from others who are older and more mature, and then growing them
selves.
However, there are many Catholic home school support groups, and Christian sup port groups, which provide ample r iiiities for socializing. They usuall> ..a\e weekly recreational activities, monthly edu
cational field trips, and annual events such as science fairs and musical productions.
Crusade: Is harassment by author ities a problem for the home
schoolers?
Dr. Clark: It is not as much of a problem anymore. Every community has home schoolers now. There are local support groups and state home schooling organiza tions, even Catholic ones, which help par ents to deal with the local and state regula tions. In fact, we now have home schooling
Thomas Becket interviews Dr. Mary K. Clark at her office in Front Royal, Virginia.
parents, and home schooling graduates, in state legislatures and on school boards, as principals and as congressmen, as school administrators and as lawyers.
For parents concerned about school authorities, there is the Home School Legal Defense Association, to which a family pays $100 a year for legal advice as well as legal services.
The only real harassment for home .schooling parents these days is filing the paperwork. In New York, for instance, par ents must send grade reports to the state every quarter, but this is more of an incon
venience rather that a hindrance.
Crusade: A few months ago. Catholic World Report ran an arti cle saying that pastors were not responding well to home schooling. How do you find the reaction from pastors?
Dr. Clark: As time has gone by, more pastors have come to understand, and have even become involved with, home school ing families. Parents ask, "Father, would you teach Latin? Father, would you explain the Trinity?"
Some pastors like seeing their church filled every morning with home schooling families attending Mass. It is the home schoolers who are serving at daily Mass, who attend the novenas and May crown ings, the Lent and Advent services.
We recently heard from a priest who is teaching religion every day to different groups of home-schooled children. He has
about 100 students each week. There are similar situations in Virginia and in other states. Many priests are excited about the young home schooling families and chil
dren who have become so interested in the Church and in their religion.
clear that children
learn the social virtues at home, from
their brothers and sisters, interaction
The Catholic World Report article is really more about problems with the dioce san bureaucrats who don't know what home schooling is all about. Some of the diocesan departments of religious education think
they need to regulate the home
school.
But the Catholic Church is very clear in this area. Parents not only have the right but the responsibility
to educate their children in the Faith, and even to prepare their
children for the sacraments. Of course, home schooling parents realize that pastors have the right and responsibility to make sure the children are adequately prepared
for the sacraments, which is the Church's teaching.
Crusade: Then what Is the problem reported in the Catholic World Report'l
Dr. Clark: Conllicts arise when diocesan or parish policy mandates that all children not in the parochial school preparing for the sacra ments attend the parish CCD classes. Many home schooling parents view these classes as deficient, or geared for the public school student, rather that for the child receiving religious instruction everyday at home. Some parents view the CCD program as even dangerous to the Faith of their child, especially now that many of these classes include sex education. These parents believe that in good conscience, they cannot
send their children to these classes.
We have received reports about CCD teachers and administrators not being Catholic; these are people married to Catholic parishioners. We have received reports that students are taught that "theolo gians disagree" about the use of contracep
tives.
A big problem is the Confirmation
Retreat Weekends for adolescent students run by people hired by the diocese, often with activities unknown to parish religious education directors and parents. I planned activities are frequently inappni, ate, to put it mildly, and contrary to the teaching of the Faith. Such activities often include physical contact "games" among teenagers of the opposite sex, and include Eastern. Hindu, or Indian New Age medita tions. such as thinking of the earth as your
mother.
Sometimes parents say, "No way! I have allowed my child to be in this class for the last year and a half, putting up with a lot and keeping my mouth shut just so my child can receive Confirmation. But 1 put my foot
down when it comes to a co-ed retreat weekend." Then the Diocesan director says.
"Sorry. Maybe your child has attended every class for the last year and a half, but your child cannot be confirmed if he does
not attend this co-ed weekend."
Another problem is that many CCD teachers do not appreciate the home-
schooled children in their classes. These kids are learning fundamental doctrine all day at home. If you look at our Seton text books, you can see the Catholicism in their speller, in their history, in their readers, in their vocabulary lessons. Catholic home
schoolers are learning their Faith every day in every subject. If home-schooled children attend CCD classes, comprised of public school students, the home schoolers always have their hands up giving the answers from the Catechism. They have more information than the teacher gives, maybe more that the teacher even knows, maybe what the
teacher does not want to hear. These little ones know their Rosary, the Stations of the
Cross, the Ten Commandments even from first grade. Teachers often tell them to keep quiet.
Crusade: Would you have any sin gle piece of advice to give parents who are considering home school ing?
Dr. Clark: I think they have to ask them selves what kind of Catholics they want to be. and what kind of Catholics they want their children to be. Do they want to live the Catholic life in the fullest way? Do they
want to be the "domestic church" in the fullest meaning of the words?
Home schooling provides the best dayto-day opportunities for the family mem bers to spend time together, to learn togeth er, to pray together, to grow together. It pro vides many more opportunities to celebrate together, whether it is birthdays or First Holy Communion, and to sacrifice together, whether it is the loss of a Job or the Lenten
fast.
Crusade: How do you see home schooling as a movement in the Catholic Church today?
Dr. Clark: I think the home schooling movement, small though it tends to be, is going to have a profound effect on the new revival which is coming now into the Catholic Church. The emphasis on family, family responsibility, and the importance of the "domestic church" is going to be more recognized. The Pope's Letter to Families which came out a couple of years ago, and
the new document from the Pontifical Council for the Family, The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality, which just appeared this past November, both testify to the Church's traditional recognition that the family shapes the individual. The family is the foundation of the Church, is the founda tion for the parish and diocese. Home schooling is helping to strengthen the Catholic Faith in the family.
I would make a plea to faithful Catholics studying theology that they do more theo logical thinking about the meaning of the "domestic church" and the meaning of par ents' rights and responsibilities in relation
to education.
There has been a great deal of theologi cal development about marriage, about hav ing children, the meaning of human life, when human life begins, and so on. However, educating the children is equally important, and takes many years and a great
deal of work. But there has not been the same degree of theological concern.
Catholic theologians should be con cerned that we have a government which imposes its secularist ideas on children and
teachers even in Catholic schools, It is shocking when our own parishes or dioce
ses allow it.
It is outrageous that parents, busy with raising and providing for their children. need to take time and energy to fight for their basic fundamental rights and responsi bilities, even within their own parish. But parents are organizing at the stale and local
level. There are even two national Catholic home schooling organizations now. I firmly believe that the Catholic home schooling
movement is in the forefront of a revival to preserve the traditional Catholic Faith and cultural heritage.
Your readers might be interested to
know that I was in Rome in November, and
met with the heads of almost all of the Pontifical congregations and councils. They were extremely happy about the home school movement. Archbishop Bertone of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote to me after my visit and said he was very "impressed." He wrote that he has "spoken with enthusiasm about your pro gram in a number of settings, including within my own Archdiocese of Vercelli and in an interview on Vatican Radio." Pope John Paul II himself, as I showed him my book Catholic Home Schooling: a Handbook for Parents said, "Good luck!"
Catholic home schooling is important
for the future of the Catholic Church in strengthening the Faith and the family. His
Holiness and all the other Vatican officials we met recognize this. ■
True Glory Can Only Be Born of Pain
by Plinio Correa de Oliveira
^rom every side of the parade grounds, with habitual and quite natural enthu siasm, a huge crowd watches a troop ing of the Queen's Royal Grenadiers in their
ceremonial uniforms.
New military tactics forced uniforms like these into obsolescence long ago. Never
theless, these black trousers, red coats with white belts, gloves, and ornaments, and these distinguished bear-skin hats are preserved for higher moral ends: maintaining the tradition of the armed forces and showing people the splen dors of military life.
Glory must be expressed in symbols. Indeed, God uses symbols to manifest to men His own grandeur. In this, as in all else, we must imitate God. Thus we see the Royal Grenadiers' uniforms and their impeccably rhythmic and aligned marching. One senses the pride with which the standardbearer carries the national flag and the troop commander indicates the direction of the parade. One can almost hear the beating of the drums and the sound of the trumpets. All of these symbols express the moral beauty inherent in military life: the elevation of senti ments, the willingness to shed one's blood; the strength for striving, risking, and winning; the discipline, gravity, and heroism.
There is glory, and true glory, shining in this whole ambience.
But, is glory this, after all? Does glory consist in dressing in anachronistic uniforms, executing maneuvers having no relation to modem battle, playing drums and trumpets, and advancing with firm step to give oneself and others the impression that one is a hero? Does glory consist in advancing "courageously" on a field without obstacles or risks, launching attacks against a nonexistent enemy, with the only reward being the inebriating applause of a crowd? Is this glory, or is this theatrics?
The young American soldier of the Korean War illustrates anoth er aspect of military glory. Entirely immersed in the tragedy of armed warfare, he seems not to have a defined age; he has the vigor of youth, but his freshness and brilliance are gone. His skin, tough ened by endless days under the sun and entire nights of wind and storms, seems to have taken on an almost leather-like firmness. He hasn't the least concern about the elegance of his attire. His cloth ing serves to shield him from the harsh elements and to facilitate quick and agile movements, in mud, through thickets, over steep hills—all under the
relentless action of the battle. Everything in this man is ordered toward fighting, resisting, advancing. The light of a smile is rarely seen on his face. His gaze appears to be fixed in ceaseless vigilance against men and the elements. This man is not concerned with grand movements or theatrical gestures. He concen trates on the thousand details characterizing the real daily life of soldiers. He does not want to play a great role, showing off for himself or for others.
He wants only the victory of a great cause. It is this which explains his seriousness, his dignity, and his will
to resist. Although permeated to his last fibers by great exhaustion and pain, his inflexible resistance of soul and body overcomes his weariness. He feels his pain vividly, but accepts it to its ultimate consequences out of love for the cause for which he fights. This is the painful and perhaps tragic face of military life. Yet, this is where the merit is; this is what gives birth to glory. Beautiful uniforms, gleaming weapons, cadenced marching, great parades with trumpets and drums, endless applause of enrap tured crowds—all of these are legitimate and even necessary appearances, but only to the extent that they express a desire for fighting and sacrificing for the common good. All of these would amount to nothing but theatrics were it not for authentic and proven courage such as that of the Queen's Royal Grenadiers.
True, these are considerations of a natural order. However, iiuin them we may draw conclusions that reach a higher sphere.
The life of the Church and the spiritual life of each faithful Catholic are ceaseless struggles. Sometimes God gives souls admirable moments of interior or exterior consolation, and some times He gives His Church days of splendid, visible, and palpable grandeur.
But the true glory of the Church and of the faithful comes from suffering and from fighting.
It is an arid fight, with neither palpable beauty nor defined poet ry. In this fight, one sometimes advances in the night of anonymity, in the mud of indifference or misunderstanding, under the storms and the bombardment unleashed by the conjugated forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil. But this fight fills the angels of Heaven with admiration and attracts the blessings of God. ■
The author implores the Pope's blessing on CURE'S apostolate and all who fight the Revolution and its culture of death, as a young Tyrolean friend looks on.
Combating the
Culture of Death
While many would relegate abortion and euthanasia solely to "pastoral concerns," the Vicar of Christ reminded us and them that the defense of life is a political imperative as well as a
moral issue.
by Earl Appleby, Jr.
Rome. At the invitation of His Eminence Alfonso Cardinal Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontificium Consilium Pro Familia (Pontifical Council for the Family), Citizens United Resisting Euthanasia (CURE) participated in the Third World Congress for Pro-Life Movements. Conducted in Italian, English, French, and Spanish, the Congress was held October 2-4 at the Pontifical University Saint Thomas Aquinas, better known as the Angelicum.
More than 1,200 delegates from across the globe attended the Congress, whose focus was an in-depth discussion of Pope
John Paul IPs encyclical Evangeliiim Viuie (Gospel of Life). CURE'S delegation
reflected the international character of the Congress with representatives from the
United States: Steven Schmieder and C. Preston Noell 111, American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP), and Earl Appleby, Jr., CURE; Germany: Beno Holfschulte, SOS Leben (SOS Life); and Italy; Alberto Carosa, Famiglia Domani (Future of the Family), and Julio Laredo, of the Rome
Bureau of the TFP. Arthur HIebnekian of Young South Africans for Life-TFP, was to join us later.
Publications at the delegation's exhibit, one of the most frequented by Congress participants, were available in several lan guages. Thanks to the gracious assistance of Famiglia Domani and the Rome TFP Bureau, Italian translations of CURE'S "Life Matters" brochures, including "La
Morte Cerebrale: La Presa in Giro Dura a Morire" (Brain Death: The Hoax That Won't Die), were a popular resource. An Italian edition of CURE'S life-affirming advance directive for mandatory treatment, the Life-Support Directive, was also dis
seminated.
A palpable grace
The Congress was launched with a Mass concelebrated by Cardinal Trujillo with the several cardinals and bishops in attendance. The second highlight of the first day was to have been a papal audience, but the Holy
Father asked that it be rescheduled in order that he might greet Spanish dignitaries, including King Juan Carlos, attending the beatification of martyrs of the Spanish Civil War in St. Peter's Square. The fact that mar tyrs of the glorious Vendee during the
French Revolution were beatified on the same occasion imbued the Eternal City with a counter-revolutionary grace, whose pres ence was palpable at the Congress and was to deepen inestimably as divine history unfolded thousands of miles away.
Thus, the program began a day early with expositions addressing diverse themes of Evangelium Vitae by Cardinal Trujillo; His Eminence Fiorenzo Cardinal Angelini, president of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers; and His Excellency Bishop Elio Sgreccia, secretary of the Pontifical Council on the Family.
Bishop Sgreccia, whose erudite .uidrcss highlighted bioethical themes, was cious host and an encouraging presence throughout the Congress. His fatherly bless ing of cure's apostolate will be a constant challenge to renewed dedication to the gospel of life.
The language groups
The real work of the Congres.s was con ducted by the language groups. Of three working groups, the English-language sec tion was the next largest after the host
nation's Italian.
The encyclical was discussed with enthusiasm and insight by the delegates.
who comprised a rich blend of seasoned veterans. Our group included Julie Grimstead and Christopher Bell (USA), Fr. James Morrow (Scotland), and Paul Barrie (Australia), and the real heroes of the Congress: the courageous youth, whose spontaneity was both infectious and inspir ing. of the workshop's discussions nor doing justice to the summaries presented at the themes should be noted.
Coinmitnient As one young gentleman aptly proclaimed, being pro-life is not an ning the failure of his Catholic uni word "Catholic" from institutions that fail to uphold the moral teach ings of the Church.
Principle front lines in the fight for life empha sized the importance of not compro mising with the culture of death. Concerns were voiced that politi cians and even pro-life leaders would use or abuse Evangelhan Vitae to jus tify legislation that, the Declaration
on Procured Abortion notwithstand ing, would admit the liceity of abor
Above: General view of the Third World Congress for Pro-Life Movements held at the Pontifical University Saint Thomas Aquinas In Rome. Inset: At theTFP's booth.
Space permits neither a detailed account plenary session the following day, but a few
activity but a vocation. The commit ment expressed by college and high school students was, above all, to purity. An American student, bemoa versity to promote chastity, recom mended that the Holy See strip the
The veterans of decades on the tion.
Totality
In keeping with their commit ment to the principle of uncompro mising defense of all innocent human life, delegates noted that sim ply opposing abortion did not make one pro-life. After interventions by the Center for the Rights of the Terminally 111 and CURE, our work ing group went on record against the practice of utilitarian euthanasia at Catholic hospitals through the har vesting of vital organs.
Workshops
While not part of the official program, workshops, whose subjects and speakers had been approved by the Pontifical Council on the Family, were an integral aspect of the Congress.
James Bogle, an English barrister, gave an excellent presentation on a radical pro-
euthanasia initiative in the United Kingdom, which tragically often acts as a
trend-setter for the culture of death in nations espousing a tradition of English common law (pace abortion).
As Dr. Paul Byrne of the Catholic Physicians Guild was unable to present his workshop, "Brain Death: Rhetoric and Reality," due to a conflicting commitment, it was my privilege to conduct it. Citing the Pope's warning in Evangeliuin Vitae that
serious and real forms of euthanasia could occur, for example, when, in order to increase the availability of organs for transplants, organs are removed without respecting objec tive and adequate criteria which ver ify the death of the donor, 1 observed that the .scientific and legal fictions of "brain death" clearly fail the standard
His Holiness sets forth.
Papal Audience
The delegates to the Third World Congress for Pro-Life Movements were honored with a paternal invitation by the Holy Father to an audience in the Vatican's
Paul VI auditorium.
While many would relegate abortion and euthanasia solely to "pastoral concerns," the
Vicar of Christ reminded us and them that the defense of life was a political imperative as well as a moral issue. Indeed, Pope John Paul II declared, the defense of life should be the very reason for the existence of polit ical society.
As America's abortion holocaust threat ens to be dwarfed by the genocide of
euthanasia, we would do well to remember these prophetic words from Evangelium
Vitae:
Democracy cannot be idolized to the point of making it a substitute for morality or a panacea for immorality. Fundamentally, democracy is a "s>> tem" and as such is a means and not
an end. Its "moral" value is not auto matic, but depends on conformity to the moral law to which it, like every other form of human behavior, must be subject; in other words, its moral ity depends on the morality of the ends which it pursues and of the means which it employs.
The value of democracy stands or falls with the values which it embodies and pro motes, the Pontiff rightly proclaims. If America does not stands for God, she will not only fall for everything...but in every thing and justly so. ■
