Well, a black day in my life: My children’s parochial school, Holy Angels, is shutting down at the end of this school year. It basically came down to demographics: Not enough white Catholic children in the area (which is caused by a legion of things, contraception, ignorance, and defections leading the way, all brought about by lukewarm Catholic teaching for the past 40 years). We have a ton of Mexican Catholics in the area, but they either won’t send their children to Holy Angels or can’t afford it (though tuition is relatively low; my tuition bill this year for five children: $6,000). Gross administrative incompetence (alright, shockingly gross administrative incompetence) and diocesan indifference hastened the fall, but without inroads among the Mexicans, the demographics were going to get us sooner or later.
It was rough telling our children yesterday. Their options are now public schooling or home schooling. We’re exploring both. I’m leaning toward home schooling. The way I dramatize it, we’re the last Catholic family in America, and I have to start the re-building process. I’d rather nurture a drop of devout Catholic water than swim in the ocean of lukewarm Catholic water that caused our school’s downfall.
In the meantime, I am broadcasting on all AM frequencies. I will be homeschooling every day at mid-day, when the sun is highest in the sky. If you are out there… if anyone is out there… I can provide food, I can provide shelter, I can provide security, I can provide beer. If there are any serious Catholics out there… any loyal Papist… please. You are not alone. (Link to understand joke; see third box from top)
Sorry to hear it, Eric, but rest assured, you’re not the only loyal Papist out there. I know you know that, but just wanted to reassure you.
When our school shut down, Catholic parents started sending their kids to a fundamentalist-type Christian elementary school. I was like, “Do you know why Catholic parents used to get excommunicated for sending their kids to public schools? It’s because public schools were breeding grounds for Protestantism.”
Just another example of the lukewarm Catholicism.
Yes, homeschool them! You’re the only Catholic family left!
Obviously, it’s an important decision. We always encourage our friends who are thinking of homeschooling to try it for a year. There are way more resources for Catholic homeschooling than you will ever need.
Terrible news Eric. But don’t let John S. paint with a broad brush (and maybe he wasn’t), but while there are some Christian schools I would object too, not all other Christian schools are a worse alternative than public school.
Tom, I hear ya, but I also hear John S. How do you know which ones you can trust? Very few Protestants have a decent understanding of Catholicism, with the result that they are often ridiculously anti-Catholic but don’t know it. They mean no harm, but they simply don’t “get it” (and it’s not their job to “get it,” so I don’t fault them). Remember the Reverend Hagee and his comment, “How can people say I’m anti-Catholic? My wife is a former Catholic”? Is he grossly disingenuous or is he really that naive about Catholic sensibilities? I think the latter, and that’s my fear about any well-meaning Protestant school. I have Protestant alternatives in town, and one of them is highly appealing, but I have no way of knowing what type of indoctrination my kids will face. I can get a rough idea, but without sitting in the classrooms day-after-day, I can’t know.
I honestly think (actually, I’m 99.9% sure) a Protestant principal or minister could tell me in complete sincerity that my kids will face no significant anti-Catholic teaching, and then turn around and dish out the anti-Catholicism within two days and not even know it.
The A-ha moment! Why not partner with one of the other Christian Schools and put all the kids in one building? Holy Angels could certainly hire one religious ed teacher to house there. The school could schedule religious ed so that the students could “go their own way” for an hour each day. In Germany, kindergartens typically have a religious affiliation. Our sister city, Wiesloch, had to build a new kindergarten in a growing area of the city. The historic process would have been for the city to build two new kindergartens–one evangelical lutheran and one Catholic. But, due to finances, the Mayor talked both denominations into sharing on school and it has worked wonderfully.
Christian Schools have one huge advantage over public schools-that is the ability to discipline and remove problem students who disrupt the learning process for others. Public schools don’t have that option. Thus, I think the learning environment offered by Christian schools is better and more nurturing.
By combining Holy Angels with, say, St. Johns, the curriculum could even be expanded or deepened, which might attract even more families.
I’d rather have my kids at a disknowing anti-Catholic Christian school than a blatant and knowing anti-Catholic public school. I’d like my kids to receive some pieces of the Bible dished out, rather than evolution and prophylactics.
I’d say homeschooling is your best option, but if you can’t realistically do that, there may be other options besides public school.
Well, Damn. Sorry to hear that.
I home schooled both of our kids, singly and together at different times, though they are both in public school, now.
Home schooling – to be done right – requires someone committed to the project just about full time, especially with six kids.
Start researching curricula. There should be a lot more options available now even than there were 5 years ago. Wish I could recommend one, but I’ve been out of the loop for a bit.
We initially went with a popular traditional Catholic curriculum and were disappointed that the material was so out of date. Dick and Jane type stuff. I appreciate the 1950s as much as anyone, but… wow. Some of the folks who put the program together must have thought Eisenhower was still president.
Orthodoxy and fidelity to the church are great, but quality counts.
Goat: I approached Trinity Lutheran with that option, but was shot down. I can’t blame them. They’re almost at capacity. St. John’s? That won’t fly. They’re Wisconsin Synod. Any Lutherans out there care to comment on the ecumenical and charitable spirit of the Wisconsin Synod?
Tom: I hear you, but our public school system is pretty good. The administrators and teachers are “conservative” relative to the public school educator segment nationwide, they don’t push the “Heather has two mommies” crap, and they don’t hand out condoms. I’m sure a measure of evolution is taught, but when I was there, it was taught by a Catholic who was careful to mention that evolution, properly understood, doesn’t undercut the existence of a Creator. The current high school science teachers are Christians, to the best of my knowledge. Surprisingly, I don’t fear the administration and teachers at all. Most of them are friends, acquaintances, and/or clients. I fear the body of students. Our town is rough, and my kids will have to grow up quickly if they go to the public schools.
Homeschool! It’s not just about the learning they will receive (you could take them to the library every day and I believe they would learn more than in a public school setting), but it’s the fact the kids look at their parents differently (in a good way). Generally speaking, homeschooled kids are more respectful and share more with their parents than public schooled kids.
I was terrified to start, but I haven’t looked back and have no regrets. I do wish, however, that I had started earlier.
We’re a homeschooling family, and my guess is that if you look around you’ll find many more faithful homeschooling Catholics in the area. I live out here on the west coast and we’ve found a lot of them out here in liberal-land.
Personally, as a father, I would never even consider doing anything other than homeschooling. If that became impossible for some reason, I would only consider a faithful Catholic school.
Well, what does Marie think? I assume she would do most of the work. It’s not easy. I love it, but it’s a LOT of work.
I’m sorry your school is closing. It’s a shame that people don’t understand the value of a solid Catholic education.
Thanks for all the input. More is welcomed. I am leaning toward homeschooling, and now a third option has surfaced: a potential charter school that the state helps funds. There would be absolutely no religion taught, but I guess we could make it an extracurricular, held first thing after the regular school day is over. I think I’ve been appointed to look into the legal details.
Michelle: Marie is torn, oh so torn. She was devastated to see the school close. We either personally or with others undertook fundraisers that brought in $200,000 over the past five years. We’re kind of happy to get away from it, especially in light of the way the diocese just kind of spit on our efforts by sending personnel that were terribly poor stewards of the money we raised, but the look in our kids’ faces was too much. I would’ve rather been beaten with a belt than see their faces.
And the charter school assumes, of course, that the diocese doesn’t step in and tell us we can’t use their building. I can’t imagine why they would, but I’ve lost all confidence in Catholic administrative abilities and decision-making. I’m simply flabbergasted at what I’ve seen. If it weren’t for Matthew 16:18, I would’ve left the Church by now. Such incompetence points to the work of the devil, or his Freudian equivalent (especially in light of Thomas Dubay’s assertion that saints are practical and often make good administrators . . . if that’s the case, things are eerily unsaintly in SW Michigan).
Well, I’ve probably said enough. My confessor is in this diocese, and he reads my blog, and he’s friendly with most of the people I’d like to thrash with an electric cord. I’m probably going to catch hell for these posts, but that’s alright. There’s always beer.
(BTW: I am not including my current priest in the list of people I’d like to whip. I’ve neither exonerated him nor blamed him for this situation. I don’t know what his level of culpability is, if any, and I generally like the guy, so I’m not going to try to discern it.)