Cover
story New
independent schools strike a less is more stance -- except on
Catholic doctrine
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
NCR Staff Steubenville, Ohio
They dont look much like the vanguard of a revolution. The
more than 100 Catholics who gathered here July 22-24 -- solidly middle class,
mostly parents with lots of kids in tow -- would appear more at home driving a
minivan than mounting a barricade.
Yet the people who came together at the Independent Schools
in Service to the Church conference, held on the campus of Franciscan
University of Steubenville, are convinced theyre leading an upheaval in
American Catholic education.
All across the country, theyve defected from schools -- both
public and Catholic -- they perceive to be academically weak, too big and
unresponsive, and, in the case of church schools, too often doctrinally
corrupt. Theyve taken matters into their own hands and opened their own
schools.
Though still a tiny percentage of the overall Catholic school
population -- official church schools enroll almost 2.65 million students,
compared with perhaps 5,000 to 10,000 in these new independent schools -- the
movement is growing rapidly. The number of such schools registered with their
national association has risen from under 30 to more than 100 in the past three
years alone.
We may start out with negative vibes, because its
[seen as] you wacko right-wing types who are holier than the pope doing
this, said Michael J. Van Hecke, principal of Ville de Marie Academy in
Scottsdale, Ariz. But this is part of the restoration of the Catholic
educational system. It was beautiful for 500 years, save for this century when
it started to fall away, Van Hecke told the Steubenville conference.
Eileen Cubanski, founder of St. Maria Goretti Academy in
Sacramento, Calif., and president of the National Association of Private
Catholic Independent Schools, made an even more sweeping claim. We are
the future of education and of the church, she said.
Without much fanfare, more than 100 of these private
Catholic independent schools have opened across the country, most within
the last decade. Founded by lay people, they receive no funding or official
recognition from the diocese in which theyre located. Most are not even
Catholic in the sense of being approved by the church hierarchy
under the terms of canon law, although they typically blend so-called
classical course offerings (lots of Latin, math and grammar) with
what they regard as a deeply orthodox -- some would say almost fundamentalist
-- kind of Catholic religious formation.
We hear a lot about all this reform in public schools or
private schools as well, but usually its whats the latest fad,
whats the latest gimmick we can use, Cubanski said. But we
get down to the basics on which every school should be founded ... recognizing
parents as the primary educators and the school then cooperating in that
spirit. We really are the next big wave.
Despite such bold projections, driving through most communities in
America youd never know these schools exist. Theyre more likely to
meet in (usually Protestant) church basements, vacant storefronts or in
somebodys living room than to be housed in a traditional school
structure. The operating budget sometimes equals the limit on somebodys
Visa card. As one speaker at the conference said, theres often more
money in the Pepsi machine than in the schools bank account.
The official tally of 106 represents only those schools that have
registered with the national association -- a step many are unwilling to take
for fear of attracting the wrong kind of attention, either from the civil
authorities or from the bishop.
At the level of the individual school, the rate of expansion is
phenomenal -- one of the chief issues discussed at Steubenville is how to
accommodate enrollment that doubles or triples every year. All signs point to
continued rapid growth.
The trend seems to be driven by two broad forces: the evolution in
American education toward choice and the restorationist impulse in Catholicism.
In the eyes of many conservatives, Vatican II has been distorted as a
repudiation of the entire preconciliar church, and it is now time to
restore key elements of that church, thus realizing the authentic
promise of the council.
We are responding to the call of Vatican II for greater
involvement of the laity in the life of the church, said Vincent Terreri,
headmaster of Annunciation Academy in Vienna, Va. But you have to be
careful in saying that, because its been abused. What most people want
out of that is women priests, an excessive number of eucharistic ministers and
liturgical dance, Terreri told the conference.
While many independent schools avoid using the term
Catholic in their names or promotional materials, their deeply-felt
Catholic ethos is clear. At Noonan Elementary Academy in Mokena, Ill., for
example, students recite morning prayer, a decade of the rosary and the noon
Angelus each day, in addition to participating in religion class. Those classes
use the Baltimore Catechism (the standard pre-Vatican II catholic
catechism) as a central text, though the schools brochure underscores its
loyalty to the churchs doctrine as taught in the new
catechism.
Such curricula are crafted to produce students with a ferocious
loyalty to the church. At the Seton School in Manassas, Va., for example, two
students in 1996 launched the We Are Catholics petition in a
reaction to the We are Church petition supporting church reform.
Their purpose, the students said, was to show our support for the
pope. They found a fan in Fr. Paul Marx, an antiabortion activist and
head of Human Life International. Marx put the petition on his Web site, and
later paid for six students from Seton to travel to Rome to present the
petition to the Holy Father.
Most independent Catholic schools exercise tremendous vigilance
over doctrine. I have a great fear that one day I may be standing before
God, and he will say that a student from St. Josephs High School thinks
the homosexual lifestyle is OK because he was taught that in our religion
class, said Margaret Moon, founder of the Greenville, S.C., independent
high school. So we take that very seriously -- its on our souls
whats taught in religion classes.
Beyond the notion that a Catholic school should teach the
faith in its fullness, however, there isnt much that unites the new
wave of independent schools. Some accept only Catholics -- and in some cases,
only Catholics from valid church marriages -- while others are more inclusive,
seeing part of the schools role as evangelizing lapsed Catholics and
non-Catholics. Some are democratically governed, while others bear the imprint
of a strong-willed founder.
In other instances, differences revolve around curriculum.
Some say, We want the Great Books program, while others say,
Oh no, we dont want that. We want the old Jesuit style,
said Dominic Aquila, chair of the History, Political Science and
Catholic Culture department at Franciscan University, and perhaps the leading
authority on the independent schools movement. Yet all will insist on
their loyalty to the magisterial church.
The impulse to create an independent school has a strong affinity
with Catholic home schooling. Many Catholic independent schools start as ad hoc
cooperative arrangements among home-schooling families -- so-called
cottage or umbrella schools. The preponderance of
secondary schools among the Catholic independent movement reflects the link
with home schooling as well, since many parents feel competent to handle
instruction for the primary grades but want help as their children get older.
Some independent schools, such as the Seton School, have special arrangements
for home schoolers -- they can take a math or science class at the school, for
example, and the rest of their courses at home.
What motivates these Catholic parents to create their own schools?
One factor is clearly size. For many families, both the public and Catholic
schools -- established schools, as they were dubbed at Steubenville
-- are too bureaucratic, too complex and impersonal.
Many people dont like the bigness, James
Stenson, keynote speaker at the conference and cofounder of the Opus Dei
schools in Washington and Chicago, told NCR (see accompanying story).
They see so many forces influencing their kids and they count on the
school as being compatible with what theyre trying to do, at least not
subverting what theyre trying to do. They find it very difficult to get
the kind of personal cooperation they need.
Another factor is a perception that established schools -- again,
both public and Catholic -- are academically and intellectually compromised.
Parents attracted to independent schools want their kids to learn history
and good quality literature that teaches us about the nobility of the human
spirit. They want their kids to learn to approach problems and solve them with
a reasonable amount of confidence and reasonable wits, especially in
mathematics and science, and they want their kids to work, Stenson said.
The movement is also in part a rejection, a voting with ones
feet, against established Catholic schools. Parents who think about it,
and who have themselves come to see that theres a kind of authentic,
clear teaching element in the church called the magisterium, when they do
simple comparisons to what goes on in the [established Catholic] school -- even
if it comes close, if its not on the mark, thats a good impetus to
go to an independent school, said Aquila.
Some would say theres not enough of a criticism of
MTV, of music, television, what goes on in the movies -- theres not a
subtle enough criticism there. All of that is brought in without any sort of
filter, Aquila said. The clothes the kids wear to school, this sort
of thing.
But the real flash point, Aquila said, is sex
education. Catholic schools have almost uncritically embraced everything
that goes on, and even more so, of whats in public schools. Theres
still the belief among many parents that this is something for the home,
he said.
Cases in point include AIDS awareness programs, which seem to some
parents biased in favor of safe sex as opposed to abstinence, and
curricula that introduce children to the facts of life before the
parents feel theyre ready.
Cubanski agreed that sex education is a strong motivator for
parents to opt out of established schools. I would say that for most of
the parents I have talked to that have started schools ... the introduction of
sex education in diocesan schools in particular was the last straw, she
said. At first they had no intention of leaving. They tried their very,
very best to work within the system. When either nobody listened or they were
ostracized -- and many, many were -- they had no alternative, she
said.
Thats a criticism that doesnt sit well with many
Catholic school officials. In this day and age, children need to be
presented with correct information about sex. We have to teach it, said
Dr. Robert Kealey, executive director of the elementary schools department at
the National Catholic Educational Association. Kealey was contacted by
NCR for comment on this story.
But at the same time we have to teach them the morality of
sex. The basis for all of our teaching is the sacredness of marriage and that
sexual relations can only take place in the marriage situation.
When people say the doctrine being taught [in Catholic
schools] is not Catholic, well obviously what is being taught is what the
bishop believes should be taught, so theres a contradiction here,
Kealey said. What is being taught is what has been approved by the
superintendent of schools as the representative of the bishop.
Jerome Porath, superintendent of schools for the sprawling Los
Angeles archdiocese, put that point even more strongly. Its
contrary to the magisterium of the church to be loyal to the Holy Father but
disloyal to the local bishop, Porath told NCR in a telephone
interview. So people making these charges against the bishop are
themselves departing from the magisterium.
People at the Steubenville conference were cautioned to soft-pedal
criticism of established Catholic schools in presenting themselves to the
bishop. We dont say all the teachers in the Catholic school are
heretics, said Terreri, a graduate of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa
Paula, Calif. The college is a destination of choice for many independent
school graduates, as well as a source of sought-after teachers for independent
schools.
Dont make it known that the religion texts are useless
or that the pastor is going to hell for allowing DARE (a drug and alcohol
education program) into the parochial school. That may be the truth, but it is
not always prudent to say the truth, Terreri said. That wont
help you, so dont say it.
Relations with the bishop, and with the local Catholic school
system, were much discussed in Steubenville. Some actively seek and hope
to have diocesan approval, either as a way to sell it to parents or just to be
good Catholics. ... Nobody wants to be in opposition to the bishop,
Aquila said. Others say as soon as you do that, youve compromised
yourself. Its like making a deal with the state, in a way, and you do
lose some flexibility.
I think thats a minority, Aquila said.
Most people want that relationship.
Nevertheless, a general distrust of church bureaucrats seemed
pervasive. Asked if the independent schools would like to negotiate guidelines
for relationships with dioceses, as home schoolers in Pittsburgh and Chicago
have done (NCR, Aug. 29, 1997), Cubanski said flatly, No. That
takes the control away from the family and the schools. The fear, the danger
that I hear expressed about attempting to do that is the same fear that we
heard when they were setting the guidelines for the introduction of sex
education in the schools. First its these guidelines and then its
mandated.
Its like what we hear Clinton talking about,
establishing national testing and setting standards, Cubanski said.
No -- dont centralize the power like that. Keep it where it
belongs, in the family and these small schools.
Msgr. Thomas McDade, secretary for education for the United States
Catholic Conference, told NCR in a telephone interview that any school
styling itself Catholic must be on good terms with the local
bishop. Part of being Catholic is that link to the institutional
church, McDade said. To miss that is to miss the richness of being
Catholic.
We dont have any copyright on the use of the word
Catholic, McDade said, but from the churchs point of view,
only the bishop can grant that recognition.
Marge Crotty of Kolbe Academy near Napa, Calif., argued that ties
to the diocese are necessary for practical reasons if nothing else. We
need relations with the diocese because we need the sacraments, she
said.
In the end, what should the church at large make of the
independent schools movement? Some would suggest that its yet another
indicator of the polarization that besets Catholicism today. Even as many feel
the churchs center is being pulled to the right, its not far or
fast enough for these parents, who look at church schools and see only
doctrinal compromise and moral flabbiness.
But for independent school advocates, the moral of the story is
not primarily a negative one. They point to the incredible personal sacrifices
underlying most of these new schools -- the willingness of parents and teachers
to put their time, money and reputation on the line to do what they believe is
right for their children. How can such devotion, they ask, be anything but a
gift to the church?
Aquila sees independent schools as a logical outgrowth of Vatican
II. This is a lay initiative and can have great implications for teaching
Catholics the real, central meaning of Vatican II, that is, to sanctify the
world. Not to find their place on the altar, but to bring Christ to the
workplace and into the lay social structures, he said.
Porath agrees, to an extent. I think this is great, this is
absolutely encouraging, he said. There is nothing that will build a
stronger church and a stronger society than parents who work together to
fashion a values-based education for their children.
I wish they would do it with us, he says of the
independent schools movement. I wish there wasnt this tone of
dissension, but I think the phenomenon is extremely encouraging.
Below are links to other Web sites. We link to these them here
because they may illustrate parts of this article; the NCR does not
necessarily endorse them and we are not affiliated with them.
- We Are Catholics (The website that we had linked to is no
longer operational.)
- We Are Catholics' petition (The website that we had linked
to is no longer operational.)
- We are Church website: www.we-are-church.org/
- Human Life International website: www.hli.org/
National Catholic Reporter, September 11,
1998
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