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For Catholics, home schooling full of virtues In the Aug. 28th edition of The Catholic Spirit, in an article by Charissa Carroll regarding the growing trend of home schooling in Catholic families, Dr. Thomas Hart, superintendent of schools for the Metuchen Diocese, expressed his concern that home schooled children may have a difficult time being completely involved in Church life. He stated, "If we remember that Church is a community of the faithful, it is hard for education in isolation to fit into this concept. I fear that a home-schooled child may lose a sense of identity with the Christian community. I think, for most children, it is a fuller life experience when they are a part of a school environment." With all due respect to Dr. Hart, I couldn’t disagree more that Catholic home schooling somehow deprives a child of a sense of identity with the Christian community! Since I began home schooling my four children two years ago, I have had the privilege of meeting dozens of Catholic home schooling families. The strong commitment I have observed in these parents to raising well-grounded, Catholic-educated children has been an inspiration to me. The degree of their involvement and participation in Church life renders Dr. Hart’s comment invalid. These parents, myself included, are initiators of such programs in their parishes as prayer groups, vacation bible schools, Elizabeth ministries and All Saints Day celebrations. In addition, most are actively involved in pro-life work and the St. Vincent DePaul ministries of their parishes. Most importantly, the Catholic home schooling families I know are intensely involved in the sacramental life of the Church — attending daily Mass and Eucharistic Adoration and having their children participate as altar servers and in children’s choirs and liturgies. So far from severing children from their Christian identity, home schooling, by its very nature, reinforces the mission of the Church. It affirms that we cannot really give to society at large what we cannot first offer each other in our own homes. As Pope John Paul II says in his encyclical The Christian Family in the Modern World (Familiaris Consortio), "The family is the first and fundamental school of social living: as a community of love, it finds in self-giving the law that guides it and makes it grow. The self-giving that inspires the love of husband and wife for each other is the model and norm for the self-giving that must be practiced in the relationships between brothers and sisters and the different generations living together in the family. And the communion of love and sharing that are part of everyday life in the home at times of joy and at times of difficulty are the most concrete and effective pedagogy for the active responsible and fruitful inclusion of the children in the wider horizon of society." (No. 37) It is my hope and prayer that all of the faithful who make up the mystical Body of Christ grow in mutual respect and support for one another’s decisions in the educational choices we make for our children. We do, after all, share in the same common goals: to instill strong Catholic consciences in our children so that they in turn will be lights to the world and one day share in the beatific vision of heaven. Laura Riccardi Home-schooled kids not isolated I was thrilled to see an article in The Catholic Spirit dedicated to home schooling. I was delighted with the article until I came across Dr. Thomas Hart’s comments regarding children who are home schooled. Dr. Hart feels that home schooled children are "isolated" and that they will "lose a sense of identity within the Christian community." He stated that home schoolers will have a "difficult time being completely involved in Church life." Well I beg to differ. I have been home schooling my two sons for the past five years. I am so thankful to the Lord for guiding us in this direction! My sons are very involved in our church community. Home schooling has been such a blessing for our family! We attend daily Mass. My sons have developed good relationships with the faithful who attend daily Mass and the wonderful priests in our parish. My oldest son has been an altar server for over a year now and loves it. They both attend prep classes too. In addition they visit our local nursing home with me as representatives of our parish. They are a ray of sunshine to those there. My sons are also huge fans of our Sunday family liturgies. As you can see, they are very active in our church community. Oddly enough they are more active in our church than a lot of their friends who attend Catholic School. Catholic schools are wonderful! My husband and I agree that if the day ever came when I could not home school our sons that we would send them to Catholic school. I just wanted to make it clear that being home schooled does not isolate a child from the church community. A child will be as active in the Church as their parents are. Parents will always be the primary educators of their children. Maria Fillimon Letter defending gay marriage did not belong in Catholic newspaper As a reader of The Catholic Spirit and a practicing Catholic faithful to our Holy Father and the true teachings of the Catholic Church, I don’t understand how you find the letter, In the furor over gay marriage, a startling absence of compassion; Readers’ Letters, Aug. 21, "suitable for publication." It is not in keeping with the teachings of our Church and sends the wrong message to those who read it. She makes numerous incorrect interpretations of our faith. Don’t you receive letters for print that you think would strengthen the faith of your readers, rather than misinterpret the Church teaching? The paper should point out that the use of sex for only pleasure or love giving has disastrous consequences when separated from the primary purpose of marriage which is the life-giving possibility of children. Tom Oswald The inclusion of a Readers’ Letters section in The Catholic Spirit is, in keeping with our mission, intended to provide a forum for our readers, and to "contribute to the debate on significant issues within our society." As with all legitimate newspapers, the publication of a particular item in a Readers’ Letters section does not imply editorial support of the positions expressed in the letter, or endorsement of any sort. The disclaimer that appears each week in this section clearly stipulates that fact. The headlines that are written for a Reader’s Letters insertion are designed to reflect the content of the letter, and not our response to it or support of it. The letter from Ellen Chmiel is a response to the significant amount of coverage that The Spirit had already given the subject, in which Church teaching and current reflection on the issue was thoroughly presented.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law |
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