There are very few young men and women choosing to enter into religious vocations today. There are very few Catholic students in the nation’s best universities, which leads many to complain, falsely, that these institutions are opposed to Catholic faith and morals. Catholic students are simply not qualified for admission.
Despite this, if we look around at the promotional materials from Catholic schools or homeschool programs, we find promises of raising the highest caliber of students and equipping students to become leaders in modern society.
These promises are not being fulfilled.
They are promises that cannot be fulfilled by any schools or programs, but are dishonest marketing gimmicks.
If we look at religious communities and seminaries, and at the world’s best universities, we will see that the young men and women admitted to these institutions are not drawn from common schools as if some academic pipeline existed. They are extraordinary individuals drawn from diverse places.
These extraordinary individuals are not manufactured by schools or programs. These individuals are raised by grace, but like the most plants in a garden, require great care. The grave at work in them must be nurtured by culture and curriculum consistent with that grace. When that culture and curriculum are not supplied the grace can fail to bear fruit. This is what we find in modern schools, who attempt to blame the lack of fruit on God.
In history, wise men and saints have enjoyed extraordinary opportunities for the grace in them to be nurtured. Plato had the opportunity to study under Socrates, and Aristotle under Plato. St. Paul told us of his education under a great rabbi Gamaliel. St. Augustine’s gifts languished until he came under the influence of St. Ambrose. St. Thomas Aquinas was raised in a Benedictine monastery and was later taught by St. Albert the Great.
While we see that grace did not work by itself, we also see that the culture and curriculum which nurtured that grace did not mass-produce wise men and saints. Plato’s Academy raised only one Aristotle. St. Albert raised but one Thomas Aquinas. Yet, there would be no Aristotle or Aquinas without Plato and St. Albert.
The role that these human influences played show us the purpose of schools.
