In America, we live in a country with compulsory education laws. Every child is required to attend school from ages 5-7 through 15-18. This was never true in history and is a modern requirement. Every child is required, by law, to go to school or be home-schooled.
These compulsory education laws were developed in the late 1800s. At the time, American society was influenced by Protestantism, and even the public schools were Protestant in spirit. In the 1880s, the Catholic bishops in America gathered in the Archdiocese of Baltimore to discuss this problem and to publish decrees for all Catholic churches in light of these compulsory education laws. These decrees included the following, and I ask you to read them carefully:
1. In every church where it does not already exist, a parochial school shall be established within two years after the promulgation of this Council, and maintained in perpetuity, unless the bishop, on account of grave difficulties, shall judge that a delay may be conceded.
The word “parochial” does not mean “religious” or “Catholic”, but “parish”. The Baltimore Council decreed that parish be schools be established “in every church”, and that these parish schools be maintained “in perpetuity”. Yet, when we look around today, we find that very few parishes have schools, and show no interest in establishing one.
2. A priest, who, within this time, shall, by his serious negligence, impede the creation and sustaining of a school ; or, after repeated admonitions of the bishop, shall not take means to provide for them, shall merit removal from that church.
Priests were given two years to arrange a school for the children of his parish and, if he refused to do so, was threatened with removal from the parish. After all, education was being made compulsory for American children and this would mean that all children were forced to receive a Protestant or merely secular education if no parish school was established.
3. The mission or parish which shall be so negligent in aiding the priest in erecting or sustaining a school, that, on account of this supine negligence, a school cannot exist, is to be reprehended by the bishop, and in the most efficacious and prudent manner induced to furnish the necessary means.
The formation of parish schools was not simply the priest’s job, but the responsibility of the entire parish. If the men and women of the parish chose to resist the call to establish a school for the children of the parish, the bishops were encouraged to “induce” them to do so. This was not a recommendation, but requirement for Catholic parishes.
4. All Catholic parents are bound to send their young children to parochial schools, unless, either at home or other Catholic schools, they shall evidently and sufficiently provide for the Christian education of their children, or unless for sufficient causes, approved by the bishop, and with timely cautions and remedies, it may be permitted to them to send to other schools.
With parish schools being established, there was no excuse for any Catholic child to be sent to a Protestant or secular schools–nor was such allowed. Catholic parents were “bound to send their young children to parochial schools”. This obligation was dispensable if the parents were already providing for their Catholic education at home or at another Catholic school. Sending children to any other school required permission from the bishop.
In a country where education is compulsory, how can we justify not developing schools for the children of our parishes? It would be one thing if the local schools were still influenced by Protestantism, but modern schools are incomprehensibly worse than they were in 1885. Today, there is no religion at all promoted in public schools, and anti-Catholic moral and political teaching fills the classrooms. What’s the point of baptizing Catholic children if they will not be raised as disciple of Christ, but sent to anti-Christian schools for their education?
Moreover, in many places, bishops collect money for large, unsustainable Catholic schools in cities from parishes throughout the dioceses who have no schools of their own. Surely this was not the intention of the Baltimore Council. It was not decreed that diocesan schools be established, but parish schools. These diocesan schools are financially unsustainable because they are built on the model of tax-funded public schools and not as independent private schools should be. These schools do not serve the children of the diocese and are often attended by children from non-Catholic families.
Education seems to be a hot potato that no one desires to take hold of in the modern Catholic Church. A century of sexual abuse scandals doesn’t help, and some may argue that bishops are afraid of the liability of working with children, but if the priests of the Church can’t be trusted to work with children without sexually abusing them, shouldn’t we fix that problem rather than use it an an excuse that creates other problems?
The lazy attempt to do what the public schools are doing, leaves the Catholic Church unable to establish schools without first raising millions of dollars to build large, expensive facilities and hire large, expensive faculties of low-quality teachers. The public school model cannot work for parish schools and continuing to try and make it work, as if there is no alternative can only be attributed to sloth.
Obviously, when the bishops at the Baltimore Council ordered priests and parishes to establish parish schools, they believed that it could be done in a sustainable manner, not by the wealthy parishes, but by all parishes. The goal of these schools was not to make architects and contractors wealthy and give bishops big construction projects to distract themselves with, but to provide Catholic children with Catholic instruction from Catholic teachers. This does not require any secular teaching licenses or master’s degrees in education. This does not require a hierarchy of administrators whose salary increases the further they get from the children. This requires simple study materials and diligent Catholics, whether lay or religious, to guide the students through their necessary studies. There’s no work more simple than Catholic education–if we’re actually studying and practicing the faith ourselves. After all, we’re merely asked to hand down to others what possess ourselves. Maybe this is the problem?
We can’t pretend to be taking the Great Commission seriously in the Catholic Church when the education of baptized children in our parishes is being outsourced to unbelievers. What does it mean to “make disciples” if not to provide for the Christian education of others? If education is compulsory in America, then Catholic education is compulsory.
Catholic education can be provided easily and affordably in every place. If your idea of education is not sustainable, then it’s wrong. If you don’t know to make education available sustainably, then you’re responsible to ask.
God bless,
Mr. William C. Michael
Classical Liberal Arts Academy
mail@classicalliberalarts.com
