(The following article on the validity of Catholic Education was submitted to the Georgia Bulletin by Sister Mary Loyola, G.N.S.H., principal at Immaculate Heart of Mary School).

The validity of Catholic education is being questioned in our day. I would like to prove in this paper the validity of Catholic education. As the sources of proof I will use the Document on Education of Vatican II and Guiding Growth In Christian Social Living, published by the Catholic University of America Press.

What do we mean by validity? It is the state or quality of being valid. Now a thing is only valid when it has a conclusion correctly derived from premises. Valid implies being supported by objective truth or generally accepted authority.

Our generally accepted authority in this case is no less than Our Holy Father Paul IV together with the Fathers of the Sacred Vatican Council II.

Quote: “In fulfilling the mandate she has received from her divine Founder to proclaim the mystery of salvation to all men, and to restore all things in Christ, Holy Mother the Church must be concerned with the whole of man’s life, even the earthly part of it insofar as that has a bearing on his heavenly calling. Therefore, she has her role to play in the progress and spread of education. Hence this sacred Synod enunciates certain basic principles of Christian education, especially those applicable to formal schooling.”

The Declaration on Catholic Education then goes on to enumerate the basic principles which I shall summarize.

1. Every man of whatever race, condition and age is endowed with the dignity of a person, he has an inalienable right to an education, corresponding to his proper destiny and suited to his native talents, his sex, his cultural background and his ancestral heritage. Children and young people should be assisted in the harmonious development of their physical, moral and intellectual endowments. The sons of the Church are urged to devote themselves generously to the whole enterprise of education -- this includes every aspect of education which will make him not only a good citizen of this world but also of the next.

2. Not only is every Christian entitled to an education but he is entitled to a Christian education. As he is gradually introduced into a knowledge of the mystery of salvation he may daily grow more conscious of the gift of faith which he has received -- he will learn to adore God the Father especially through liturgical worship. He should be helped to devote himself to the up-building of the Mystical Body, to witness to Christ, to share in the Christian transformation of the world and to contribute to the good of society as a whole. Pastors of souls are reminded of their acutely serious duty to make every effort to see that all the faithful enjoy a Christian education of this sort, especially young people who are the hope of the Church.

3. The family is the first school of those social virtues which every society needs. In the Christian family children are taught to have a knowledge of God, to worship Him and to love their neighbor. While belonging primarily to the family, the task of imparting education requires the help of society as a whole. The office of educating belongs by a unique title to the Church. As a mother, the Church is bound to give these children of hers the kind of education through which their entire lives can be penetrated with the spirit of Christ, while at the same time she offers her services to all peoples by a way of promoting the full development of the human person, for the welfare of earthly society and the building of a world fashioned by more humanity.

4. In educating, the Church is concerned with all appropriate means to that end. But she is particularly concerned with Catechetical training which is foremost of the means proper to herself.

5. The Catholic school is the agency of special importance in educating the young. The objectives are as follows:

Cultivation of the intellect ripening of capacity for right judgment, introduction to cultural heritage, promotion of sense of values, readying for professional life, fostering of mutual understanding among students, making possible a center for the entire human community.

6. The purpose of the Catholic school is to teach students to live an exemplary and apostolic life so that as Catholic graduates they may become, as it were, the saving leaven of the human family.

7. As for Catholic parents, the Council calls to mind their duty to entrust their children to Catholic Schools, where this is possible, to support such schools to the extent of their ability, and to work along with them for the welfare of their children.

8. This sacred Synod earnestly entreats pastors of the Church and all the faithful to spare no sacrifice in helping Catholic schools to achieve their purpose in an increasingly adequate way, and to show special concern for the needs of those who are poor in the goods of this world or who are deprived of the assistance and affection of a family or who are strangers to the gift of faith.

In conclusion the Document on Education of Vatican II states that those who devote themselves to the surpassing work of Catholic education will not only foster the internal renewal of the Church, but will safeguard and intensify her beneficial presence in the world today, especially the world of the intellect.

So far the Document on Education. Now I quote directly from Guiding Growth in Christian Social Living. The topic is The Place of Religion in Education.

Human improvements, the true end of education is total improvement. It cannot successfully concentrate on one phase of the life of the individual to the neglect of other phases, because human personality is a unitary thing which cannot be dissected and divided. The soul does not exist apart from the body but is united with it in a most intimate and vital manner. What we eat bears a relation to what we think, and what we enjoy has an effect on our prayers. Our moral fiber is strengthened by the way we earn a living, and our personal integrity is measurable in terms of our social conduct. Therefore our physical health, our economic well-being, our social and civic relations, our cultural development, all are bound up in the most intimate manner with our moral and spiritual progress.

To educate the child, consequently, means to promote his growth in all these spheres. To neglect any of them means to stunt his growth in all.

Our school system in America has made great strides in educating children in increasing numbers throughout the land. To promote the growth of these children, we have made many sacrifices, giving a great part of our national income to provide good teachers and adequate facilities as well as to study educational needs. Yet the education offered by these tax-supported schools to millions of children has stopped short at the most vital step in their development. Through the failure to teach religion, spiritual growth has been neglected in these schools. In this field the agencies of public education claim to be neutral and explain that because of sectarian differences they must of necessity leave religious training to the home and the Church.

It is impossible, however, to be neutral in the matter of religion, for underneath everything we think or do lies some religious assumption. The very conviction that religion can be left out of the curriculum with impunity assumes tacitly that the things of God are not as essential to human well-being as are the things of the world. Bit by bit this tacit assumption has become an explicit doctrine with the consequent acceptance of secularism as the basis of American educational philosophy.

Religion is too important for human welfare to be treated as a mere accessory to life and living. Hence, even a part time arrangement for its teaching can never amount to more than a poor palliative. Religion is of the very warp and woof of education. Our relation with God is the basis of every other relationship, and our lives have meaning only in reference to our Creator and to His divine Will. Everything about us belongs to God, and any dualism between God and ourselves is definitely false intellectually and dangerously wrong morally.

The place for Catholic children to receive their education is in a Catholic school. There the Christian philosophy of education based on the Christian philosophy of life, receives its implementation. In his encyclical on the Christian Education of Youth, Pius XI tells us that the aim of Catholic education is “to cooperate with divine grace in forming Christ in those regenerated in Baptism.” Paraphrasing this definition and applying it to our own circumstances here in the United States, we might say that the aim of Christian education is to provide those experiences which, with the assistance of divine grace, are best calculated to develop in the young the ideas, the attitudes, and the habits that are demanded for Christ like living in our American democratic society.

One cannot doubt the validity of Catholic education, any more than one can challenge the validity of Christianity. It was Chesterton who said, “Christianity has not failed - it has not been tried.” Perhaps the Catholic school has failed in some instances. To close it, is not the answer. The answer lies in strengthening it and improving it. This can be done by pastors, teachers and parents who know the objectives and are dedicated to them and are willing to make the necessary sacrifices entailed. Many of our current social ills are a result of educational failure in the past. Quality education - education in which religion is the core will be the solution for many social crises.