What Eye Has Not Seen: A Vision of Catholic Education

St. James sent a strong message and warning to the Christians of his time when he advised them, “Let not many among you become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly [than those who a … [Read more...]

Resurrecting Catholic Schools

In his unforgettable book Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture, Anthony Esolen, with his typical elegance of prose, articulates the dissipation of American culture along with a clarion call to rebuild it. At a key moment in his … [Read more...]

Priests’ Perspectives on American Catholic School Identity

Introduction Catholic education is one of the great contributions of the Catholic Church to the United States. From the early Franciscan missionaries who built faith communities in the new world to the new religious orders, Catholic … [Read more...]

Wisdom for Another School Year

As my holy namesake proclaimed, “It is good for us to be here” (Mt 17:4). So, what are we facing in our upcoming Catholic school year? Our Catholic Education Foundation has received consistent input from teachers, administrators, parents, an … [Read more...]

Liberating Catholic Adolescents

Freedom is a prominent theme of the Second Vatican Council and the teachings of the Church in the modern world; it thus plays a significant role in the contemporary Church’s reflection on education. The Church does not merely wish to r … [Read more...]

A “Modest Proposal” for a Pastoral Year Apostolate

As the academic year winds down, administrators go into overdrive in planning for the next year, hence, the rationale for my present musings. Since it appears that most seminaries/dioceses are now moving (or have moved) to a mandatory … [Read more...]

Homeschooling Is Not the Ideal

[N.B: Essays appearing on Homiletic & Pastoral Review have been deemed to be compatible with the teaching of the Church, but do not necessarily reflect the opinions of HPR. Fr. Meconi and his staff have always been grateful for the hard … [Read more...]

Book Reviews — September 2020

U.S.-Vatican Relations, 1975-1980: A Diplomatic Study. By P. Peter Sarros. Reviewed by Christopher Siuzdak. (skip to review) A Man, a Mission, a Miracle: Brother James Gaffney, F.S.C., and the Transformation of Lewis University. By … [Read more...]

Classical Education Is the Answer to De-Hellenization

It seems that the notion of “Hellenization” in various ways is catching people’s imagination more and more. A few years ago I was listening to a radio program where a Dominican priest named Fr. Gabriel Gillen said, “Before we can have a New … [Read more...]

Teaching Desire: Mimetic Pedagogy in Catholic Schools

Three important documents have emerged in the last decade of the American Catholic educational scene: Archbishop (now Cardinal) Dolan’s clarion cry to resurrect the dying “Catholic Schools We Need,” the Diocese of Lansing’s proclamation to m … [Read more...]

Praise or Pretense for Catholic Schools?

It’s always nice to know the hard-earned reputation of Catholic schools—from the early struggles of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton to the 1950s, when our schools were bursting at the seams with record enrollments—still lingers today. But if we’re … [Read more...]

Questions Answered

Question: I would like to study the problem of universal ideas in Thomas Aquinas.  Can you give me some insight into understanding this problem, and some sources on how to research this problem in Catholic authors? Answer: Pope Benedict i … [Read more...]

The Rights of Conscience

How English Catholic Schools Secured State Grants in an Age of Popular Anti-Catholicism

The United Kingdom was anything but united in the early years of the long reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). The ongoing process of industrialization created deep economic dislocation, with a growing gap between rich and poor. Urban … [Read more...]

Twelve Lessons about the Financial Future of Catholic Schools

I have spoken with several bishops recently about the Catholic schools in their dioceses. The conversations brought home to me that what I recently heard from these bishops are the same questions, and the same challenges, that I have been … [Read more...]

What a Catholic Education Owes Its Students

As our students—big and small—begin to return to school, it is good to be reminded of what a truly Catholic education owes its students. For most of human history, education was a private affair between (usually) a young boy and his tutor. I … [Read more...]