Catholic or Capitalist

http://www.savestjohns.com ^

[NOBODY_HERE]

Dear Bishop _______________:

My first reaction to your announcement that St. John the Evangelist School in Girard be closed at the end of the year, was pure and unadulterated heartbreak. My second was to attempt to protect my 9-year-old son from this same feeling. More importantly, to protect the purism and enthusiasm of faith that only a child can have. This, to date, has been my toughest challenge as a parent.

I have tried to answer many of his questions myself, but am at a complete loss with regard to my own. How is a child supposed to stay faithful to a religion that has, for all intents and purposes, rejected those that have taught him that faith? The parents, children and teachers at St. John the Evangelist are the Church to him. They are his family and his authorities, they have given him his faith and they have given him their love. How is he supposed to believe in a Church that rips the very foundation of his faith out from underneath him? How can he walk away from this school and not want to walk away from the Church? How can I explain to him that faith is more important than money, when the Church tells him that his “family” can’t afford a Catholic School?

In trying to find some answers for us both, I have only become more confused and more brokenhearted. I have read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education’s The Catholic School; and The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium, which have only made me feel worse about this entire situation. They have made me question if any of these decisions had a Catholic foundation or if it was merely a capital foundation.

More importantly, this decision seems to go against everything that I have read. The following are excerpts from the above mentioned documents:

11. One such demand is a pressing need to ensure the presence of a Christian mentality in the society of the present day, marked, among other things, by cultural pluralism…. For this reason the Church is prompted to mobilize her educational resources in the face of the materialism, pragmatism and technocracy of contemporary society.

14. Thus, while policies and opportunities differ from place to place…. the Church wishes to respond to the obvious need for cooperation in a society characterized by cultural pluralism. Moreover, in this way she helps to promote that freedom of teaching which champions and guarantees freedom of conscience and the parental right to choose the school best suited to parents' educational purpose.(11)

3. Such an outlook calls for courageous renewal on the part of the Catholic school…It is not merely a question of adaptation, but of missionary thrust, the fundamental duty to evangelize, to go towards men and women wherever they are, so that they may receive the gift of salvation.

7. Among existing difficulties, there are also situations in the political, social and cultural sphere which make it harder or even impossible to attend a Catholic school… leading to a selection according to means which deprives the Catholic school of one of its distinguishing features, which is to be a school for all.

Catholic schools, moreover, like state schools, fulfil a public role, for their presence guarantees cultural and educational pluralism and, above all, the freedom and right of families to see that their children receive the sort of education they wish for them.(17)

It is urgent, therefore, to sensitize parochial and diocesan communities to the necessity of their devoting special care to education and schools.

While I now realize that St. John the Evangelist school and parish have been struggling financially, this information, should have been shared with the parishioners and parents long before an announcment of this magnitude. Regardless, great strides have already been made to address financial issues in the future. Again, any financial excuses for closing this school directly contrast the Catholic teachings.

15. In its ecclesial dimension another characteristic of the Catholic school has its root: it is a school for all, with special attention to those who are weakest.

2443 God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them: "Give to him who begs from you, do not refuse him who would borrow from you"; "you received without pay, give without pay."231 It is by what they have done for the poor that Jesus Christ will recognize his chosen ones.232 When "the poor have the good news preached to them," it is the sign of Christ's presence.233

2444 "The Church's love for the poor . . . is a part of her constant tradition." This love is inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes, of the poverty of Jesus, and of his concern for the poor.234 Love for the poor is even one of the motives for the duty of working so as to "be able to give to those in need."235 It extends not only to material poverty but also to the many forms of cultural and religious poverty.236

Removal of a Catholic education from the West County area will leave a vast expanse of “religious poverty”. The Erie Diocese should be reaching out to the suburbs and other communities, not pulling away from them. We should be growing, spreading out and bringing others into our family, not shrinking back into a safe and secure existence.

854 By her very mission, "the Church . . . travels the same journey as all humanity and shares the same earthly lot with the world: she is to be a leaven and, as it were, the soul of human society in its renewal by Christ and transformation into the family of God."351 Missionary endeavor requires patience. It begins with the proclamation of the Gospel to peoples and groups who do not yet believe in Christ,352 continues with the establishment of Christian communities that are "a sign of God's presence in the world,"353 and leads to the foundation of local churches.354

Additionally, I do not feel that any aspect of this situation and your “announcement” has been handled with the love and compassion that I expected from the Catholic Church. Quite to the contrary, I feel as if this was done very badly, from the way your announcement was made, to the treatment of the teachers, and the way several of our children found out about your decision. I feel that the timing of your announcement was very poor and rather manipulative. No parent should be forced into a decision regarding their child’s education without ample time to research all avenues, nor should “family members” have to fight for a spot in a Catholic school. My faith has been rocked and my opinion of the Church has been altered. If this is the direction the Catholic Church is going in, I am afraid that I will not be able to afford to be a Catholic for much longer, either morally or financially.

STOP THE ELITISM OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION.