CNA—The Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation, a private nonprofit foundation, announced June 12, 2024, that it will be donating $150 million over the next 10 years to the Big Shoulders Fund, which will invest the funds in initiatives that aim to improve the quality, accessibility, and sustainability of Catholic schools in the Diocese of…
CTP—In the hot, humid weather of a Philadelphia summer, delegates wrangled, tempers flared over the one issue they could not resolve—how states should be represented in the national government. Finally, after delegates from Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland threatened to return home, Roger Sherman again stood up and again offered his plan—proportional representation in the…
I share an inherited appreciation for Fr. Flanagan thanks to my father. Boys Town and similar organizations were always close to my dad’s heart and among the top of his donation pile, next to our local parish church fund. The reason is that he was sent to spend the last few years of high school…
CNA—The back-to-school season for many parents comes as something of a relief: It’s quieter around the house, the family slips into a routine schedule, the happy chaos of summer turns to the welcome predictability of the fall. Yet the U.S. education landscape has in recent years been anything but quiet or predictable. Schools have become…
A Catholic parish in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is taking a legal battle to an appellate court amid fears that a state civil rights law could be used to restrict its religious liberty in matters related to gender identity and sexuality. Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th…
CNA—A federal appeals court ruled that a Catholic school in Indiana is allowed to hold its leaders to moral religious standards after the institution refused to renew an employee’s contract because she violated Catholic teaching. What happened? Roncalli High School, which is under the authority of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, refused to renew the contract…
The family of a man fatally shot on the campus of the Catholic University of America have disputed police statements that he was known to the gunman and that there was no threat to the wider community, while police say the matter is still under investigation. Max Emerson, a 25-year-old from Crestwood, Kentucky, was shot…
On the cover of the history textbook The American Venture, students will see a picture of Fr. Pierre-Jean De Smet, S.J. (featured photo in this article). Outside the Catholic Church, not many people have heard of him. And even among Catholic students and laity, few have heard of him. Yet Fr. De Smet played a…
Winners of Catholic Textbook Project’s annual history essay contest for Catholic schools were announced this week. “Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s history essay contest. We received many excellent entries from parochial, private, and home schools. Choosing the winners is never easy, and it wasn’t this year, either!,” announced Michael Van Hecke, founder and…
Catholic Business Journal sponsor CATHOLIC TEXTBOOK PROJECT, the creator of superior history textbooks for Catholic students and now used in Catholic schools in more than 100 dioceses and in English-speaking pockets of Catholic schools around the world, has a remarkable offer for Catholic schools only… “I wholeheartedly endorse the Catholic Textbook Project for the Diocese…
The Institute for Catholic Liberal Education (ICLE) recently announced its enthusiastic support for Classic Learning Test’s summative, end-of-year assessments for young learners in grades 3-6, saying that these assessments meet a great need for Catholic schools and teachers by complementing beautiful, faithful education. Classic Learning Test (CLT) is currently recruiting schools to participate in the…
Beginning to think about Christmas gets a power boost as we get into Advent and the four Sundays before Christmas day. Sharing the daily Bible readings of the Mass and the stories in the various daily devotionals we read gets Pat and me in a reflective mood. There is no question that the world changed…
Loyalty to the educational aims of the Catholic school demands constant self-criticismand return to basic principles, to the motives which inspire the Church’s involvement in education. – Sacred Congregation for Education, The Catholic School, n.67 – ICLE—Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has called for the renewal of Catholic education at all levels, from…
This week is Celebrate Catholic Schools Week across America. Catholic schools enrolled more than 5 million students in the mid-1960s but today just 1.6 million. Many things have contributed to this decline including family economic stress, rising college costs, and other factors. And, of course, massive secularization. The stakes are really high. Now, more than…
NOTE: This lawsuit — objecting to the horrific fines imposed for hiring people aligned with a nonprofit’s principles — directly affects Virginia-based Catholic schools and nonprofits . ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A new lawsuit challenges a Virginia law that forces nonprofit ministries to abandon their core convictions in hiring and other policies or face fines up…
CNA—Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco was recently named the new prior of a historic order of knighthood. Cordileone will serve as principal chaplain to the U.S. delegation of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George. The Order is an organization of Catholics who prioritize the propagation of the faith and support Catholic education,…
In the name of ending white supremacy and systemic racism, school districts are indoctrinating students with a new radical vision of American society. In fall 2020, a fourth-grade class in Burnsville read a book that warns students that police are “mean” to black people, but “nice” to white people. “Cops stick up for each other,”…
An Ohio mother said Monday that she made a “judgment call” in switching her daughter from public to Catholic school, after coronavirus restrictions made it impossible to virtually teach her children and work her job at the same time. She’s not alone… read more / watch short news video >> Contrary to the National Catholic…
The Annual History Essay Contest, sponsored by the Catholic Textbook Project textbook publishing company, is now underway! All Catholic private, parochial, and homeschool students in grades 4-12 are invited to participate. “It’s a great way for students to sharpen their history and writing skills. Plus, there are prizes for winners and for their schools!” says…
Popular culture holds a dismissive attitude toward history. Common headlines include “unprecedented times”, “worse than ever”, and “never before.” But how often is that really true? What do we face that is truly without precedent? This mindset—that all things have either escalated or de-escalated, that the present is always somehow more or less than the…
