REQUEST: Your ideas for an Instruction on Summorum Pontificum

Posted on 20 January 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Yesterday I wrote that the long-expected Instruction on Summorum Pontificum is on its way.

Unfortunately, the comments under that entry are… shall we say… not well-focused.

Under this entry, however, I hope for something far better.

Here is task for you, if you chose to accept.

If you could contribute three essential points to such an Instruction, what would they be?

These would be the most important points, sine quibus non, without which this document should not be issued.

Make them practical, concise and realistic.

That means suggestions like “Make all priests celebrate only the Extraordinary Form!”, or “Eliminate the Novus Ordo!” are simply dumb.  You may have a rich fantasy life, but those won’t appear in such an Instruction on this planet.

Also… do not engage each other.  Leave each person’s comment entirely alone.  Don’t correct anyone, respond to anyone, react to anyone, mention anyone, agree with anyone else.  At all.  Just post your own points.  Period.  I trust that’s clear.

Those of your with practical experience of working with the provisions of Summorum Pontificum will have especially good observations.

THINK, then post.

REMEMBER: Summorum Pontificum and an Instruction are NOT solely about YOUR DIOCESE or even YOUR COUNTRY.  These are documents for the whole Church, though clearly the issues they address burn hotter in some places than in others.

Point 1:

Point 2:

Point 3:

Posted in SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM |
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Developments with wheat, celiac

Posted on 19 January 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Vote for Fr. Z!I have written about hosts and wheat and celiac (here and here, etc.).

For the consecration to be valid, the hosts must be made from wheat flour.  Not wheat… not valid.

This comes from e! Science News with my emphases and comments.

Study finds celiac patients can eat hydrolyzed wheat flour

Published: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 – 11:37 in Health & Medicine
Baked goods made from hydrolyzed wheat flour are not toxic to celiac disease patients, according to a new study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

Celiac disease occurs in the digestive system when people cannot tolerate a protein called gluten, which is found primarily in wheat. “This is the first time that a wheat flour-derived product is shown to not be toxic after being given to celiac patients for 60 days,” said Luigi Greco, MD, PhD, of the University of Napes, Italy, and lead author of the study. “Our findings support further research that explores therapies that could reduce the toxicity of gluten for celiac patients beyond the standard gluten-free diet.” [In Italy, land of pasta, this is a big deal!]

Gluten is also primarily found in barley and rye, but may be in everyday products such as soy sauce and salad dressing, as well as some medications and vitamins. [Normal hosts for Mass] Celiac disease was, until recently, thought to be a rare disease. However, recent research has shown that as many as three million people in the U.S. may have celiac disease.

In this study, doctors evaluated the safety of daily administration of baked goods made from a hydrolyzed form of wheat flour to patients with celiac disease. The doctors fermented wheat flour with sourdough lactobacilli and fungal proteases; this process decreases the concentration of gluten.

A total of 16 patients with celiac disease, ranging in age from 12 to 23 years were evaluated. They were in good health on a gluten-free diet for at least five years. Two of the six patients who ate natural flour baked goods discontinued the study because of symptoms such as malaise, abdominal pain and diarrhea. The two patients who ate extensively hydrolyzed flour baked goods had no clinical complaints, but developed subtotal atrophy (complete absence of villi, the fingerlike protrusions necessary for absorption). The five patients that ate the fully hydrolyzed baked goods had no clinical complaints.

“Prolonged trials have to be planned to underscore the safety of baked goods made by applying the rediscovered and adapted biotechnology of hydrolysis. In the future, cereals made through such biotechnology could also improve the nutritional and sensory properties of baked goods containing hydrolyzed gluten compared to products made of naturally gluten-free ingredients,” added Dr. Greco.

I am not sure what this means, but if this process does not change the substance of the wheat flour so that it isn’t still wheat flour, then hosts made from it should be good for celiac people.

Posted in Brick by Brick, Just Too Cool | Tagged , ,
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Denis Leary – scum

Posted on 19 January 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From The Catholic League.

Posted in The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged
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Benedict XVI on the ‘pillars of Christian unity’

Posted on 19 January 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI during his General Audience, in the context of a week dedicated to Christian Unity spoke of the “four pillars” of Christian Unity.

After all, Benedict XVI is the Pope of Christian Unity.

From CNA with my emphases and comments.

Vatican City, Jan 19, 2011 / 12:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Improving the unity of Christians today requires the same elements that united the first apostles in Jerusalem, Pope Benedict XVI said Jan. 19.

Pope Benedict met with pilgrims to Rome in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall for his weekly general audience. In observation of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Jan. 18-25), he based his message on “the gift of full communion.”

Christians take part in the week of prayer for unity “to bear witness to the profound ties that unite them and to invoke the gift of full communion,” said the Pope.

“They devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” is the theme of this year’s prayer week for the unity of Christians. Pope Benedict said that this passage from the Acts of the Apostles offers a vision of four characteristics that defined the first Christian community in Jerusalem “as a place of unity and love.”

[1 ] In the teaching of the apostles, [2] in fraternal communion, [3] in the breaking of bread and [4] in prayer are four “pillars” that continue to be the foundation of Christian life and build Church unity, he explained. [I must add: the Petrine ministry, unity with Peter.]

Every effort to increase unity must involve increased faithfulness to the teaching of the first Christians, the apostles, the Pope said. “Even today,” he explained, “the community of believers recognizes the norms of its own faith in that reference to the teaching of the Apostles.”

Fraternal communion was “the most tangible expression of unity between disciples and the Lord, especially for the outside world,” he pointed out. [I wonder if all of these can be brought into greater focus by looking at them with a view to the Petrine ministry.  After all, the Church Jesus Christ founded has the Petrine ministry.  We can’t avoid it.]

Although it has not been without difficulty, the history of relations between Christians of all types is one of “fraternity, of co-operation and of human and spiritual sharing,” he said.

The Pope moved to the third characteristic, the “breaking of bread,” calling it the “pinnacle” of man’s union with God. As a way of unifying oneself with Christ’s sacrifice, he said, “it also represents the completeness of the unity of Christ’s disciples, full communion.” [He means, of course, the Eucharist… properly understood.]

Christians’ prayers take on a “penitential dimension” when one considers that at this moment it is impossible to share the Body of Christ with all Christians in the Eucharist, the Pope said.

He encouraged a “more generous commitment” to eventually bring Christians together in full communion, “breaking the Eucharistic bread and drinking from the same chalice.” [And how will we know when that is taking place?]

The final “pillar,” he said, is that of prayer. It means being open to the fraternity offered to Christians as the children of God, but also “it means being ready for forgiveness and reconciliation,” he explained. [To whom did the Lord give the keys of binding and loosing?  Both of jurisdiction but also of forgiving sins?  To the Peter, and to the Apostles with Peter.]

The Pope called for a “powerful witness” rooted in spirituality and supported by reason to be shared by all, as a message to those seeking clear points of reference in today’s world. [Peter is still a clear reference point.  Christ wanted it that way.]

He underscored the importance of a constant increase in mutual love and an effort to overcome the difficulties that remain for full communion.

“We must collaborate as much as possible, working together on outstanding questions and, above all, being aware that we need the Lord’s help on this journey,” concluded the Pope. “He must still help us a lot because without Him, alone, without ‘abiding in Him’, we can do nothing.”

[…]

As it was pointed out in the combox, here is a strong passage which concerns the depositum fidei.

Still today, the community of believers recognizes, in the reference to the teaching of the Apostles, their own norm of faith: every effort made for the building of unity between Christians passes through the deepening of fidelity to the depositum fidei which the Apostles transmit to us. Firmness in the faith is the basis of our communion, it is the basis of Christian unity.

CNA missed this.

Posted in Pope of Christian Unity |
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Bp. Tobin (D. Providence) on Pres. Obama’s speech in Tucson! NOT impressed!

Posted on 19 January 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The newspaper of the Diocese of Providence, RI, has a column by His Excellency
Most Rev. Thomas J. Tobin.  We have heard from Bp. Tobin before (here and here).

My emphases and comments.

The President’s Speech; Why I Wasn’t Impressed
BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
1/29/11

Once again our nation has been rocked by a terrible act of senseless violence [thank you for not calling it a “tragedy”…] – the shooting in Tucson, Arizona in which several were wounded, including a member of Congress, and several others were killed, including a federal judge and a beautiful little nine year-old girl.

Since that deadly day nearly two weeks ago, the story has dominated the news; we’ve learned many details about the deranged shooter and his innocent victims; we’ve debated the causes and consequences of the event; and we’ve prayed for all those who have suffered so much from the violence.

President Obama traveled to Tucson and did his level best to offer his sympathy and support, to encourage a city and a nation, and to invite us all to a better future marked especially by more civility in public discourse. In asking us to learn from and move beyond the terrible moment, the president appealed to Holy Scripture and to the better instincts of the human family. Noble sentiments all. As some have said, and I agree, it was his best moment as president.

[Here it comes…] As I watched Mr. Obama, though, and later reflected on his speech, I sensed there was something missing; there was something that left me cold, unimpressed and unmoved.

And suddenly it became clear. The problem, at least for me, is that President Obama’s persistent and willful promotion of abortion renders his compassionate gestures and soaring rhetoric completely disingenuous. “O come on, Bishop Tobin,” I hear you say. [“But Father! But Father!”, I can hear some of you say…] “Abortion’s not the only moral issue in the world.” Correct, I respond. Abortion’s not the only moral issue in the world but it is the most important. And, I confess, abortion policy is the prism through which I view everything this president says and does.

Is there any longer any doubt that Barack Obama is the most pro-abortion president we’ve ever had? [No, Your Excellency!  There is no doubt!]

President Obama has enthusiastically supported the Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade that has allowed virtually unrestricted access to abortion in our nation and has resulted in approximately 50 million deaths since 1973.

President Obama has consistently surrounded himself with pro-abortion advisors, and has appointed pro-abortion politicians to key positions in the federal government, including his two nominees for the Supreme Court.  [Remember them?  Kagan and Sotomayor?]

President Obama has promulgated policies, including the overturn of the Mexico City Policy (within the first few hours of his presidency) that requires taxpayer monies to provide abortions around the world. Similarly he signed an executive order that forces taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research; he signed a bill that overturned the 13-year-long ban of abortion funding in the nation’s capital; and he directed the passage of health care legislation that opens the door to federal funding of abortions and could eventually limit the freedom of religion for individuals and institutions who find abortion morally repugnant.

President Obama has made abortion a key foreign policy issue, pressuring nations to accept abortion policies; he’s supported several pro-abortion initiatives of the United Nations; and he’s appointed Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of State. Secretary Clinton has had a consistent pro-abortion record and in her international travels has promoted abortion as a human right.

Episcopal Backbone AwardThe full accounting of President Obama’s track record on abortion goes on for eight typed pages, a very sad and discouraging litany. [Anyone know to which document he is referring?] The net effect, though, is that President Obama’s shameful record on abortion leaves his touching tribute and appeal to goodness in Tucson – and other expressions of compassion – sterile and meaningless. As he stood on the stage in Tucson, he was a prophet without credentials; his speech, a song without a soul.

Perhaps the president’s most moving rhetoric was that about Christina Taylor Green, the precious nine-year-old slain in the barrage of bullets. As a father of two beautiful daughters himself, the president’s words were surely personal and sincere. Of this child he said: “In Christina we see all of our children. So curious, so trusting, so energetic and full of magic . . . So deserving of our love.” [Maybe not of life, however.  What was POTUS voting record on children who survived abortions?  When he was in Illinois and in the US Senate?]

But I can’t help but ask, respectfully, “Mr. President, why can’t you see our other children – so curious, so trusting, so energetic and full of magic, and so deserving of our love – in all of the unborn children who didn’t live because of our nation’s embrace of the abortion option?”

And in one of the most dramatic moments of his speech, Mr. Obama announced that the wounded congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, opened her eyes for the first time just after he’d completed his visit to her. “A miracle” some proclaimed, and certainly a welcome sign of recovery at which we all rejoice.

But I can’t help but wonder how many tiny eyes will never open, will never see the light of day, because of this president’s shortsighted and zealous promotion of abortion.

It’s truly tragic that our president [Here is the word “tragic”… in a better context!] – for whose safety and well-being we pray all the time and who has demonstrated an impressive ability to inspire other people – is unable to see the deadly consequences of his abortion agenda. Perhaps we need another miracle, to open his eyes, that he might see and understand how wrong abortion is, how sinful it is, how violent it is, and how it’s destroying the life of our nation.  [As I have written at other times, if we don’t pray for miracles, we don’t get them.]  And, yes, we have to use our vote and our voices in the public square.  Grace and elbow grease.]

WDTPRS KUDOS to His Excellency Thomas J. Tobin, BISHOP in Providence, RI.

He gets the Episcopal Backbone Award.

Posted in "But Father! But Father!", Emanations from Penumbras, Fr. Z KUDOS | Tagged , , , ,
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Two space or not two space – WDTPRS POLL

Posted on 19 January 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Damian Thompson has an interesting post on his blog.

He tackles the convention of typing two spaces after a period, or “full stop” as the British call them.

The use of two spaces, rather than a single space, after a period is both “wrong” and, I am not making this up, an “atrocity”.

Crikey! What have I been doing all these years?

There was an interesting observation in his post:

Most ordinary people would know the one-space rule, too, if it weren’t for a quirk of history. In the middle of the last century, a now-outmoded technology—the manual typewriter—invaded the American workplace. To accommodate that machine’s shortcomings, everyone began to type wrong. And even though we no longer use typewriters, we all still type like we do.

I just saw an episode of Downton Abbey in which the downstairs staff gazed with fascinated opprobrium at a typewriter.

I learned quite a lot from the article to which Damian linked, so it wasn’t a waste of those several minutes of my life to check this out.

In any event, Damian seems pretty worked up about this.

Perhaps WDTPRSers can offer some consolation … or irritation, as the case may be.

I use two spaces because, after several decades, that is what my thumb does all by itself at the end of a sentence.  I still type the way I used to (I learned on and first used manual typewriters).

NB: There were two spaces after that last period.

Ooopps…  did it again.

Let’s have a WDTPRS poll about this contended point.

Choose your best answer and then give an explanation in the combox.

When I write with my computer keyboard...

View Results

But first, ….

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Mystic Monk

When you’ve had a hard day of adding too many spaces to your magnum opus et arduum, when your thumb is nearly bleeding from overuse due to double-spacing, when you can’t stand the waste of space on the page… the horror… have some Mystic Monk Coffee!

Yes, ladies and gentleman, Mystic Monk Coffee is the traditional writer’s coffee.  It’s even roasted and shipped by traditional Carmelite monks who are trying to build a new monastery in Wyoming’s wide open spaces.

No double-wide for them!

Yes, Mystic Monk Coffee is the perfect coffee for the traditionally inclined.

With a piping hot WDTPRS mug of Mystic Monk Coffee, you can argue to your heart’s content and never grow weary!  Just like a real traditionalist.   You can argue about whether it is more traditional to go back to punctuation conventions before the typewriter or whether it is by now traditional to insert that extra space.

Ordinary spacing or extraordinary spacing?

Just make another pot of Mystic Monk Coffee, friends, and you can argue to your heart’s content.

Mystic Monk Coffee!

It’s swell!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Global Killer Asteroid Questions, POLLS | Tagged , , ,
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The fruits of the pro-abortion culture of death: horror in Philadelphia

Posted on 19 January 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The young Papist alerted me to this, and the always informative Jill Stanek has a lot more, about a developing story in Philadelphia.

The details are ghastly.

Two notes as you read more, if you chose.

On to the story in Philadelphia.

Here are a couple of Jill’s updates:

UPDATE, 10:20a: More from the Associated Press…A Philadelphia abortion doctor has been charged with eight counts of murder in the deaths of a woman patient and seven babies that prosecutors say were born alive and then killed with scissors…

District Attorney Seth Williams says state regulators ignored complaints and failed to visit the clinic since 1993.

Williams says the women were subjected to squalid and barbaric conditions at Gosnell’s Women’s Medical Society, which was shut down last year.

Gosnell has been named in at least 10 malpractice suits, including one over the death of a woman who died of sepsis and a perforated uterus.

UPDATE, 10:45a: More from the Toronto Star…

Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 69, made millions of dollars over 30 years, performing as many illegal, late-term abortions as he could, prosecutors said….

Gosnell “induced labor, forced the live birth of viable babies in the sixth, seventh, eighth month of pregnancy and then killed those babies by cutting into the back of the neck with scissors and severing their spinal cord,” Williams said.

[…]

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras, The Drill | Tagged , , ,
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Bp. Finn on the defense of human life

Posted on 19 January 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On the The Catholic Key, blog of the newspaper of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph comes this, which will also be in print.

The great Bp. Robert Finn… with my emphases.

March for Life: Culmination of Many Efforts to Support and Protect Human Life

By Most Rev. Robert W. Finn
Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph

Throughout the past year the realities of the world around us have caused us to look long and hard at a many issues that endanger the well being of God’s people. In these columns I have shared with you the principles that help to insure the respect for human life and the dignity of the human person.

Here we have reflected on health care, capital punishment, the legitimate human needs of migrants, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. All of these issues and many more have a “common denominator”: the life and dignity of the human person, given to us irrevocably by God. Man-made law does not, of itself, establish right and wrong. God grants His graces, including the inestimable gift of human life. Law must work to safeguard and protect this life, and to establish norms for the good order of society. If law does not honor the primacy of human life, we as citizens must work to change and improve these structures in a manner that secures man’s most basic protections.

January 22, 2011, marks a particularly destructive moment in our nation’s history: the 38th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions: Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, which legalized abortion in almost any circumstance and at any moment in a pregnancy. Almost 60 million surgical abortions have been recorded in the United States since then – the most horrendous taking of human life in history. The numbers of abortions worldwide are certainly greater as other nations have “followed our lead.”

Washington D.C. will again be the site of the “March for Life” which commemorates this sad anniversary. Because of some other important commitments this weekend in our Diocese, this is the first time in quite a few years that I will not be able to go to the March. I am very gratified that four buses of faithful from our diocese will make the trip this year. Bill Francis, Director of our Diocesan Respect Life Office, with the help of our parish coordinators, has organized a pilgrimage which is devotional and educational for the participants. The age-range of those traveling is between 8 and 80 years. I have made the trip more times than I can recall, and the bus ride is long and cramped; the D.C. weather is often snowy. But the crowds in the hundreds of thousands are inspiring. We mustn’t stop working peacefully, prayerfully, and within the legal structures of law to end abortion in our country. It is too monumental a disgrace to neglect or forget.

Critics will sometimes suggest that “Pro-Lifers” only care for people before they are born. The record shows that this is not true. Our own Catholic agencies – and so many of our parishes – care for people at every moment, “from the womb to the tomb.” There is, in fact, no other private institution that does as much to aid people in need than the Catholic Church; Period. As Catholics we also support with our taxes the many governmental interventions that assist people. No one has more soup kitchens and food banks; no private organization provides more counseling, or has more senior housing, or has more adoption centers; None. We train people for worthy employment; we aid released prisoners in getting a new start; we serve the urban core and the furthest rural communities. We look to the legal, physical and spiritual needs of migrants. In our Catholic hospitals we have never stopped caring for the sick and the dying. In our schools we form young people, in faith, for service and authentic leadership. And yes, we are among the most persistent champions of human life from its first moment until natural death.

I know you will join me in prayerfully supporting those who March in Washington this Monday, and all who speak and act, peacefully and prayerfully, in defense of the unborn. No elected official or appointed judge is worthy of our support, if among their many acts of just advocacy they will not support the most vulnerable of our human race.

We commend our efforts to our two most powerful patrons: Mary, Mother of Life and St. Joseph, Protector of the Family. Holy Mary our Hope; St. Joseph: Pray for us!

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras | Tagged
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The Instruction concerning Summorum Pontificum

Posted on 19 January 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Do you remember that there was supposed to be an Instruction concerning Summorum Pontificum?

So … where is it?

I have been of two minds about this instruction for a long time.   On the one hand, perhaps the less said, the better.  On the other hand, given that (as I interpret this pontificate) a renewal of liturgy plays a key role in the Holy Father’s “Marshall Plan” to revitalize Catholic identity, and given the fact of the ongoing talks with the SSPX, it is highly unlikely that Benedict XVI will allow the promulgation of a document which undermines his objectives of renewal and unity.

Keep in mind that Pope Benedict had asked for feedback about the implementation of Summorum Pontificum after three years.  Three years went by.  There has been sufficient time for feedback.  It’s time for the instruction.

It is my understanding that the Instruction is on its way, that it has been, if I am right, approved by His Holiness, and will be issued in the first days of March.  That implies a signature date of 22 February, the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter.  Documents are often signed on a significant date, but released later.

My guess is that this Instruction is going to have juridical elements, to make clearer what was a bit foggy in Summorum Pontificum.     What sort of juridical issues might be clarified?  What “Extraordinary” means for one thing.  The use vernacular readings instead of Latin, whether or not SP applies to other Latin Rites such as the Braga or Ambrosian in addition to the Roman Rite, what constitutes a “stable group”, how the present Code of Law and other decrees and liturgical laws affect older practices (i.e., suppression of minor orders, Communion in the hand, “straw” subdeacons, congregational singing, calendar coordination, etc.) whether there can be an mixture or cross-over of elements of the Ordinary Form and Extraordinary Form.  Those are guesses.

It is probable that this Instruction will not be the last, when it comes to the subject matter of Summorum Pontificum.

This will surely signal that Benedict XVI has not forgotten Summorum Pontificum and that he considers it to be an important document.

A change in our liturgical worship is the sine qua non for any renewal of our Catholic identity, of any “New Evangelization”.

Posted in SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged ,
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Catholic institutions are failing because of failing “Catholic identity”

Posted on 18 January 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

On this blog I have harped incessantly about Catholic identity.   I have proposed that a primary aim of Pope Benedict’s pontificate is to revitalize our Catholic identity.  If we don’t know who we are and what we believe then we will have no impact on the world around us as Catholics. Western civilization is on the ropes, partly because we don’t know who we are and, as a result, we have not been making our indispensable contribution.  We have experienced devastation for the last few decades.  Pope Benedict in engaged in a “Marshall Plan” for rebuilding.

Lately we have seen dramatic results of the loss of Catholic identity. People who still call themselves “Catholic”… better “catholic”… place themselves in direct conflict with the Church and the Church’s Magisterium as exercised by her legitimate teachers.  I dubbed one of the most obvious of these dissident forces the “Magisterium of Nuns“.   They and their  camp-followers and supporters (the Catholic Healthcare Association, the editors of the National Catholic Reporter, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, etc.) seek to replace what is Catholic with what is “catholic”.  They are not merely trying to force the Church to conform to the world and its trends. In some instances they are also trying to provide for the business of abortion.

I saw a story on CNA which illustrates something of my point.

Consider as a backdrop the conflict in Phoenix over the Catholic character of a once-Catholic hospital, a labor group’s statement that a Catholic college’s self-describing literature demonstrates that the school can’t claim a religious identity in order to avoid unionization, the upcoming closure of many Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of New York.

My emphases and comments:

Weakening of Catholic identity contributes to school enrollment decline, cautions professor

Denver, Colo., Jan 18, 2011 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In the wake of the Archdiocese of New York recently closing 27 of its schools, conversation on the sharp decline of Catholic school enrollment has once again been ignited. One education expert says a weakening of Catholic identity is a primary factor in the school closures.

Dr. John J. Convey, who holds the title of the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Professor of Education at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., also explained that a lack of school-aged children and waning pastoral leadership have also significantly contributed to school closures.

[…]

Enrollment in Catholic elementary schools has dropped 15 percent nationwide since 2001-02 school year, reported the National Catholic Educational Association. In 2006 and 2007 in the U.S., 212  Catholic schools were closed or consolidated.

In a Jan. 17 e-mail, Dr. Convey, who co-authored the 2009 book “Weathering the Storm: Moving Catholic Schools Forward,” weighed in, saying that numerous factors have contributed to enrollment decline.

He noted that dwindling demographics, what he called an “insufficient number of school-age children,” is a large underlying problem.

The National Center for Health Statistics reported last August that the steadily falling birth rate in the U.S. fell 2.7 percent in 2009, an all time low in the last 100 years.

Dr. Convey also said that “weak leadership” on the part of the principal or the pastor, including the “unwillingness of the pastor to support the school or to promote it to the parish” as another factor.

“This problem is exacerbated if diocesan leadership is not strong or is unwilling to act to rectify the leadership problem,” he added.

Perhaps most disconcerting, Dr. Convey cited a “weak Catholic identity” on the part of Catholic schools either based in actual fact or simply perceived as such by parents.

He said that many families today believe that a Catholic school is not strong enough in the “value-added” component that would make it different from a public or charter school. [Disaster.]

The education expert added that families without sufficient income to afford tuition can be a problem which is “exacerbated if adequate tuition assistance is not available.”

“In some cases, money is an issue; families can’t afford the tuition and insufficient tuition assistance is available to help them. In other cases, parents are unwilling to pay for a Catholic school if they perceive that the public schools, charter schools or other private schools in their area are adequate.” [If there isn’t any difference between the Catholic school and the public school, then why pay the extra substantial cost, given the fact that you are already paying taxes?]

Dr. Convey also noted that accusations of sex abuse by clergy have “had an impact on diocesan budgets from huge legal settlements.”

Lastly, he said parents often “don’t sufficiently value Catholic education” and would rather “have their children educated in the public school even though they could afford to send them to a Catholic school.”

Dr. Convey explained that in order to combat plummeting school enrollment, the “Church and each individual Catholic school needs to be more vocal about the importance of the schools and their effectiveness in both the academic and religious formation of the students.” [Do I hear an “Amen!”?]

[…]

I would be interested in the comment of readers with children who have at some point made a decision whether to send their kinder to public school or to a Catholic school.

Why did you choose what you chose?

Was the “Catholic identity” issue a factor?

What needs to be done?

Posted in New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices | Tagged , ,
129 Comments