Catholic schools are at a crossroads in the United States today. It is time for innovation or closure. Many dioceses have turned to innovative models to improve the quality of the education they offer in their schools as well as work toward sustainability. The Diocese of Green Bay recently reorganized 10 Catholic schools under the…
The Religion Teacher Blog
New Papal Encyclical: Caritas in Veritate
Pope Benedict XVI’s newest encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), was released this week on the eve of the G-8 Summit in Italy. The encyclical offers a great opportunity for theology teachers and catechists who teach classes on social justice particularly in the areas of global poverty. The Holy Father chose the global economy…
Online Scavi Tour/Scavi-nger Hunt
Visiting St. Peter’s Basilica is an unforgettable experience. The Holy See’s website has now placed a virtual tour of the historic Vatican Necropolis and Tomb of St. Peter. Those of you who have been on the Scavi tour will recognize the ancient streets and burial tombs below the basilica. The interactive tour provides the history…
LA Catholic schools offer summer school substitute
Due to the current economic climate, some public school districts have canceled summer school sessions this year. In Los Angeles Cardinal Mahony announced that students in the Los Angeles Unified School District were welcome to attend Catholic school summer sessions. For students in desperate need for additional instruction, this should be seen as a great…
Merger: OSV and Harcourt Religion Publishers
The economy seems to be hitting religion publishers as much as anyone else. On Wednesday, Our Sunday Visitor announced the acquisition of Harcourt Religion Publishers from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. OSV plans to keep Harcourt’s management team, support staff, and field reps as well as its product line. Archbishop Donald Wuerl, the chairman of…
Skipping Religion Class? Go ahead – it’s the law!
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta passed a bill yesterday that would allow children to leave the classroom during instruction that includes “subject matter that deals explicitly with religion, sexuality or sexual orientation.” Since Catholic schools are publicly funded in Canada, this poses a significant problem. The Catholic Church has consistently taught that education is primarily…
Catechizing Hispanic Catholics
To follow-up with the previous post based on the Pew Forum’s “Faith in Flux” piece, I would like to react to another observation made about Catholics in the United States. Although one in ten Americans is a former Catholic, the USCCB was right in pointing out that the Catholic Church has a high retention rate…
Keeping Catholic Kids in the Church
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life hopes to reveal the religious landscape of the United States today. Most recently they released a report, “Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.” (April 27, 2009) to show that 44% of Americans do not currently belong to their childhood faith. Of these, 10%…
Pledging Catholic Identity
Bishop Robert W. Finn has proposed a new way to implement Catholic identity in the Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph. According to the diocese’s blog The Catholic Key, “teachers would pledge to teach and embody what the Catholic Church holds and school parents would pledge to support their child’s faith development, among other…
Learning Hope through Prayer: Part IV
Hope in Meditating on Salvation We have hope in a salvation that will be an unknown experience and mostly indescribable. Many of our students have an understanding of this experience that is based on their exposure to the entertainment industry. Rather than strengthen their desire for salvation, these movies and books often limit their understanding…
