The Institute for Catholic Liberal Education, a Catholic education advocacy and training group, told CNA that it is seeing “an increasing number of Catholic parents [desiring] for their children to receive an authentic Catholic education that is in line with Church teaching.”
ICLE promotes classical Catholic education by way of “conferences, teacher development programs, in-service workshops, consultation, and publications.” The group told CNA its member school network has expanded hugely over the past several years, with “currently around 225 schools” participating, up from just four in 2017.
The group’s executive director, Elisabeth Sullivan, said at a USCCB roundtable last year that the post-2020 education landscape is a “great opportunity” for Catholic educators insofar as “parents who might otherwise not have dialed into the fact that secular education is not neutral have seen it loud and clear.”
“We see ourselves as advocating reforms heavily,” the group told CNA, “by providing to pastors, principals, and teachers inspiration, formation, and curricular help that all align with the Holy See’s teaching on Catholic schools. Our work could be considered an on-the-ground, grassroots effort.” ICLE hosts a yearly national conference as well as retreats and “leader forums” for both educators and students.
Even outside of educational systems, some Catholic advocates are working to counteract some of the more pervasive influences of the broader culture. Among them is Family Honor, a South Carolina-based Catholic nonprofit that offers families “a Catholic framework on the truth and meaning of sexuality, love, and family.”
Brenda Cerkez, the executive director of Family Honor, said the effort was launched in 1988 when parents “saw what was going on even back then” and who “wanted something better for their kids other than just a negative approach or a disease-based approach” to sexual education.
Family Honor has seen growing interest in its programs in recent years, she said, particularly regarding the current transgender zeitgeist. Many parents, she said, have expressed regret to her that the program wasn’t around when they were growing into young adulthood.
“Our ideal scenario is you sitting there with your arm around your son or daughter,” Cerkez said, “hearing about chastity, virtue, the theology of the body, male and female being created in God’s image — and not having to worry about all of the mess going on in the culture.”
“It’s not from a negative perspective,” she said. “It’s filled with hope. And joy.”
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Staudt said parents who are unable to remove their children from public school systems should nevertheless “be vigilant.”
“Talk to teachers and administrators, know what is being done for sex ed and any other controversial areas, insist on opting out of problematic elements, talk with other concerned parents, attend school board meetings, and do whatever it takes to protect your children,” Staudt said.
“Provide more robust spiritual formation for your children beyond religious education classes, especially through regular small groups and prayer,” he added. “Pray the rosary as a family every day and consecrate your family to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts.”
Secular groups also push back
In addition to Catholic groups, an organized and determined group of parents is continuing to work diligently to counteract what they say are the deleterious influences of far-left and extremist ideology in public schools across the U.S.
Elana Fishbein has been leading the grassroots effort No Left Turn in Education for just over three years. She founded the group in Pennsylvania in August 2020 amid the bitter cultural battles of the George Floyd movement occurring at the same time. Schools around the country responded by adopting and promoting left-wing curricula on race and racism.
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