After the new Italian state stripped the Papal States from the Vatican, the Holy See forbade faithful Catholics from participating in Italy’s government. This included voting in democratic elections. Something like a third of the Italian population dutifully obeyed, and the result: Benito Mussolini. The Fascists and Communists, who began with small percentages of the population, did not face any electoral competition from serious Christians, and thus the playing field was left to various monsters large and small.
A mirror-image situation is about to happen in Iraq. The Sunni Muslims look like they are going to boycott the January 30 elections for the interim government. That means the new government will be dominated by the minority Kurds and the majority Shiites. The Sunnis will thus have little say in Iraq’s rebirth, and that may well spell trouble for them. They have been oppressing the Kurds and Shiites for the last half-millennium or so, under the Ottoman Empire, the Hashemite kings, and the Baathists.
As the brilliant Charles Krauthammer pointed out, the U.S.-led coalition has basically been fighting a civil war against the Sunnis for the last year and a half. Once Iraq gets its native lawmakers together and they form a constitution, the formerly oppressed groups may want to extract some payback from the Sunnis if they’re still misbehaving. Who can blame them? Whereas if the Sunnis at least try to be conciliatory, they might receive mercy. But their ingrained Arab pride will get the better of them, and they will be arrogant to the last.
For similar reasons, I don’t think Catholics should stop participating in mainstream society, which is why I am not generally in favor of homeschooling (and neither is the Church, which considers Catholic schools to be the first option if it is at all possible.) It isn’t even possible to shield your kids entirely from the effects of our diseased culture: it still seeps in through the cracks. So go out and try to transform it as best you can, and choose what is good and encourage it.
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That was quite a leap to make a jab at homeschoolers.
No jab intended. I know quite a few Catholic homeschoolers. Sometimes, it’s the best option available, but it’s not intended to be a first resort. It’s up to the laity to change the culture, and that’s straight out of Vatican II.
Could you direct me to where the Church has stated that homeschooling is a course of last resort? By this, I mean could you point me to a magisterial statement, Holy Scripture or something from the Fathers of the Church. While you are correct about the role of the laity, the church has stated that parents are the primary educator for educating their children. A parent certainly has the right to prepare their gradeschool children for this role at home. While I have seen priests call the homeschool option a last resort, I have never read anywhere that the Church takes this position.
Besides, (and I am not trying to be grumpy here) I still think it was quite a leap. You could make the same argument about stay at home moms. Honestly, that last paragraph including homeschoolers just seemed so out of the blue.
I’m referring primarily to section 8 of GRAVISSIMUM EDUCATIONIS:
The Council also reminds Catholic parents of the duty of entrusting their children to Catholic schools wherever and whenever it is possible and of supporting these schools to the best of their ability and of cooperating with them for the education of their children.
(link)
To be fair, here is an article by a canon lawyer who defends homeschooling as a legally valid option, which is distinct from being the recommended option. The author quotes the relevant passages from canon law.
I have friends who homeschool their children, and I don’t question their individual decisions. But we should be clear about what the Church prefers. If we are thinking with the mind of the Church, we should consider Catholic schools first, and homeschooling perhaps second, especially if state-run schools will interfere with teaching them the Faith.
All that being said, I will concede that my little four-paragraph squib wasn’t the most cohesive thing I’ve ever written.
That was excellent customer service. No wonder I am a fan of this blog even though I have limited internet time due to family. I’ve only seen quotes of Gravissimum Educationis used to support homeschooling. The loophole “whenever it is possible” seems to have grown since 1965. I’ll be doing a little closer reading of it over the next few days. In the interest of full disclosure, Father Rogers, who is cited in the article you link to, is my parish priest and a long time friend of my husband and mine. I like the article and get the magazine it was originally printed in but Father does think that his stand on homeschooling were taken out of context. He has worked hard to build a solid Catholic school. In this culture, there could be no harder job. Anyway, he is puzzled when people either homeschool or send their children to a school that they complain about very instead of his parish school. Also, I will admit to being a big fan of Fr. Hitterger for his writing on annulments.
I thought a home school run by Catholic parents *was* a Catholic school.