Education
Does the Second Vatican Council say anything about parents sending their children
to Catholic schools?
Yes. The Second Vatican Council states, "As to Catholic parents, this Council calls their attention to their duty to entrust their children to Catholic schools when and where this is possible, to support such schools to the extent of their ability, and to work along with those schools for the welfare of their children."
Reprinted from January 31, 1997
What is wrong with holding off teaching Christianity to my children, to allow
them, when they grow up, to make their own decisions about religion?
The same thing that is wrong with telling your children to sample all materials found in your medicine cabinet or under your sink… Delay in telling them about right and wrong, truth and error in religion can be permanently disabling and even eternally fatal. Would any sensible parents hold off instructing their children about eating vegetables or brushing their teeth or not playing in the road? Parents who cooperate with God in bringing children to God not only for their children's bodily well being and safety, but even more severely for their souls.
Reprinted from September 27, 1996
I am studying philosophy at a state university where the
philosophy faculty is all atheist. I feel that I will not get through the
course unless I pretend that I am an atheist too. I still believe in God and
in the Catholic Church, but is it permitted to fake atheism in this case?
No. It usually is not necessary to announce publicly or proclaim your faith aloud in all circumstances, but it is a most serious sin to deny God, Christ or your Catholic Faith for any reason, even implicitly and even at the price of your very life. To do this in duplicity would involve a serious sin of telling a lie on your part too. I suggest you read some of the biographies of the great martyrs of our Church and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, numbers 2123 to 2141. I also suggest you get out of that philosophy department, and maybe even out of that university. It sounds like your being there is a continuing occasion of sin. There are better places to study philosophy. We are not allowed deliberately to place our Catholic Faith in un necessary danger.
Reprinted May 28, 1999