Families’ Very Real Concerns About Catholic Schools

The Pillar has been reporting on recent changes to diocesan policy in San Diego which no longer allows charter, private, or homeschool coops and families to utilize facilities at parishes within the diocese. They still allow “non-Catholic educational programs or schools” to rent spaces with the bishop’s approval. Cardinal Robert McElroy wants to focus on building up Catholic education and states that support for charter schools, private schools, or homeschooling “can undermine the stability of nearby Catholic schools.”

This has, whether intended or not, perpetuated the division growing between Catholic schools and homeschooling families. It also ignores the very real concerns many faithful Catholic families have when it comes to Catholic education, which has led many families to seek other options for their children. The poor spiritual state and astronomical cost of Catholic education in far too many dioceses has led families to homeschooling or to the creation of charter and private schools.

My husband and I have been in this situation ourselves where we have had to choose between homeschooling, Catholic schools, and classical Protestant schools. It has been a painful and difficult journey. While there may be some homeschooling families who are intentionally pitting themselves against Catholic schools in different dioceses, by-in-large most homeschooling families believe that they are being asked by God to homeschool, that the Catholic schools are too prohibitively expensive, or that the Catholic schools are problematic in themselves. The competition between these schooling options is often unjust, and homeschooling families’ very serious concerns are ignored or met with hostility.

Read the rest: https://catholicexchange.com/families-very-real-concerns-about-catholic-schools/