A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics

Another study indicts Catholic schools…. September 7, 2011

….at least so far as transmitting the Faith to those who attend.  In fact, those who attend Catholic schools are more likely to reject Church Doctrine on a whole slew of subjects, ranging from the Authority of the Church to the infallibility of Scripture to moral doctrines like abortion and contraception, than those who attend public schools.  However, those who attend Catholic schools do receive an excellent secular education, which, in the final analysis, is meaningless:

A two-year study of graduates from Catholic, Protestant and home schools found the choice of private education, when compared to public education, had significant effects on the students’ academics, civics and faith – but not necessarily the effects one might expect.

For example, the study found, the adjusted net effect on students of private, Catholic schooling versus public schooling was to produce graduates even less likely to believe in moral absolutes, to respect the authority of the Catholic Church, to believe in the infallibily of Scripture or to condemn premarital sex. [this finding ties in precisely with the examples given by the numerous students and teachers at Catholic private schools who commented on this blog recently.]

…….The Cardus Education Survey, a million-dollar study conducted by Cardus in a research partnership with the University of Notre Dame, analyzed both quantitative and qualitative research into the lives of nearly 2,500 American high school graduates between the ages of 24-39, measuring at least 43 different categories of academic, spiritual and civic life……..

“In many cases, the difference in outcomes between Catholic and Protestant Christian schools is striking,” the study states. “Catholic schools provide superior academic outcomes, an experience that translates into graduates’ enrollment in more prestigious colleges and universities, more advanced degrees and higher household income.

…….”At the same time, however, our research finds that the moral, social and religious dispositions of Catholic school graduates seem to run counter to the values and teachings of the Catholic church,” the study concludes. [Again, this is precisely what I experienced on this blog]  “For example, students graduating from Catholic schools divorce no less than their public school counterparts, and significantly more than their Protestant Christian and non-religious private school peers. Similarly, having attended Catholic school has no impact on the frequency with which those graduates will attend church services [!!], and Catholic school graduates are less likely to serve as leaders in their churches.”

The study also found, “On every measure of traditional religious beliefs, Protestant Christian school graduates show significantly more adherence to the church teachings than their peers, findings that hold up after rigorous controls, indicating the impact of the Protestant Christian school on the long-term religious beliefs of their graduates.”

The authors of the study concluded, “Protestant Christian schools play a vital role in the long-term faith of their students, while Catholic schools seem to be largely irrelevant, sometimes even counterproductive to the development of their students’ faith.” [If Catholic schools are, even to a small degree, counterproductive to the process of sanctification, then they need immediate and drastic reform.  Because in the end, the true end, Nothing. Else. Matters.]

– All private schools, even non-religious and home schools, showed significant positive effect over public schools on graduates reporting “feelings that their high school prepared them for a vibrant and religious spiritual life,” with religious home educated graduates faring the best, scoring on average over 3 points higher on a 7-point scale than public schooled students.

– The net effect of Protestant and religious home education was an increase in graduates’ reported attendance at religious services, while Catholic and non-religious private school grads reported a decrease in attendance.

– Religious home education produced the greatest effect on increasing graduates’ belief that morality should be based on an absolute, unchanging standard (see graph at right), while Catholic schooling actually decreased this belief.

……The Cardus team again summarized their findings: “This research finds that Catholic schools are providing higher quality intellectual development, at the expense of developing students’ faith and commitment to religious practices…….”These outcomes closely reflect the values reported by school administrators,” the study concludes. “While Catholic school administrators rank university as the top priority more than any other option, more Protestant Christian school administrators rank family as the top emphasis of the school.” [Sadly, both are wrong.]

The entire report is pretty long and has a number of interesting findings.  The homeschool results should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt, if you dig into the details, because the homeschool sample size was very small. 

The analysis of Catholic schools presented by this study is not surprising.  Similar studies have revealed as much in the past, although this particular effort looked in more detail at the actual religious practices of those who emerge from Catholic schools.  It is very sad, and telling, that Catholic school administrators look on the worldly success of their students as the ultimate measure of their institution’s success.  This is unbelievably wrong-headed, an actually un-Catholic point of view.  This focus reveals the utter lack of understanding of the Faith and the pervasive influence of both modernism and secularism within the Church, and especially within official Church institutions.  I can say that the comments I received in reaction to the ‘Catholic girl fasting for Ramadan’ post, especially from an Oregon Jesuit high school teacher, corroborate the rejection of the Divine nature and Authority of Sacred Scripture, the rejection of Catholic moral doctrine, and the religious indifferentism that this study found endemic in Catholic schools.  The plural of anecdote is “data.”  There is so much data that demonstrates the failure of Catholic schools to transmit the authentic Faith to students that it should give great pause to any Catholic parent who desires their child to grow up in the Faith.  

The old Baltimore Catechism, so despised by “modern” Church school and CCD leaders,  stated simply that the point of life is to come to know, love, and serve God with all of our heart, mind and strength, and to be happy with Him forever in Heaven.  The evidence continues to mount that Catholic schools in this country, from the primary to the university level, have completely lost this simple understanding.  Without it, nothing else matters. 

[36] For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul? [37] Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? [38] For he that shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation: the Son of man also will be ashamed of him, when he shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.