The Marks of Catholic Education
One
Studies should be unified (made One) with curriculum connections - subjects
connected to one another with Catholic elements pulled in and emphasized. For example, while reading through the
Old and New Testament you can study the History of Egypt, and Greece, and Rome and pull in studies on Hebrew, Greek, Latin
and Catholic Art and Music. Timelines are are great tool for curriculum connections.
In most traditional school settings, various subjects are taught as unrelated
pieces. It was only when I started teaching my children through homeschooling that I began to realize that each subject has
a connection to another. Being able to place persons and events on a timeline made those connections so much more evident.
There is no right or wrong way to start the connections. I learned that Bible History is related to the foreign languages
of Hebrew and Greek, which is related to Ancient History, which related to Astronomy, which is related to Mythology and Literature,
which is related to Philosophy, which is related to Government, which is related to the beginnings of our Catholic Church,
and you can just go on and on. But when you really think about it, God did create this universe, so why shouldn’t there
be connections across the educational disciplines: after all everything comes from the Universal Body of Truth and Knowledge,
from Our Creator.
Holy
A curriculum is made
Holy by incorporating the lives of the Saints and other important Catholics, past and present.
In the Catholic Keys section of the Marks of Catholic Education,
I have complied a list of patron saints according to school subject areas. The online paper Daily Catholic compiled a list
of the Top 100 Catholics in the 20th century. Other simple connections include teaching appropriate prayers
with related subjects, for example when teaching prepositions have the child learn the Breastplate of St. Patrick.
Catholic
The definition of
Catholic is "universal." The Catholic Church is has a wealth of sources for foundations in Truth: included
are the Catechism of the Catholic Church and various other approved documents of the Church.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the best source of universal truth.
In the Catholic Keys section of the Marks of Catholic Education I have compiled a listing of
references to the Catholic Catechism according to school subject areas. Use the index in the Catechism to see what the Catholic
Church has to say about Health, Art, etc. In addition, the Church has a number of approved documents that can be used to supplement
various subjects, for example the Pope has a beautiful letter to artists.
Apostolic
Apostolic means "from
the Apostles." A curriculum is made Apostolic by representing the often neglected but true history from the Catholic
perspective. In your studies, include the Catholics who influenced science, art, literature, education, and more.
(1926 A.D.) “One of
the finest human documents ever penned was the Constitution of the United States; yet within only one century and a half we
have corrected it (nineteen) times. Not so with the Apostle’s Creed; after two thousand years it is still the same,
unchanged even as the Apostles wrote it, believed it, and published it. That is because it is in origin divine, and has been
inspired and written to last until the end of time. That is because it contains the rule of faith, yours and mine, and the
truths which we must believe, - all and entire – if we wish to be saved.” (from Letters of a Bishop
to His Flock by Cardinal Mundelein, Archbishop
of Chicago)
Truth
does not change. It may be further defined, but it does not change. Just as the Truth of the Apostles Creed has been
misrepresented and ignored throughout the ages, much of the Truth of history has been distorted or totally eliminated from
the typical textbooks. One has to be very diligent, to discern and present the Truth from a Catholic perspective. For
example, it was fascinating for me to realize that for the first 1000 years of our history, if Christianity is mentioned it
is of the Catholic Church. Those knights in shining armor who pledged their allegiance to the Church had to be Catholic because
there was no Protestant church at that time. Did you know that the first settlement in America was not Plymouth Rock, but
St. Augustine, Florida? Did you know that Christopher Columbus received a letter from the Catholic King and Queen?
Furthermore, it adds a whole new element to a study when one realizes what the Catholics in history have contributed
to fields such as science:
Braille invented
the Braille system for the blind; Cassadorius, a priest, invented the watch; Coulomb established the laws of static electricity;
De Chauliac, a papal physician, was the father of modern surgery and hospitals; Eustachius, for whom the Eustachian tube was
named was one of the founders of modern anatomy; Fallopius, for whom the fallopian tubes were named was an eminent physiologist;
Guttenberg invented printing, Laennec invented the stethoscope, Mendel, a monk, established the laws of heredity, which gave
the final blow the the theory of natural selection. (from
My Catholic Faith ©1949/1959)
Note: Ignatius Press is publishing a new
series of Catholic history text books.
