When Catholic Schools Stop Being Catholic
It is no secret that many Catholic schools are becoming less and less Catholic.
The facts speak for themselves. According to First Things, 86% of Catholic students fall away from the Church by the age of eighteen.
How is this happening? To get some answers, let us take a look at Loyola High School of Los Angeles.
Loyola is a prestigious Jesuit boys' high school founded in 1865. The school website says it is “committed to developing young men who will put their beliefs and faith into practice throughout their lives.”
However, one concerned parent recently wrote to the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP), providing evidence that this is no longer the case.
ICE, Ramadan, and Ash Wednesday
This past Ash Wednesday, all of the school’s students were obliged to attend Mass. This is normal enough for a Catholic school.
Ideally, the priest would use this occasion for a pious sermon exhorting young people to frequent the sacraments and make sacrifices.
However, this particular sermon was anything but traditional.
Given by Fr. Stephen Privitt, the homily told the students to ask, “Do we hear the cries of the poor, or do we listen to the deceitful rhetoric of politicians and the hateful speech and baseless conspiracy theories of social influencers?”
What followed was a tirade against immigration enforcement.
He employs soundbites meant to evoke emotional sympathy among students, hoping this will lead to pro-immigration convictions.
Here is one example:
“Persons of faith may not tolerate a rhetoric that demonizes immigrants as dangerously criminal simply because they crossed the border in search of a better life for themselves and their children. They are not ‘illegal aliens,’ they are our brothers and sisters.”
Such commentary seems to have little to do with Ash Wednesday or Lent.
This is how Fr. Privitt makes the connection:
“Lent or Ramadan is the time for us and our nation to be challenged and transformed by the Gospel, ‘to repent and believe in the Gospel’ not in political slogans, partisan rants and fear-mongering.” [Emphasis added]
Indeed, our Catholic schools have reached a state where Ramadan is equated with Lent, and law and order is equated with vice.
Naturally, students went home and told their parents about the anti-ICE homily. Many were understandably upset about such propaganda being promoted from the pulpit.
According to one protesting parent, the school responded with a “half-hearted” email stating that parents should “approach this thoughtfully and based on verified information rather than assumptions or secondhand accounts.”
All of the quotes in this article were taken directly from the text Fr. Privitt used to deliver his sermon.
While Fr. Privitt’s exhortations may sound nice to progressivists, they do not accurately convey the Church’s position on immigration. Saint Thomas Aquinas has a more balanced approach.
Saint Thomas discouraged immediate citizenship since recent arrivals are unfamiliar with the conditions inside the country and cannot give qualified decisions as citizens right away.
It would be unfair to value the opinions of long-time citizens equally with those of foreigners, who, “not yet having the common good firmly at heart, might attempt something hurtful to the people.”
The School Office of Equity and Inclusion
Granted, one sermon will not turn a devout young man into a social justice warrior. However, further investigations reveal that Loyola High School has created a climate that cultivates liberal ideas.
For example, the school has a dedicated Office of Equity and Inclusion. Its mission statement says it all:
“The Office of Equity and Inclusion will work to foster an environment that cherishes the identity of each member of the Loyola High School community, in the broadest sense, including differences in gender, race, ethnicity, generational history, culture, socioeconomic class, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship status, political perspectives, geographic origin, and physical ability.”
This Office, which has a dedicated page on Loyola’s website, promotes all types of liberal causes. It calls for celebrating “LGBTQ+ voices,” encourages boys to enter its DEI Student Leadership program and even showcases a video with an indigenous land acknowledgement.
Worse still, a blasphemous image of George Floyd with a halo is clearly visible on the Office’s webpage. Instead of selecting a canonized saint as a role model for students, the Office’s administrators are presenting a leftist hero with deep moral flaws, including drug abuse and theft.
The Office of Equity and Inclusion also has an on-campus site dedicated to promoting its ideology to students.
One photo of the office space, taken by a concerned parent, showcases a plethora of posters that champion the “marginalized.” While no pro-life posters are visible in the photo, there is a picture of climate activist Greta Thunberg on the wall.
All of these facts pose the question: Is this what Saint Ignatius had in mind for Jesuit education?
Is Loyola an Exception – or a Sign of the Times?
Some could think that Loyola is just an extreme example and that their local Catholic school would never have such programs.
Never say never.
A large and growing number of Catholic schools across the country already have similar practices. One study in 2023 found that 73% of parochial school students in the United States reported being exposed to Critical Social Justice theories.
Raising children in a godless era is already difficult enough. Unfortunately, many parents cannot rely on established Catholic schools to cement the Faith in the hearts of their children.
Are There Any Real Catholic Schools Left?
To address this very real problem, the American TFP established the St. Louis de Montfort Academy to provide boys with a solid Catholic education. This all-boys boarding school, which accepts students in grades 7-12, provides a very different formation than Loyola:
- Students are formed to be leaders, not followers, who are guided by truth, not leftist talking points.
- They live without smartphones, video games, or toxic entertainment. Instead, our students fill their time with study, sports, camaraderie, service and noble adventure.
- The boys pray the daily Rosary, attend Mass and Confession regularly, and receive a 100% traditional Catholic education.
The results of this formation have been tremendous—98% of graduates retain their Catholic faith through adulthood.
If you are interested in getting more information about the St. Louis de Montfort Academy for your son, please click here to inquire.