Saturday, June 27, 2009

Keeping Catholic Education pure...


I know a Catholic mother who has been in correspondence with me for some time now who is very concerned about what's going on in the Catholic classroom. She's been telling me about the curriculum and her deep concerns about this stuff being taught in a Catholic setting. I'm sure that there are many of you parents out there in the same situation. But, maybe you're not sure what to do or if you can do something at all. I had been hoping and praying that this woman, Josie could find some like-minded parents so that she could present her concerns to the school with the back up of other parents. I hoped she could form a committee or organization. Well, she came up with a brilliant idea! She started a blog the other day! It will be a hub for parents to gather to encourage one another and to come up with concrete solutions. I hope you'll take a look at her blog and please chime in (by way of a comment) to the conversation. Do you have any ideas? What have you done? What can you all do together?

In one of her posts, Josie writes:

"It was motherly instinct, I think, that first alerted me that something was wrong. It was a normal day in the school carline, waiting with my boys until their older sister came outside to meet us after a day in the first grade at the local parish school. She plopped into her seat ready to be buckled. "Mommy?", she said to me, "There's something very important for you in my folder." We had a few minutes until all the children loaded up and the engines started running, so I unzipped her bag to take a look. Something exciting, I hoped, as carlines can get pretty boring. I opened the little envelope intended only for mom and dad's hands. At first glance, I was puzzled. My eyes darted around the pages of the document enclosed. Several things jumped out at me:

"We believe that parents/guardians are and should be the primary educators of their children; nevertheless (my emphasis) the parish and school community must play a secondary but essential role in educating children for healthy relationships...
"Please sign and return the attached permission slip...as we strive to keep our children safe and healthy."


Take a look here at Upholding Purity in the Catholic Classroom. Josie tells me that she has plans to work on the appearance of the blog in the upcoming days but really wanted to get something going right away. It really seems to me to be a Divine inspiration that she has answered the call for. I know that a lot of prayer went behind her decision to create this gathering place for parents. Please support this brave mother. We are all on this journey in life together, right? We can help one another for sure.

Feel free to chime in here too with your concerns, advice, and suggestions.

Praying for many blessings for you on this summer day!

hugs,

Donna-Marie

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