Vatican Emphasizes Parental Rights in Education, Warns Against Secularized Public
Schools
(September 10, 2009) The Congregation for Catholic Education on September 8 released
the text of a letter to the presidents of bishops’ conferences on religious education
in schools. The letter, dated May 5 and signed by the congregation’s prefect and secretary,
summarizes Catholic teaching “about the role of schools in the Catholic formation
of young people, about the nature and identity of the Catholic school, about religious
education in schools, and about the freedom of choice of school and confessional religious
education.” Emphasizing and right and duties of Catholic parents to educate their
children in the faith, the letter warns against secularism in state-run schools: The
marginalization of religious education in schools is equivalent to assuming – at least
in practice – an ideological position that can lead pupils into error or do them a
disservice. Moreover, if religious education is limited to a presentation of the different
religions, in a comparative and “neutral” way, it creates confusion or generates religious
relativism or indifferentism. In this respect, Pope John Paul II explained: “The question
of Catholic education includes religious education in the more general milieu of school,
whether it be Catholic or State-run. The families of believers have the right to such
education; they must have the guarantee that the State school – precisely because
it is open to all – not only will not put their children’s faith in peril, but will
rather complete their integral formation with appropriate religious education.”