Catholic education is source of hope - Vatican Congregation

(Sept.09,2009): Education is a task that requires teamwork between parents and schools, under the authority of the Catholic Church, so as to guarantee the solidity of religious formation. This was affirmed in a circular letter on "Religious Education in Schools" sent from the Congregation for Catholic Education to the presidents of the bishops' conferences. The letter, signed by the congregation's prefect, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, and its secretary, Archbishop Jean-Louis Bruguès, underlined the necessity of providing a "clarification and instruction 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."
Due to the complexity of the educative task faced to today's culture, the letter stated, there is a risk that we will lose "what is essential, that is, the formation of the human person in its totality, particularly as regards the religious and spiritual dimension."
Education is a team effort, it acknowledged, but parents are the ones, who are primarily responsible for training their children. This parental responsibility also encompasses the "right to choose the school that guarantees an education in accordance with one's own religious and moral principles," the congregation explained. The letter acknowledged that in many places, "now as in earlier periods, religious freedom is not fully in force, both in law and in practice." The congregation denounced this injustice, and called on Catholics to "commit themselves, so that those rights may become effective."