How Faith Can Play a Positive Role in Education
By Rod Dreher
Rawlings School of Divinity
CLED 720: Biblical & Theological Foundations of Education
Genevieve Hamer
July 3, 2022
How to love our neighbor is at the heart of the ethics and morals that parents teach their
children at home and a reason why they bring them to church at a young age. As they grow
older, the challenges become more complex. Many parents enroll their children in a Catholic
school with the hope that the ethics and morals talked about at home and in church are
reinforced in the religious school classroom. Faith can play a positive role in education for all
Catholic students.
Faith in education has long-term effects on students.
A Catholic school can help parents by integrating faith into education and academics. In a
Catholic school, teachers are not only at liberty but encouraged to emphasize a faith
perspective. For example, in a Civics or American Government class, students can not only learn
about the First Amendment right to freedom of religion but also discuss how this has both
helped and challenged the practice of faith.
A faith-based education can encourage critical thinking that not only seeks knowledge and
understanding of the science that explains our world but also analyzes and questions how this
knowledge could or should be used in the light of faith.
Faith in education inspires thoughtful reflection.
Faith in education encourages the development of the whole person. We need engineers
who know how to build a bridge over which we drive our cars, but we need engineers who have
been formed with a conscience as to whether a given bridge ought to be built and how its
construction may affect various communities. This does not just happen. Year after year, the
student in a faith-based school will be challenged to ask the “why” questions and not just
“what, when, where, and how.” Not only will he or she be encouraged to ask “Why” but to do
so from a framework of faith. The ones who can ask “why” are the ones who will be leaders.
Faith in education gives parents a sense of security.
The Catholic Rite of Baptism concludes with beautiful blessings of the mother and father.
To paraphrase one of these blessings:MayGodblesstheparentsofthischild.Togethertheywill
bethefirstteachersoftheirchildinthewaysoffaith.Maytheybealsothebestofteachers,
bearingwitnesstothefaithbywhattheysayanddo,inChristJesusourLord.
Parents are the first teachers, and we pray thebest teachers of their children. Enrolling
their sons and daughters in schools that have faith at the core of the curriculum ensures that
they have the help they need to fulfill this role. Catholic seminary schools are among the best
ways to achieve this goal.
