Today, because of the structure of the Second Reading, I’m going to start with three principles regarding parenting, and then get to the reasons for these principles afterward; and, as we go through these, think about how much you agree with them or not.
Principle #1: Your children are not naturally virtuous; they’re good and we love them, but they’re not naturally disciplined or morally good.
Principle #2: The goal for our children is not to be nice, but to become saints.
Principle #3: The reason we teach virtue is not only because it’s good for society or because it’s the right way to live, but so that they may love God in return.
The context of St. Paul’s letter to St. Titus is that both had been on the island of Crete evangelizing, probably between 62 and 65 A.D., and Paul left Titus there to give structure and instruct new Christians on how to live. The island was heavily pagan and morally corrupt, so much so that Paul quotes a pagan poet who says, “Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons” (Tit 1:12). For the people who had chosen to become Christian, it was very hard for them to follow Jesus given that the surrounding culture was so different.
So, in the middle of this short letter, Paul gives (Please display all of chapter 2 (NRSV) and then highlight 2:1) moral instructions for various groups: older men, older women, young women, young men. Normally, St. Paul talks about what God has done for us and how to respond, but today, it’s how we should act because of what God has done for us (Please display 2:11-14). Here, we can see the first principle we presented: 1) ‘the grace of God has appeared [referring to God’s gift of love in sending His Son], bringing salvation to all [All people need salvation because we’re separated from God and thus are not naturally virtuous], training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions [‘Training’ in the Old Testament referred to educating children in following God].’
Here’s a video to explain this point from a philosophical point of view. Dennis Prager asks the question, ‘Are people basically good?’ Please note: when he uses the word ‘good,’ we understand that to mean ‘virtuous’ (Please watch 0:40-4:25).
Dennis Prager, as a devout Jew, shares our conception about the fundamental condition of the human person: We’re created in the image of God, but, because we’re born separated from Him, we’re inclined to evil. The solution revealed by God is that we can’t save ourselves, but He saves us. Paul writes, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us… through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (3:4-5). What does ‘the water of rebirth’ mean? Baptism. Baptism saves us. We need Baptism to be with God in heaven. As we’ve said many times, being a good person is not enough to get to heaven. Why? Because no one’s good deeds are enough to compensate for offending God. If we are spiritually dead, we can’t give life to ourselves. And so, we need Jesus.
Compare this theology with the philosophy of a typical public school. Public schools don’t teach morality, whereas that’s one of our focuses at a Catholic school (though it’s not the most important thing); our staff and students are encouraged to go every month to Confession because they’re sinners—public schools have no equivalent practice of apologizing/forgiveness/reparation; Catholic schools have to reinforce constantly Jesus’ teachings and the Ten Commandments, because, without that, we’ll veer off course; we talk about Jesus because we need a saviour (If I could speculate: If our culture doesn’t believe we need a saviour, that helps explain why they always focus on social injustices; for them, the problems in the world are always out there, whereas the problem for Catholics is always in here—this is what we teach).
I’m not saying Catholic schools are better in everything—we’re not. Public schools do many good things and are often better in certain disciplines. I’m simply pointing out that, when it comes to life’s most important questions, we have a completely different worldview.
The goal of Catholic schools is to become saints. Paul writes, “He it is who gave himself for us that he might… purify for himself a people… who are zealous for good deeds” (Tit 2:14). In this sentence are the second and third principles we presented at the beginning. And so, the number one focus for Catholic parents and schools is not learning, grades, or even morality; the number one focus is a Person, Who died and rose for us. This is what Paul was telling Titus to teach the Christians in Crete: Do good deeds, not because of philosophy, but because Jesus gave Himself for you!
Most people know that, of the roughly 15,000 students in our Catholic schools, very few love Jesus. How can we improve this? It starts with the parents as the primary educators; second, the priests; third, the staff. Over the past few years, I’ve tried to emphasize more the Person of Jesus (in homilies, during Confessions, when visiting classrooms)—I share this because I wasn’t taught to do this. I’ve made this huge change to be a better father, and I believe the Holy Spirit is asking us all to make big changes.
I’ve said before that you parents and our staff are improving because you talk about Jesus, your love for Him, and one of the biggest signs of growth is that more of our young people talk about these things!
On January 29, 2025 we have our Open House for our school. Here’s a video from one of our families:
Lest anyone think we’re being self-serving here, our school, praise God, doesn’t need more students. We’re advertising because we think it’ll help the children. Now, if money is a factor, please talk to our principal, because, if someone is serious about a Catholic education, they should pursue it. And I’m just as happy if we go to St. Andrew’s or elsewhere. Furthermore, if we choose public schools, parents, young people, you need to be aware that much of what is taught is contrary to what we know in terms of philosophy, morality, sexuality. I went to public school, and already in Grade 7, even though I wasn’t going to church at the time, I knew that a lot of the philosophy and sex education were illogical.
No community or school can make up for the primary educators, the parents. Our young people will go where we lead them. We are not naturally virtuous so we need to be taught and disciplined. The goal is to become saints, and the reason is so that we may love God in return.