Home Schooling Idiosyncrasies

As an advocate and participant in "home eduction," I have to confess that the movement as a whole is fraught with pockets of weird-ness. To some, the whole movement is weird because they don't just send their kids to school like everyone else. Of course everyone knows, that the government's Department of Education, is full of the experts on education. What can parents possibly know about teaching children... (Yawn). That's not the weirdness I am talking about. I'm talking about within the movement itself- like those, who make the bold move to home school and then pattern everything they do after the public school model and then fill their every waking moment with participation in home school co-ops and support groups, organized sports and private lessons. Or those who pride themselves in the high quality of education their children are receiving, and parade their children about as trophies of their success. "Li'l Jim, potty trained at 9 months, and learned to read the following summer. He's now taking college courses on-line at the age of 7." As a parent I totally understand being proud of our children and their accomplishments. There are points at which such boasting helps to make the argument for the viability of home schooling against its detractors, but among the home schooling crowd this is just weird. The thing that really wearies me is that so many Christian home-educators are so woefully ignorant of the Christian faith, and the history of the Church. And as if that were not enough, they are content to remain in such ignorance. It's as if they would say, " We love Jesus, and worship him, but really have no interest in learning more about Him." It really doesn't matter to them that Christ founded his Church almost 2000 years ago, and that we in the 21st century are at the end of a long line of people who lived and died for Him, preserving and handing on the faith "that was once for all delivered to the Saints." (Jude 3) Furthermore there may be generations to come that depend on our preserving and passing on the very same Faith. In studying history, we learn that the best sources are primary sources, eye witnesses to the events. All secondary sources, are limited by the bias of the writer. Yet how many Christian home schoolers, have ever read any of the Apostolic fathers (the first generation of Christian leaders after the apostles)? Do they even know that there are volumes and volumes written by Christians in every age past? Or do they teach their children the christian faith, based entirely modern writers, or worse, their own personal interpretation of the Scriptures? This is a problem. Not because it means they are not sincere or earnest in their faith, but because it creates a dysfunctional witness to Christ and his Kingdom. Such inattentiveness to the most important events in human history is scandalous to the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As people, living out our lives as Christians, should we not give as much attention to learning and teaching our Faith as we do to mathematics, literacy, history and science? Just sayin... The Truth matters.

Ok. I recognize that I might have offended someone by what I have said. But look at the bright side, as long as I don't know who I have offended, I won't know you were one of the "weird" home schoolers I was talking about. :-)

Anglican AND Catholic

I have to admit that when Pope Benedict announced the establishment of Anglican Ordinariates I was excited. After all, the Anglican Communion has her issues. However, as time went on and more information was released about how these ordinariates would be ordered, my hope faded. You see, I was under the naive impression that this action as aiming at restored communion between Anglicans and Romans. As it turns out, the Ordinariate seems to be just an expansion of the Pastoral provision that was already in place. Now, with the announcement of the U.S. Ordinariate, Anglo-Catholics have an opportunity. For what? Conversion. Every time I read the word in this context, my heart sinks. And it seemed like we were so close to genuine unity. I understand that there are a number of congregations and clergy who are accepting this "opportunity." So to answer the question before it is asked, no, I will not be one of them.

So how did this happen? How could we seem so close to unity and then flinch, and step back to the "safety" of the status quo? I cannot answer for Rome, But I can answer for myself, and probably many Anglican brothers and sisters. Anglo-Catholics, such as myself, are not "wanna be" Roman Catholics. We are Anglican Catholics. We desire unity in the Body of Christ as Anglicans. If we really believed that the Rome Catholic church was the ONLY true expression of the Church, we would have had opportunity to "convert" a long time ago. However, to "convert" would demand a level of dishonesty that I cannot tolerate. It's as if we are to say, "Well let's pretend my confirmation, my ordination, and every mass I ever said, every absolution I ever pronounced, was invalid. Oh, and by the way, I'll be allowed to keep my wife, but I really shouldn't have married, it was a mistake." Seriously? Unity at the cost of integrity? No, Thank you.

Sadly, it seems that the only possibility of restored unity in the Church catholic, rests on the shoulders of the Roman Catholic Church. She must recognize as valid the other catholic jurisdictions, such as Anglican and Eastern Orthodox. Unfortunately, that would mean overturning her belief in the universal jurisdiction of the Pope, and, amending decisions and edicts of prior popes. Pope Benedict could do this, but will he?

What does lie on our shoulders, is for Anglo-Catholics to get our own house in order. Maybe we were hoping that Brother Rome could help us sort out our differences. Well that didn't work, so lets get back to the table. How dare we point our finger at Rome, while there is not visible unity between us? It is well past time for unity among the "alphabet soup" of Anglo Catholicism.