On a Roll

CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY, Sept. 2 — Two Catholic colleges known for careful fidelity to Church teaching — and to their Catholic identify — reported record enrollments for this year's incoming freshman classes.

Christendom College announced last week that it recently welcomed its largest freshman class, 379 students, to its rural campus near the Shenandoah National Park in Front Royal, Va.

These and other colleges “are all bursting at the seams with students wanting to study in the light of the 2,000-year-old Catholic faith,” reported CNA.

Is This Balance?

HELENA INDEPENDENT RECORD, Sept. 9 — Carroll College President Tom Trebon has canceled the participation of Planned Parenthood of Montana in a workshop on life issues in keeping with the American bishops' national policy calling for colleges not to provide a platform for abortion advocates.

However, in a step that many may find strange for a college sponsored by the Diocese of Helena, Trebon also asked Eric Schiedermayer of the Montana Catholic Conference to also stay away from the conference.

This “was done in an effort to maintain balance,” reported the newspaper.

Religion Eliminated

THE CATHOLIC TIMES, Sept. 9 — In a measure that deprives Christian parents the constitutionally guaranteed right to religious schooling, Quebec lawmakers “quietly” passed a law that effectively eliminates all religious instruction from public schools by 2008 in favor of a course in ethics, reported the Montreal-based newspaper.

In 1997, Quebec enacted a constitutional amendment that eliminated denominational religious schools while allowing religious instruction to continue within the public school system — until now.

In its story on the change, Catholic News Agency reported that there were no press releases from the Ministry of Education on the decision, nor were there any reports in the secular English press.

Intelligent Australia

AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORP., Aug. 29 — Australian Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson has given conditional support to the teaching of intelligent design theory alongside Darwinism in the nation's schools, especially if that is what is desired locally.

ABC and the rest of the mainstream Australian media treated the announcement with derision, rarely including favorable comment about the theory that the complexity of the universe points to the likelihood of an “intelligent design” over the random selection of Darwinism.

Honor Roll

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, Sept. 9 —The Acton Institute of Grand Rapids, Mich., has issued its second annual Catholic High School Honor Roll of the nation's 50 best secondary Catholic schools in America. In its evaluation, the institute, which does not rank the 50, gives equal weight to the academic, civic and Catholic components.

For Catholic identity, the institute takes account, among other things, of how often the schools make Mass and confession available to the students, and the availability of priests.

Honor Roll schools range from the 24-student Holy Rosary Academy in Anchorage, Alaska, to St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with more than 2,100 students. Schools from 21 states made the Honor Roll led by Florida with seven schools selected.