SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — When a same-sex couple approached a local pastor about enrolling their children in Catholic schools, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., saw an opportunity to begin a conversation about those schools’ responsibility to convey the Church’s moral teachings to their students.

But just as important is the reality that parents are the primary educators of their children and that living in accordance with Catholic values at home is necessary for the students’ spiritual development.

“We can do everything in our power to help build up the child as a disciple of Jesus Christ, but if they’re not seeing it at home, if they’re not living it at home, then our best efforts are not going to bear the kind of fruit we would hope to see,” said Jonathan Sullivan, the director of the Diocese of Springfield’s Office for Catechesis.

As society becomes more secular and abandons traditional morality, the nation’s Catholic bishops and Catholic school leaders are increasingly being challenged to uphold Catholic moral teachings in the schools, even as a greater percentage of families reject those teachings.

In San Francisco, for example, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone faced withering criticism this year for seeking to emphasize the importance of Catholic moral teaching in faculty and staff handbooks and teacher contracts. Catholic schools in other locations have come under fire for removing teachers who legally married same-sex spouses.

Sullivan told the Register that the Diocese of Springfield’s new “Family School Agreement” is designed to “make explicit what has always been implicit” in the understanding between Catholic schools and families.

“That is about what the whole purpose is of a Catholic school,” Sullivan said. “It’s about education, yes, but it’s more than that. It’s about forming young people to be disciples of Jesus Christ.”

Based on a similar policy in the Diocese of Wichita, Kan., the Family School Agreement in the Springfield Diocese aims to make clear the commitments that discipleship and stewardship place on parents who wish to enroll their children in Catholic schools.

Among those elements listed in the agreement are an “active witness” to the Catholic faith in one’s daily life, attending Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation, being involved in parish ministries, tithing 8% of income to support the parish and respecting the policies instituted by Catholic school officials.

 

Conversion Conversation

Sullivan stressed that those aims reflect “a broad understanding” of what it means to be a disciple of Christ and should not be read as hardline requirements that parents must perfectly meet before they can enroll their children in Catholic schools.

“We want to have a conversation about ongoing conversion, recognizing that that can be a years-long process,” Sullivan said. “But it has to start somewhere.”

That conversation, however, has been complicated by concerns, reported in local and national mainstream press outlets, that the Diocese of Springfield is “requiring” parents, including those who are not Catholic, to attend Mass and immediately conform their lives to Catholic moral teaching in order to send their children to the Catholic schools.

Officials from Catholic groups that openly dissent from Church teachings on sexual morality have criticized the Family School Agreement as unjustly targeting and undermining the dignity of same-sex households.

As reported by Catholic News Agency, Bishop Paprocki said in a letter to church and school officials that “the policy as actually developed will not single out same-sex couples.”

Said the bishop, “Rather, it will be used for all parents to indicate that they understand and agree that children in the school will be taught the teachings of the Catholic Church in their fullness.”

Sullivan confirmed the agreement does not focus on any particular sin or any type of family.

“The wording of the agreement is very broad,” he said. “It just says we are going to teach your children the fullness of the Catholic faith and if your family is living in a way that is contrary to Christ’s teaching, then we’d like a conversation, in particular a conversation with the pastor, hoping maybe to begin the process of conversion.”

Said Sullivan, “We have been, and always will be, willing to partner with any parent who wants to send their children to a Catholic school and be educated and formed in the faith.”

 

Takes Effect in 2016

Bishop Paprocki signed the decree announcing the Family School Agreement on July 20. The policy is not retroactive, so it will not apply to families that registered their children for Catholic schools this past spring.

All families will be expected to sign the agreement when they register for the 2016-2017 school year. The form that parents will sign says they understand and agree that their children will be taught Church teachings “in their fullness,” even if the parents are living contrary to those teachings.

The agreement also tells those parents that they are “expected” to discuss with their pastor ways in which they can better live in accord with Church teaching.

As to how the agreement affects non-Catholic families, Sullivan said the policy “invites” them to have those same discussions with their local pastor.

“It’s about having integrity, making it clear this is what we’re going to be teaching your children, whether they are Catholic or not,” said Sullivan, who added that non-Catholic families that send their children to Catholic schools are “certainly invited” to attend Sunday Mass, but not required.

“What we’re not doing is trying to coerce anyone into being Catholic,” Sullivan said. “As we’ve been pointing out to pastors and principals, it’s actually against canon law to coerce anyone into becoming Catholic, so that was never a part of this conversation.”

The agreement is also part of Bishop Paprocki’s ongoing efforts to foster a wider understanding of Christian discipleship and stewardship as a way of life, Sullivan said, adding that the 8% tithing mentioned in the agreement is more of an “aspirational goal” to challenge Catholics to think more deeply about stewardship.

“It’s asking us, ‘Do we use the gifts God has given us for the good of the Church and the good of the world?’” Sullivan said, adding that the policy seeks to let parents know that the Catholic schools have a mission to educate and form Christian disciples.

“This has given us an opportunity to think again about how we do that with integrity, how we go about that in a way where the family is clear about what they’re asking us,” Sullivan said, “and we’re clear about what we’re offering.”

Register correspondent Brian Fraga writes from Fall River, Massachusetts.