McGrath Institute Blog

During my second year of teaching, I had a very unique schedule. After my second-hour pre-calculus class, my sophomore theology students walked into the room for Church History. Given the sharp difference between the two classes and my personal interest in mathematician-theologians like René Descartes and Blaise Pascal, I began asking how I could make my math classroom a place for students to encounter the faith. Certainly this is the ideal. A math class, or any class, in a Catholic school ought to have a distinctive character, a formative dimension that transcends the intellectual component of education.

For over 2000 years, the Catholic Church has proclaimed that every human person has inherent dignity and inestimable worth. Though one of the greatest gifts handed down to cultures and societies across history, this proclamation is perhaps the most audacious the Church announces in the modern world. Amidst the violence and chaos of the world, the Church consistently calls on each one of us to recognize and act in accordance with the dignity of each and every human being, from conception to natural death. Catholic school educators, regardless of the subject they teach, have a responsibility to inculcate this fundamental belief in their students.

After having made the transition from in-person to online education this past spring, many parents have spent the summer grappling with the decision of whether to send their children back to school—either in-person or virtually—or to homeschool them. For those who have opted for the latter, the beginning of this school year may seem like a daunting prospect; however, this four-part series by McGrath Institute staff member and long-time homechooler Caroline Murphy offers ways to approach this form of education that can help enrich both the educational experience and life at home, while preserving the mental wherewithal of both parents and children.

A growing number of people today assume that the pursuit of the natural world—science—must move us farther and farther from God. Recent studies have confirmed that great numbers of young people are leaving the Church because of the “conflict” between faith and science and the lack of scientific evidence for religion (see Faith, Science and Reason: Theology on the Cutting Edge, 24). Popular narratives aside, science and faith are not enemies. In fact, through the years, Christianity has been essential to the progression of science and it is only in recent decades that such misconceptions have ingrained themselves into the cultural subconscious. Yet it stands that the conversation about the relationship between faith and science is an important one that we are all bound to encounter, whether in our classrooms, parishes, workplaces, or homes. For the good of Catholic young people and the future of science, this vision must be restored, because it is only when faith and science are seen together that one can come to see clearly the truth of both the world and the glory of God. 

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