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Welcome
to
Keeping
It Catholic's
Homeschool
News
page!
Updated
May 28, 2000
Before
reading any further...
Please
don't forget to bookmark these pages so you
can
"Keep
in contact with Keep
It Catholic!"
Links
below include on and off site articles
Homeschoolers
Comment on the Big Issues
Just
some of the letters and emails KIC has received on
issues like guidelines, sex education, TORCH, NACHE and
more!
Sex
Ed Publisher Sponsors TORCH
Conference
Our
Sunday Visitor, publisher of the controversial "Catholic
Vision of Love," sponsored the TORCH Leaders' Conference
in St. Louis, MO.
The TORCH
website also proclaims Our Sunday Visitor's support
at:
http://www.catholic-homeschool.com/Our_Friends/our_friends.htm
NACHE
Continues to Dismiss Fr. Hardon's Advice and Extends
Ban on Catholic Home Study
Program
When
Keeping It Catholic asked
Fr. Hardon about
NACHE's public actions against Seton, he declared,
"That
is clearly wrong. I do not support what NACHE has done in
any way. Those so-called Catholics made those decisions
on their own. They
told me they do not have to take my
advice,
they only have to listen to it." Please
click on the link above for the story.
History
of the Hot
Debate:
1994
- 1995
NCEA
Survey on Catholic
Homeschoolers
See what your
diocese had to say to the NCEA! The memorandum results
isued by Sr. Antoinette Dudek are presented in 9
parts.
April
1998
Homeschoolers:
A House Divided
Marianna Bartold's
nine page article was published in Mothers Watch and is
followed by the MW editors' comments.
April/May
1998
TORCH
Leaders Launch "Link" Deletion
Demands
Immediately
after Homeschoolers: A
House Divided was
released, some people associated with TORCH groups began
a campaign, emailing Catholic websites that linked to
Keeping It Catholic and strongly urging that KIC be
deleted as a link. Those webmasters
not
associated with TORCH
did not comply but instead forwarded those demands to
Keeping It Catholic.
May
1998
TORCH
"Greetings" Article
Questions
the Obedience of Fellow
Catholics
Another direct link
to the NACHE site. Interestingly enough, TORCH has not
published this article on their own website. This is the
article upon which an allegation of schism was made
without outright naming the "defendants."
June
1998
Homeschoolers:
Next Casualty?
Opens with a brief
synopis on the history of Catholic homeschooling, shares
Church teaching on education and warns of what Marianna
Bartold calls "Catholic Homeschooling - Protestant
style" Heavily footnoted.
July
1998
Homeschoolers
and the Hierarchy
A continuation of
Homeschoolers: Next Casualty? , this article
addresses the internal problems within Catholic
homeschooling and NACHE's plan to become the "bridge"
between homeschoolers and the hierarchy. Heavily
footnoted.
July
1998
Seton
Article: Authority in the
Church
This
is the article which Fr. Hardon, S.J. called "free of
doctrinal error" and which also received the approval of
three other Catholic priests before publication.
Ironically, it is the same article which ultimately led
NACHE to take unjust action against Seton Home Study
School.
July 16,
1998
Hasson's
Private Letter to Seton
http://www.nache.org/let4.html
The most
striking thing about this letter is its
irony.
In this letter, Mary Hasson continued the argument about
church authority but the crux of the matter is revealed
when she adds false and extremely personal allegations.
While Mrs. Hasson tries to claim her own integrity was
under fire, she did not hesitate in making a blatant
character assassination attempt.
The link
above will take you to this letter on NACHE website. The
letter was not made public by NACHE until June 30,
1999.
July
29, 1998
The
Pledge of Solidarity - Help or
Hindrance?
Was this a pledge
or a "damage control document'? The "Pledge" was signed
by a number of TORCH and NACHE board members
including Kimberly Hahn and Mary Hasson. A minute number
of other homeschoolers signed "the Pledge" but the
majority did not....find
out why.
Fall
1998
Twelve
Problems with the
Pledge
Keeping
It Catholic compares the "Pledge" to Church
teaching.
Fall
1998
What's
Up with CHSNA?
KIC knows
all about that " Elephant in the Parlor"
Fall
1998
The
Pittsburgh Story - A Dynamite
Omission
What
part of Fr. Stubna's workshop did TORCH omit on their
website? Keeping It Catholic offers the
entire
transcript.
Fall
1998
KIC and
RCF: National Homeschool Fax
Alert
With
one national fax alert, Roman Catholic Faithful and
Keeping It Catholic members brought serious concerns to
the attention of the Vatican, Fr. Hardon, S.J., and
Catholic homeschoolers concerning NACHE's plans and
associations.
February
1999
TORCH/NACHE
Claim to Set the Record
Straight
Above
is a direct link to the NACHE website.
Remember
the "Pledge
of Solidarity"
(July 1998) to which NACHE members
Mary
Hasson and
Kimberly
Hahn
added their names? Read this article Setting the
Record Straight and then ask yourself if they really
took the Pledge seriously - especially the promise about
discussing
issues and
not
attacking persons. While
at the NACHE website,
please take read the letters Mary Hasson wrote to Seton,
which
also
violate the same Pledge she signed.
Take
Another Look:
While at the NACHE website, viewers will find a few NACHE
letters written to Seton School - letters which Seton
instantly submitted to Fr. John Hardon, S.J. (NACHE's
spiritual advisor) for his advice.
Twice,
his response to Seton was "Remain silent and pray."
After
NACHE's long harrassment against Seton, Fr. Hardon
intervened on Seton's behalf. There
are two glaring omissions at the NACHE website
:
1.
NACHE makes no
mention
that they asked Fr. Hardon for any assistance
in any regard to Seton. Fr. Hardon
personally
confirmed to the Keeping It Catholic Network
that
he was never
contacted
by NACHE at
any time
concerning NACHE's issues with Seton. Nor did
NACHE answer his letter in which he recommended
that Seton should be invited to the
NACHE conference. Fr.
Hardon affirmed
to Keeping It Catholic that the Seton article, to
which NACHE objects, is "free of doctrinal error." The
same cannot
be said of NACHE's letters and articles concerning
Church authority, as they did not submit themselves to
the guidance of Fr. John Hardon, S.J. when writing
rebuttals.
2.
Fr
Hardon's letter, intervening on the behalf of Seton
Home Study School, is nowhere
mentioned
or found on the NACHE site. Instead, NACHE
totally dismissed Fr. Hardon's input - and added
insult to injury but publicing claiming on their
website that he
was misinformed.
April
10, 1999
NACHE
"Lays Down the Law"
Although NACHE has
not issued letters to Protestant vendors or publishers,
they've done it to Seton, the leading Catholic homeschool
program...Read NACHE's "requirements" created especially
just for Seton. Seton's director, Dr. Mary Kay Clark, is
not only expected to explain Seton's article on Church
authority, but she also must explain her professional
relationship with another leading Catholic homeschooler -
author, publisher and editor Marianna Bartold.
The questions
remains...was the issue ever about Church authority? By
NACHE's own words, we can see it was not.
June
23, 1999
NACHE
Bans Seton Against Fr. Hardon's
Advice
Seton is banned by NACHE for
accurately describing Church authority
...but again, was that ever
the real
issue?
June
30, 1999
NACHE:
Public Letter Skews Issues
One week after
Keeping It Catholic issued an email flash news alert
concerning NACHE's banishment of Seton, NACHE released a
public letter. In their own words, they revealed the
issue was never about Church authority. NACHE admitted
they were taking action against Seton for a number of
things in the Seton "Authority in the Church"
article.
They are
the following:
1) publicly and correctly
defining church authority, thus correcting Mary Hasson's
misunderstandings on the subject;
2) publicly acknowledging
the link between TORCH and NACHE
3) noting Mary
Hasson's apparent "schism" charge and questioning
it;
4) the coupe de graux-
their allegation and demands concerning the professional
relationship between Dr. Clark of Seton and Marianna
Bartold of Keeping It Catholic.
Please note that
NACHE also made attempts to skew KIC's views and
actions in many ways. One example: NACHE claims that
Mariann Bartold of KIC advocates that Catholic
homeschoolers should separate themselves from the
institutional Church. This
is one of the worst of all the outrageous
statements NACHE had
made against Mrs Bartold and KIC. To repeat: This is
an outrageous falsehood.
Nowhere,
at any time, in public or private discourse, has KIC or
Mrs. Bartold made any statement of that kind. What KIC
has done is question abuse
of
authority - which is quite different.
We would
do the same to an abusive parent who defended such abuse
by pointing to God's command, "Honor thy father and
mother."
Thus, we
invite NACHE to stick
to facts
and remove these and other falsehoods, assumptions and
allegations from their website.
July
3, 1999
NACHE
and KIC: Truth Unveiled Once
More
KIC makes
one more attempt to dialogue with NACHE - and invites
everyone on the NACHE board to comment.
July
6, 1999
NACHE's
Response to Keeping It Catholic
Now see the
results.
July
12-13, 1999
NACHE
Board Member On "Damage Control"
(Coming
Soon!)
July
15, 1999
Wanderer
News Piece on Seton/NACHE
This article
includes commentaries on NACHE's ban against
Seton by KIC, CHSNA, Seton, Our Lady of the Rosary,
Our Lady of Victory and Roman Catholic
Faithful.
July
29, 1999
Saints
and Scholars' Opinion Piece on
Seton/NACHE
Jeff Minick (of
Saints and Scholars, a resource many Catholic
homechoolers use), shared his opinion on the Seton/NACHE
issue. The
most interesting part of
his story concerns NACHE's information packet handed out
to homeschooling parents that attended their 1999
conference.
Find out which information
NACHE withheld...
Summer
1999 Issue
Mothers'
Watch: More Strikes Against NACHE
As usual,
Mothers Watch tell it like it is,with no holds
barred...
August
1999
CHSNA Comments
on NACHE
(This same article has
finally been uploaded to the CHSNA website
at http://chsna.org/service.htm
)
And
Elsewhere...
NACHE's
"Useful Links"
...should be
renamed in the singular, as they have only one link - to
TORCH.
But there's no connection
between the two...right?
There is not one
link to any Catholic home school program, any other
supports groups other than TORCH, or to the increasing
number of Catholic publishers who are now catering to
Catholic homeschoolers, etc.
See it for
yourself at http://www.nache.org/links.html
The
"New" NACHE -
Bridge
Building Under Way
NACHE's (National
Association of Catholic Home Educators) seven board
members have given their organization a little face lift.
As reported earlier both on this site and elsewhere,
NACHE has announced its intent to pursue status as a
"lay association of the faithful,"in order to be a
"bridge" between homeschoolers and the hierarchy. KIC's
earlier reporting was verified by NACHE itself in the
Michaelmas 1998 issue of its newsletter, The Catholic
Home Educator.
By the fall of 1998, the
association printed a small advisory board to their
newsletter masthead. With their new advisory board, it
appears the NACHE "bridge" is well under
construction.
In the Lent 1999 issue of
The Catholic Home Educator (Lent 1999), there were
some eye-brow raising additions to the advisory board.
The names now listed span the conservative - liberal
array. This is the same organization that, according to
the priest himself, voted
Fr. John Hardon, S.J. "off" the board without even
contacting him about the proposal ---
yet retained him
as spiritual advisor. Fr. Hardon said he allowed himself
to be retained as he hoped to be of some influence to
NACHE.
The updated
NACHE advisory board includes the following
individuals:
Cardinal
John O'Connor (now deceased)
Cardinal
William Keeler
Most Rev.
Paul Dudley
Fr.
Richard Gill, L.C.
Fr.
Cornelius O'Brien
Fr. Jack
Riley
Fr. Mike
Scanlon, TOR
Fr. Kris
Stubna
Curtis
Martin
Michaelann
Martin
Dr. Scott
Hahn
Mike
Aquilina
Deal
Hudson
Patrick
Madrid
Connie
Marshner
Dr.
Timothy O'Donnell
Scott
and Kimberly Hahn, Michael and Teresa Aquilina, and
Fr. Stubna, STD were all members of the first meeting
Pittsburgh homeschool study group. Those who continued
with the group were Kimberly Hahn, Michael Aquilina,
and Fr. Stubna (as well as others).
NACHE
likes to claim it doesn't encourage guidelines -
so
was it prudent to ask three people involved in
Pittsburgh guidelines to join their advisory
board?
Homeschool
Leaders Report:
We
Don't Need a Bridge
Homeschool leaders who
attended the 1998 Round Table report they are not happy
with any of the following:
- NACHE's
plans to be the "bridge" between homeschoolers and the
hierarchy;
-NACHE's
1998 invitation to Fr. Kris Stubna, editor of the highly
controversial Catholic
Vision of Love,
to speak about the "Pittsburgh
Story";
-NACHE's
acceptance and printing of an ad for the sex ed series
Catholic Vision of Love (edited by the same Fr.
Stubna),
-nor do
they appreciate NACHE's refusal to apologize for the
mistake.
If NACHE
claims they only exist to serve homeschoolers, why are
they not
listening to parents
and leaders leaders from grass-roots groups?
KIC is
listening
and the message
we're getting from homeschoolers is clear:
The
majority of Catholic homeschool families do not want and
did not ask for "representative" group to be a bridge to
the hierarchy who offer reams of evidence they themselves
are not obedient to the Magisterium or the Holy Father,
to make decisions for them, to represent them or to speak
for them.
Keep in
mind....
-NACHE has no real
membership; it has subscribers to The Catholic Home
Educator.
-subscribers to The
Catholic Home Educator are called members but are not
ever asked to vote on any issues with which NACHE
involves itself;
-homeschoolers are *not*
allowed to vote for or against any of NACHE's
plans;
-NACHE claims a
willingness to dialogue, but what does that mean? They
have demonstrated time and again their own definition of
dialogue means working with people that will assist and
suport NACHE. On
the other side of the coin, NACHE works
very hard to discredit those who disagree with or correct
them.
-NACHE has never been
known to apologize for its mistakes. Their mistakes are
either defended or blamed on outside
sources.
-NACHE's board -
all lay people - refuse
to obey Fr. John Hardon, S.J.
The lay members act on
their own perogatives and have made it clear they are not
interested in dialoguing with homeschoolers who do not
agree with them; on the contrary, NACHE has shown an
alarming willingness to silence, in any way possible,
those who dare to question them in any
way;
-When silencing doesn't
work, defamation of character against opponents is the
name of the NACHE game.
Homeschoolers
Say NO to NACHE
An increasing number of
Catholic homeschooling parents are saying
NO
to NACHE. They
report they will avoid NACHE conferences, will not
subscribe to their newsletter The
Catholic Home Educator,
will not purchase their conference tapes, and will
boycott any of their board members who appear elsewhere
as speakers. These
homeschooles feel it may be the only way to get the
message through that NACHE is no longer serving the needs
of Catholic homeschoolers, but only their own
interests.
Priest
Resigns from TORCH
"Official"
(enforced?) homeschool program?
Dialogue
with the Diocese - Is It Prudent?
No
Previous Experience Wanted!
Rome
Didn't Deny It!
Diocesan
Tricks of the Trade
Beware:
Faith and History Quiz
The
Protestant-but-Catholic-owned
homeschool
magazine
Priest
Resigns From TORCH
Fr.
John H. Miller, CSC, PhB, S.T.D. is the publisher/editor
of
Social
Justice Review.
He
is a former Associate Professor of Theology at the
University of Notre Dame.
Fr.
Miller
was acting as spiritual advisor to
TORCH
(St. Louis, MO)
but
he resigned from the homeschool group in the summer of
1998. Local TORCH Chapter
president
Donna
Meyers insisted
that she, on her own authority, could claim to represent
TORCH and write the St. Louis Department of Religious
Education to thank them for guidelines - guidelines which
were never officially signed by the bishop. Fr. Miller
and the majority of TORCH members continued to resist
this for almost an entire year while Mrs. Meyers
continued to pressure members to give in to her
wishes.
At a
summer 1998 meeting she again addressed the issue of
writing a letter to the DRE in St. Louis.
Fr.
Miller said that Mrs. Meyers
insulted those who did not agree with her views and
labelled them as being "disobedient
to the hierarchy"
and therefore, "in
schism."
Because
of the TORCH president's longtime insistence that she
could impose her will upon the group, Fr. Miller finally
called for a vote of Donna Meyer's resignation during the
meeting. Mrs. Meyer insisted that such an action was
not
allowed. Fr. Miller then said he would resign himself.
The TORCH St. Louis group has since
disbanded.
"Torch is
run by the elite. The rest must
obey,"
said Mrs.
Meyers
at that last meeting which
was taped. She
further stated that, since a good number of the TORCH
leaders are members of Regnum
Christi
(Legionaires of Christ - LC), and are under
personal
spiritual direction of LC priests, TORCH is in
direct contact with the Magisterium and thus, ipso facto,
the TORCH group and individual board members cannot be
questioned or challenged. Mrs.
Meyers casts a questionable light upon the LC's by this
comment and
also shows her ignorance of the Magisterium's
true
definition.
In the
meantime, TORCH "Central" (as Mrs. Meyers calls it,
meaning the "national board") has appointed a new leader
who will attempt to reinstitute the TORCH St. Louis
Group, continuing Mrs. Meyers' earlier attempts. The
latest report is that Donna
Meyers
has since been asked to join the TORCH National
Board.
On a
related note:
Fr. Miller congratulated
Keeping
It Catholic's
Marianna Bartold for her "excellent articles" which
brought to the public light of day the principles and
actions of TORCH and NACHE. The articles were published
in Mothers Watch and Catholic Family News.
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