Keeping It Catholic

Year 2000

Conference Alerts

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NACHE Extends Ban

Misinformation Coming From Atlanta

Sex Ed Publisher Sponsors TORCH Jubilee Conference

 

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 NACHE Extends Ban on

Leading Catholic Home StudyProgram

June 16-17, 2000

Catholic Homeschool Conference in Atlanta, GA

 

 

Seton Home Study School, the leading Catholic homeschool program and Catholic educational publisher, is barred from the upcoming June 16-17 Atlanta, GA Catholic homeschool curriculum conference and book fair. NACHE instructed Atlanta's conference organizers, assisted by NACHE with details like speakers and vendors, not to invite Seton Home Study School to the conference.

 

"I strongly recommend that you invite Dr. Clark and Seton Home Study" as a "gesture of unity and friendship," wrote Fr. John Hardon, S.J. (NACHE's spiritual advisor) to the NACHE board in May 1999 after the organization made it clear they had no intention of asking Seton to host a table.

 

Dismissing Fr. Hardon's input, NACHE banned Seton from their 1999 event held in Manassas, VA. In the year 2000, NACHE will ban Seton from both Manassas, VA and Atlanta, VA --- and any other areas in which NACHE may be "assisting" state or regional conferences.

 

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."

 

In 1995, the Holy Father commended Seton Home Study for its good work and blessed the Catholic homeschooling program and its families. Keeping It Catholic stands with Pope John Paul II and Fr. Hardon, S.J. in their support of Seton Home Study School.

 

Anyone with further information on any NACHE affiliated events is urged to contact Keeping It Catholic at keepitcatholic@usa.net

 

Background information on NACHE's actions against Seton can be found at Keeping It Catholic Homeschool Flash Alert

 

NACHE's questionable actions received commentary from Catholic organizations like Keeping It Catholic, Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of Victory, Roman Catholic Faithful and others in a July 1999 article which can be found at Wanderer Reports on Homeschool Tensions

 

Since the Holy Father's blessing of Seton and Fr. Hardon's support of the leading Catholic home study program means nothing to NACHE, homeschooling parents must ask themselves if they will continue to support NACHE by attending their conferences or subscribing to their quarterly journal, The Catholic Home Educator.

 

Keeping It Catholic commends those businesses that choose not to host a table at any NACHE conference and will be recommending homeschoolers to consider purchasing materials from those same Catholic companies. Such companies will later be listed on this website.

 

Please contact Keeping It Catholic with any questions about how we can publicly help support your business by emailing us at keepitcatholic@usa.net

 

For those who would like further information on this unfortunate situation in Atlanta, please email Seton Home Study at info@setonhome.org or Mrs. Donaldson, the Atlanta Conference Organizer, at kadonald@juno.com

 

Also see... Misinformation Coming From Atlanta and

Sex Ed Publisher Sponsors TORCH Jubilee Conference

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Misinformation Coming From Atlanta

 

Some homeschoolers report that they are receiving misinformation concerning Seton and NACHE from someone in Atlanta. That misinformation says that Fr. John Hardon, S.J., instructed Dr. Clark to meet with NACHE, specifically Mary Hasson, and reconcile their differences.

 

More than a few weeks ago, a long and amiable conversation took place between Mrs. Bartold and the Atlanta conference organizer. It was then that it became clear to Mrs. Bartold that the Atlanta conference is a NACHE affiliated event. The Atlanta conference organizer did not once make any statement about Fr. Hardon's alleged advice to Seton. The organizer did repeatedly say she felt she was "stuck in the middle" and that the problems should "never have been publicized."

 

The fact is Fr. Hardon never made any such instructions to MK Clark. Not only has Keeping It Catholic confirmed this with both Fr. Hardon and Dr. Mary Kay Clark, but even NACHE has not dared to make this insinuation on their website. (They can and do make insinuations about others, but they tend to be a bit more careful in not rocking the boat when it comes to Fr. Hardon's reputation. Following his direction is another matter entirely.)

 

Specifically, Fr. Hardon's advice to MK Clark (when it first started in 1998) was to "Remain silent and pray." Every time she received a letter from NACHE, she forwarded it to Fr. Hardon for his advice, which remained the same - "Remain silent and pray." Finally, in May 1999, Fr. Hardon intervened on Seton's behalf. Unfortunately, NACHE dismissed his advice.

  

Last, homeschoolers will note that Fr. Hardon's letter to NACHE was never made public on either the Torch or NACHE websites.

 

Also see 

Sex Ed Publisher Sponsors TORCH Jubilee Conference  

 

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 Sex Ed Publisher Sponsors

TORCH Leaders' "Jubilee" Conference

 

Our Sunday Visitor, publisher of the controversial Catholic Vision of Love (CVOL) series, was the major sponsor of the TORCH Chapter Leaders' National Jubilee Conference held April 27-29, 2000 in St. Louis, MO. CVOL is best known as a "chastity cloaked" sex education series used in many parochial schools, especially in the Pittsburgh, PA diocese.

 

In addition, the TORCH March 2000 issue says that Faithful Servant, "an Internet-based business that provides training and education on family finances and investing using scripture (sic) and the Catechism as a guide is sponsoring the TORCH Friday night dinner for leaders." This conference was open only to TORCH leaders or those who wish to become TORCH leaders. TORCH advertised that this conference would give its leaders the "tools you need to make you a better homeschool group leader and a better leader of souls (emphasis ours)."

 

 Apparent connections exist between TORCH board members, NACHE board members, Fr. Stubna, S.T.D. and a few participants of the Pittsburgh "home school study group," Catholic Vision of Love, Our Sunday Visitor and the Legionnaires of Christ.

 

-Fr. Kris Stubna, S.T.D., editor of Catholic Vision of Love, is now a NACHE Advisory Board member. (Neither Fr. Stubna nor, for that matter, Kimberly Hahn were associated with NACHE until *after* they participated in constructing the Pittsburgh "homeschool" guidelines.) Fr. Stubna - who admitted in a letter to Pittsburgh parents that CVOL was a sex education series designed for religion class - headed the Pittsburgh home school study group in 1996.

 

-Michaelann Martin, a featured speaker at this TORCH Leaders' Conference, attended the initial Pittsburgh home school study group.

 

-Mary Hasson, who stepped down from the TORCH national board last summer but retained her position with NACHE, was also a speaker at the TORCH Leaders' Conference.

 

-Catholic Vision of Love (again, published by Our Sunday Visitor and edited by Fr. Stubna, S.T.D.) was advertised in NACHE's publication "The Catholic Home Educator" over a year and half ago. Although the ad raised an alarm among Catholic homeschoolers, NACHE dismissed the complaints, claiming CVOL was a "family life" program.

 

-Fr. Edward Hopkins, L.C. was a speaker during the Friday session of the TORCH Leaders' Conference; the Legionnaires of Christ have ties to Our Sunday Visitor and other Catholic publications like Catholic Twin Circle. Mary Hasson, like many other TORCH leaders, is a Regnum Christi member (the lay association of the Legionnaires of Christ).

 

-St. Louis' TORCH leader, Donna Meyer, also alluded to the TORCH/LC Connection when she said at a taped TORCH meeting, "Torch is run by the elite. The rest must obey." She explained that a good number of the TORCH leaders are members of Regnum Christi members and are under the personal, spiritual direction of LC priests. Stating that the LC's "have a direct line to the Magisterium," Mrs. Meyer added that, by virtue of their membership in Regnum Christi, both TORCH, as group, and individual board members cannot be questioned or challenged.

 

 

TORCH and the Jubilee Indulgence

 

TORCH has made the following claim in their MARCH 2000 issue of the TORCH newsletter: "This Conference will be an opportunity to receive the gift of the Jubilee Indulgence (see Greetings Column) and Jubilee medals blessed by Pope John Paul II. Our gracious volunteers are giving of themselves in very much the same way that various confraternities in Rome offered hospitality to their pilgrim guests in the early jubilees. Their work was inspired by St. Philip Neri, who was just starting his activities in Rome, and were a manifestion of the Church's charity. The confraternities materially organized the pilgrims, offering perfect service, excellent food, abundant soups, fresh sheets, etc..."

 

Omission of Pertinent Fact and Faith Matters

 

In addition to TORCH's self-comparison to the early confraternities inspired by a saint of the early Church, TORCH failed to specifically note the conditions under which a Jubilee Indulgence is given. A careful reading of the TORCH Greetings column finds mention that there "are specific conditions." It even rhetorically asked, "What are the conditions for obtaining the Jubilee Indulgence? It necessitates a physical and spiritual pilgrimage wherein we encounter God the Father. In this journey we receive the Sacraments of Penance and Eucharist and do prescribed works." This was followed by advising the reader to either contact their own diocese to obtain a copy of the conditions or visit the Vatican website (with URL provided).

 

Seven more paragraphs followed with a smattering on the history of indulgences. One short paragraph explained that the Holy Father "has asked that every diocese in the world appoint a Jubilee church that would enjoy the same status as the basilicas in Rome."

 

At any rate, it is unfortunate that TORCH's newsletter did not dedicate space to the actual conditions to receive the Jubilee Indulgence. As it stands, what TORCH did say could be construed as misleading participants to believe the Indulgence would be bestowed upon them solely by attending the TORCH conference.

 

A Catholic cannot receive the Jubilee Indulgence simply by attending a TORCH Conference, or any other conference; instead, it is likely that the church of Our Lady of the Snows, Belleville, IL, at which Mass will be offered, was a Jubilee Indulgenced church. Even then, the faithful still had to fulfill the required conditions in order to gain the Jubilee Indulgence. However, TORCH neglected to clarify anywhere in its newsletter whether Our Lady of the Snows is a Jubilee Indulgenced Church.

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