Keeping It Catholic Introduction Service to Families - CHSNA's View
2nd CHSNA Article: NACHE Bars Seton from Manassas Convention
Another article on the Seton/NACHE issue appeared in CHSNA's (Catholic Home School Network of America) "Domestic Church," dated August 1999. CHSNA carefully chose their words in commenting on the situation, and managed to evade the argument over the TORCH/NACHE connection - but even a cursory look at CHSNA's article brings to light an apparent and painful constant in NACHE's reactions.
The constant about NACHE is that the lay board members of the association show little charity - much less forgiveness - toward others who may offend them "whether intentionally or not" (paraphrasing Mary Hasson of NACHE).
As reported here and elsewhere, NACHE and TORCH typically respond by attacking and wounding the personal integrity of individuals who critique the association's words and actions. In their world, those who do not agree with them hold the wrong view. Even Fr. Hardon, NACHE's spiritual advisor, is not exempt since NACHE's decision to ignore his recommendations was explained away. NACHE's excuse was that Fr. Hardon's intervention on behalf of Seton and his "understanding" of the situation "was based on several inaccurate points of information." According to Fr. Hardon, NACHE never even bothered to discuss those supposed misunderstandings with him before issuing their final edict which banned Seton from the 1999 NACHE convention.
NACHE attempted to make the central argument one of Seton's misrepresenting their views. Why? Dr. Clark made the TORCH/NACHE connection public when commenting on Mary Hasson's lead "Greetings" article published in May 1998. (Incidentally, "Greetings (and salutations) is the normal "hello" from the government to a man receiving his draft notice...)
By February 1999, it was made painfully clear that Dr. Clark was correct in this assessment. If such was not the case, Mary Hasson's vicious harangue "Setting the Record Straight" would not have been printed on both the TORCH and NACHE websites. TORCH's former national coordinator, Joan Stromberg, would not have denounced the Wanderer's article on the situation as "bunk"without offering any supporting evidence (see the Catholicity homeschool archives, July 1999).
The officers of TORCH and NACHE have made a serious set of mistakes. The first mistake is the denial that the two organizations are connected. Let us muse on the fact that there is nothing sinister in having two allegedly distinct organizations somehow associated with the other. Yet both organizations consistently deny that fact, claiming they only share outlook and one board member (Mary Hasson, who recently resigned from TORCH to further other work in which she is involved, allegedly work in the Regnum Christi movement). The groups have never admitted that a good number of the original NACHE board members were either TORCH founders or TORCH supporters. A simple admission to this easily proven fact might have laid to rest that particular question. (How does one prove this? A collection of the early TORCH and NACHE newsletters features many of the same names as contacts or leaders or officers.) Yet both groups continued to deny it. One cannot help but wonder why.
There are other blunders, but let's focus only on this one. NACHE could have easily rectified the entire "misunderstanding" with Seton - not to mention what they did to Our Lady of Victory - by taking an entirely different course of action. Some of those actions include the following:
1. The entire NACHE board should have gone to Fr. Hardon when Mary Hasson took the Seton article too personally. They would have discovered Fr. Hardon approved Seton's article. Theoretically, that would have been that (or at least, "should" have been that.)
2.) The NACHE board should have advised Mary Hasson to let the whole thing drop. She went too far in her one year pursuit of harassing Seton.
3. If that wasn't within their capabilties, they should have followed Fr. Hardon's advice to invite Dr. Clark and Seton to the NACHE conference as a gesture of "unity and friendship."
4. And if even that was beyond them, they should have first contacted their spiritual advisor, Fr. Hardon, and asked for his advice before they did anything. They never did. Never.
5. Since NACHE preferred the "private communique" method they first employed with Seton (without even letting Fr. Hardon know about it), they also could have later asked Fr. Hardon for his assistance when Dr. Clark did not respond.
Had NACHE done this, they would have quickly discovered through Fr. Hardon that Seton chose to refer the entire matter to him. They would have known that Fr. Hardon recommended silence on Seton's part. (If nothing else, NACHE's excuse about Fr. Hardon's alleged misunderstanding of the situation proves that the entire board is not in regular contact with him. In this case, it is clear that a full year passed before there was any communication between the priest and NACHE. It boggles the mind that not one person on the NACHE board - especially Kimberly Hahn and Mary Hasson - ever considered discussing the situation with Fr. Hardon during the interim. It should be noted that Fr. Hardon claims that NACHE never discussed the situation with him. He discovered the problem when Dr. Clark of Seton Home Study contacted him.)
6. Depending on other circumstances and outcomes, NACHE could have written a simple press release explaining their stance. At no time should they have indulged themselves in judging the "spirituality" of any individual. Critiquing and disagreeing is one matter; accusations of lying, collaboration, slander, and schism are another matter - a serious one.
If NACHE had first followed the course given above, at the very least the organization would not have damaged itself by indulging in rumor mongering and proving themselves to be uncharitable in the extreme.
At any rate, NACHE did not follow such a prudent route. During the height of the debate, homeschoolers were made aware of Mary Hasson's apparent charge of schism toward a certain segment of homeschoolers, made in the same TORCH May 1998 newsletter.
In a letter dated July 16, 1998 and later made public by both TORCH and NACHE, Hasson answered that allegation by writing, "My article closed with an invitation to those who have chosen the adversarial approach. I asked them to join those of us who, in accord with the obligation to promote union and communion within the Church, choose to collaborate with rather than oppose Church leaders. The phrase 'back to the fold' in that context would be construed as a charge of heresy and schism only by those who are in the habit of making such accusations themselves."
That is a very interesting interpration of the traditional meaning of the "fold of Christ." Any well-catechized Catholic understands the meaning concerning "the fold." Perhaps she didn't expect to be called on the carpet for accusing others of being "outside the fold of Christ." She offers no apology for her poor choice of words; instead, in true "to form"fashion, she simply makes yet another accusation.
Mrs. Hasson made her opinion resoundingly clear -- that those who immediately understood her thinly veiled "schism" charge are simply living examples of "the pot calling the kettle black."
If Mary Hasson's view is always true, then homeschoolers can only come to one conclusion. NACHE - who so quickly accuses KIC, Seton, CHSNA, Roman Catholic Faithful, and Our Lady of Victory of certain sins - must be guilty of those same sins of which they accuse others, i.e., uncharitableness, lying, collaboration, calumny, detraction and slander.
It must be so, because Mary Hasson, along with the TORCH national board and the NACHE national board who printed her "explanation," has declared that those who accuse are themselves guilty of the accusations they make. There's only one problem. Since when has KIC, Seton, Our Lady of Victory, and Roman Catholic Faithful made it a habit of accusing various Catholic groups of being in schism?
Since Mary Hasson mentions "habits," a closer look at NACHE's "habits" might be in order.
NACHE is in the "habit" of calling everyone else "uncharitable," claiming everyone else "lies," everyone else "collaborates" against them...Again, since such NACHE responses are habitual, they must be guilty of the same sins. Mary Hasson has hoisted NACHE by its own petard.
As it stands, the truth about NACHE - and, to a certain degree, the TORCH national board - is out.
--They are easily offended,
--They respond viciously to fraternal critiques,
--They are not above damaging the good names of schools like Our Lady of Victory (which NACHE's newsletter deemed "schismatic") and Seton Home Study.
--They create and propagate false rumors that include the claim other homeschool individuals and organizations advocate "working outside the Church," as they did to both KIC and CHSNA.
--They exhibit a penchant for attacking the individual reputations of others, as they did to Jim Bendell of Roman Catholic Faithful and Marianna Bartold of Keeping It Catholic.
-- They appear to focus on "obedience" - an obedience to homeschool study groups who assume the authority of the bishop when constructing "homeschool" sacramental guidelines. Yet they themselves are not obedient to their spiritual director, Fr. John Hardon, S.J. Even if Fr. Hardon's role is not one of supreme authority in the NACHE organization, his role as spiritual director, not to mention his recognition as a world-renowned theologian, should bear some weight with the lay board members.
In a word, NACHE's original purpose "to serve" is no longer valid, because the servant now aspires to be the master.
From the August 1999 issue of The Domestic Church, CHSNA's Quarterly Newsletter
Service to Families - CHSNA's View
Elsewhere in this issue of The Domestic Church we report on the decision of the National Association of Catholic Home Educators (NACHE) to ban Seton Home Study School from selling their Catholic textbooks at the NACHE convention in Manassas, Virginia. By the time our readers have this newsletter in hand, both the original NACHE conference and Seton's curriculum fair will be concluded and both parties will have time to reflect on the situation.
The difference in attitude concerning parental authority in the Church, alluded to in articles by NACHE board member, Mary Hasson, and Seton director, Dr. Mary Kay Clark, presents an ongoing challenge to the Catholic home schooling community. The recommendations presented by either side concerning relations with the institutional Church affect the very heart of Catholic home school families as they struggle to pass on the Faith to their children intact, and seek to secure the graces of the Sacraments of Penance, Holy Eucharist and Confirmation for their children. Future issues of The Domestic Church will feature articles which will articulate Church teaching on this matter.
There is, however, another question here that must be addressed as well, and it concerns the reasons home study schools, and home school support and advocacy organizations exist in the first place. Their primary purpose must always be to serve the needs of Catholic families as they prepare the next generation of saints, even while allowing that individual schools or organizations can focus their efforts towards particular families, perhaps those with devotion to the Latin mass or a preference for a particular educational style.
NACHE lists "assist[ing] with regional Catholic home schooling conferences" as a primary goal in their mission statement. Their annual convention in Manassas, however, has been provoking mixed reports for the last several years, including complaints about non-Catholic vendors and controversial speakers. This year, as in previous years, there were some authentic Catholic materials displayed and sold, including religious fiction and non-fiction books, children's readers, and sacramentals. Speakers addressed issues important to Catholic home schooling parents, and families were able to share ideas with one another. One homeschooling father of seven, however, reported that the Catholic items for sale were the same as those available at his local religious bookstore; the vast majority of specifically educational materials had a strong Protestant flavor.
Seton's exclusion from the convention, added to the absence of Our Lady of the Rosary School and Our Lady of Victory School, prevented large numbers of parents from being informed about the services offered by the three oldest and largest full-service curriculum providers in the United States. Presently, these three programs are the only Catholic schools to offer paper grading, a service many parents consider essential for home schooling success. Additionally, parents were denied the opportunity to purchase books from Seton Press, the largest publisher of textbooks written expressly for Catholic home schoolers in the world.
Only the NACHE board members can decide if their recent action furthers their stated goal, "to provide spiritual, doctrinal, and practical information to home schooling families [and] those considering home schooling." If NACHE chooses to focus its energy toward those families who do not want a full service curriculum, CHSNA sincerely hopes that families will begin to patronize those East Coast conferences which do invite representatives from Seton Home Study, Our Lady of Victory, and Our Lady of the Rosary Schools.
CHSNA's Second Article, August 1999:
NACHE Bars Seton from Manassas Convention
On June 30, 1999, the National Association of Catholic Home Educators (NACHE) officially announced that Seton Home Study School was barred from selling their textbooks at NACHE's July 16-17 convention in Manassas, Virginia. The announcement which was signed by Board Chairman Kimberly Hahn and the full board of directors cited "Dr. Mary Kay Clark's refusal to meet with the NACHE board in order to discuss serious and specific grievances."
In a letter dated April 10, 1999, NACHE president William Bales and Mrs. Hahn acknowledged that, "Seton Home Study School has been a welcome vendor and has provided many excellent materials for homeschoolers across the country." Seton could not participate in the convention, however, unless Dr. Clark agreed to meet with the board and discuss three specific issues. First. Differences between the approaches taken by NACHE and Seton towards the hierarchy especially regarding sacramental preparation; Second, Dr. Clark's lack of response to a July 2, 1998 letter from board member Mary Hasson demanding Dr. Clark retract several statements written in a Seton newsletter article; Third, Dr. Clark's "association" with Marianna Bartold. (sic) A Michigan home school activist who has criticized NACHE policies in several printed articles and on her "Keeping It Catholic" website. (sic)
Dr. Clark responded to all the demands by placing the matter before NACHE's spiritual director, Fr. John Hardon, S.J. When she first consulted Fr. Hardon after receiving the 1998 letter, she followed his advice to, "Remain silent and pray for God's will," and did not respond to Mrs. Hasson's demands to retract statements in her newsletter article entitled, "Authority in the Church." When threatened with being barred from the 1999 convention, Dr. Clark once again forwarded pertinent background information to Fr. Hardon, including Mrs. Hasson's original article in the TORCH newsletter which concerned the relationship between home schooling families and the institutional Church, Dr. Clark's response in the Seton newsletter, and all correspondence to Fr. Hardon once again. Fr. Hardon advised Dr. Clark not to contact the NACHE board assuring her he would take care of it.
In a letter dated May 17, 1999 to the NACHE Board of Directors, Fr. Hardon, acting as their spiritual director urged NACHE to allow Seton to sell their Catholic materials at the conference.
Feeling that Fr. Hardon's direction reflected "an understanding that was based on several inaccurate points of information," on June 16, 1999 the NACHE board faxed Seton a letter indicating that the school's participation at the convention was still contingent on a commitment to meet with their board and setting a deadline of June 19 for her reply. At Fr. Hardon's urging NACHE President Bill Bales tried to contact Dr. Clark after the deadline, but was only able to leave voice mail as she was attending a home schooling conference in Chattanooga. During a conversation on Monday, June 21, Dr.Clark agreed to a meeting with NACHE President Bales only, feeling that she should not have to justify her article to seven people at one time. After consulting with the NACHE board, William Bales informed Seton that [the NACHE] board had refused her offer of a private meeting and the school would not be permitted to rent table space at the convention.
Concerned that Seton's exclusion, coupled with the absence of Our Lady of the Rosary School and Our Lady of Victory school, left families with little opportunity to purchase authentic Catholic textbooks, Seton hurriedly organized a curriculum fair site nearby to the NACHE location.
"As soon as we realized we would not be at the convention, we knew many parents would be disappointed and upset because they use the convention to stock up for the coming school year," commented Dr. Clark. "We are sorry they must travel the extra miles."
Dr. Clark was adamant that, "The conference should stand apart from any differences between our organizations. The purpose of any conference must be to serve Catholic families. That is why we are not charging families to attend our curriculum fair and we are opening at 9 A.M. on Friday, specifically to allow families to purchase their books and then go to the NACHE conference which opens later that day."
When questioned how barring Seton from the conference is serving Catholic families, Mary Hasson responded, "[T]he (sic) answer is not simply about making textbooks available at a convention…Catholic home schooling families are not well served when other home schooling leaders represent NACHE's views…Seton misrepresented NACHE's views, whether purposefully or not."
Did Seton misrepresent NACHE's views? You be the judge. See the Seton article which Fr. Hardon - NACHE's own spiritual advisor - declared "free of doctrinal error" entitled "Authority in the Church."
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