Keeping It Catholic - Part 2 of the Pit List and Warning Flags

Keeping It Catholic's
Pit List - Page 2

For Catholic homeschoolers, most Warning Flags and Top Tip-Offs will be found in subjects dealing with religion, history, and reading or literature.

The Bible -

King James and Childrens Bibles

History -

Greenleaf, Christian Liberty Press, Abeka and Bob Jones

Reading, Writing and Phonics

Learning Language Arts, Sound Beginnings and

"Everyone's Talking About Harry!"

The Bible

The King James Bible. The KJV (King James Version) is not a Catholic Bible. Pertinent books safeguarded by the Roman Catholic Church were deleted by Luther in order to conform to his personal religious views. This includes the omission of Macabees because it contains a Bibilical reference which supports the Catholic doctrine of purgatory.

The most accurate translation of the Catholic Bible is the Douay-Rheims (pronounced Due-ay Rames). Translations of other Catholic editions were changed in the 1960's but the Douay-Rheims was not.

Here's one way to check if your Bible has the most accurate Latin to English translation:

Flip to Genesis, Chapter 3, Verse 15. In the Douay-Rheims version, the Scripture says: "I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel."

Compare the verse above to the same one found in the Saint Joseph New American Bible, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel."

There is quite a difference in the translation, which means quite a difference in the prophecy. The first translation is the best because it was St. Jerome who completed this fantastic work a mere 300 or so years after Our Lord's death. To explain it in a simple manner, God the Father is foretelling not only the everlasting war between the first Eve, her children and Satan and those who live evil lives, but the new Eve - the Virgin Mary and the new Adam - Jesus, the Christ. Both Mary and Jesus are, in the natural sense, the seed of Adam and Eve. The new Eve shall differ from the first Eve in that she will not only possess grace but never lose it through sin. Jesus, the new Adam and the long-awaited Messiah, will make reparation for the sins of all mankind since the time of Adam, and Mary will become the spiritual mother of the Body of Christ, who are the seed of the first Eve.

Children's Bibles. Since all children's bibles change the language and omit many books (especially those of the Old Testament) to make understanding easier, a perfect way to assess them is to check how they present the story of Genesis, the Annunciation, and Jesus' institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. How words are phrased is important, and so was God's promise to Eve concerning the coming Redeemer. The same applies to the Annunciation - have the words been changed to alter the real meaning? As for the Last Supper, Jesus again shows Himself as both God and Man, foretells his forthcoming Passion, and institutes the Eucharist as His Body and Blood.

History

The Greenleaf Guide series, notably the Guide to the Old Testament and Guide to the Renaissance and Reformation, is a Warning Flag on the Pit List. Like many educational books published and/or written by "Bible only" believers, anything to do with the actual Bible or historical eras pitting Catholics against Protestants will not demonstrate historical accuracy. Those eras in which people separated from the Catholic Church will not just support the Protestant view but they also will not include the entire truth of history.

Greenleaf Guide to the Old Testament is taught from the Protestant Biblical view and therefore holds little respect for Tradition. In addition, the book theorizes on the actual dates of the Creation, the Genesis chronology, the Flood and other verses to prove a particular creationist view, found in various sects, concerning the actual age of the earth (the "young earth" vs. the "old earth" creationist theories). The creation debate is a controversial subject and one which might be too difficult for children to grasp. In any event, the debate over creation's age is not a matter of faith and morals, i.e., one doesn't need to believe when the earth was created by God in order to attain heaven, and so this emphasis in a book about the Old Testament may not have a place in a child's educational program.
Greenleaf Guide to the Renaissance and Reformation's entire foundation is based upon the belief that the Catholic Church became totally corrupt and remains totally corrupt. While it cannot be denied there were those among the Catholic clergy who deviated sinfully in regard to many matters, this particular guide extols Luther's increasing defiance of all the truths of the Faith. Luther was a priest who apostasized. Greenleaf focuses on the evils of individual men in the Church in order to denounce the Church itself (while at the same time glorifying Luther's increasing hostility concerning all Catholic doctrines and dogmas), confuses papal infallibility with impeccability, and omits clarifying the steps which many within the Church took to correct scandalous actions of the clergy.

Streams of Civilization, Volume One published by Christian Liberty Press does the same thing. Curiously, one chapter recognizes canonized saints of the Catholic Church who lived before the time of the Reformation, which might lead Catholics to believe this book will accurately (or at least, neutrally) report history. There is a section which includes two pages on "Three Dedicated Monks" - St. Benedictine, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and St. Francis of Assisi.

The text covers an unusual mixture of historical events and yet there are glaring omissions, which can confuse the unwary. However, accompanying pictures and a closer look will alert Catholics this is book replete with Warning Flags. The book includes etchings of Luther, the title pages of Luther's two most famous publications at the time, the Czech Bible , Huldreich Zwingli (founder of the Protestant reformation in Switzerland), and John Calvin. In addition, a shadow box draws special attention to Martin Luther's "sudden" realization that his good deeds, fasting, and confession would not earn him salvation, which led to the Protestant belief in "Justification by Faith alone." There is nothing similarly presented to clearly explain or support Catholic beliefs.

A History of the U.S. by Joy Hakim - This book seems to prove true my rule of thumb concerning educational texts, "If other groups rave about it, Catholics usually should avoid it." In no way presenting history in a balanced fashion, the author's own belief systems seep through in a distressing way. She redefines long-held definitions to match with her own politically correct views (e.g., a heretic is someone "who doesn't follow the party line") and, like others, distorts historical events to substantiate her own views.

History and Science textbooks published by A Beka or Bob Jones University Press

- The strong anti-Catholic bias that shows up in some history and science texts by these two protestant publishers is not necessarily evident at every grade level.

However, anti-Catholicism becomes more evident in the higher grade levels. For example, one of the books in Abeka's elementary history series lists the contributions of many famous people but ignore any missionaries or explorers who were Catholic. Some volumes of A Beka science books highlight Protestant leaders, such as Martin Luther, while again neglecting to specify any contributions made by Catholics.

United States History for Christian Schools, like other materials carried by Bob Jones University Press, is vehemently anti-Catholic and a good example of their skewed view of religious truth and history. This history book refuses to separate the wrongful actions of a person from their religion but only if the person under criticism was a Catholic. At the same time, those Catholics of moral distinction are overlooked or totally ignored.

Reading, Writing and Phonics

Learning Language Arts through Literature. (LLAL) This series receives raves from the nondenominational homeschool crowd and, unfortunately, the endorsement from a few Catholic home educators. It should be noted that anti-Catholic bias is clearly evident by the time one reaches the "Tan" colored book (each book in the LLAL series is specified by its color; the "Tan" book is intended for children about the age of 10 years). For example, the student reads and studies the works of Calvin, followed by the writing lesson wherein the student positively expounds on Calvin's merits and his "righteous" doctrines against the Catholic Church. In a similar fashion, the writings of others who railed against the truths upheld and taught by the Catholic Church are presented as works of literary merit. Again, the student's writing assignment reinforces anti-Catholicism.

Titles by G.A. Henty - This author is known for his works of historical fiction, of which many are popular with homeschoolers who like the "living books" approach. Catholic parents will find especially offensive one of Henty's works, St. Bartholomew's Eve - A Tale of the Huguenot Wars. Henty's version favors the Huguenots, who were the perpetrators of mass homicides of Catholic men, women and children. In truth, the subsequent retaliation against the Huguenots - another mass riot - was instigated by the Medici's and unfortunately blamed on a truly Catholic king. The hero of the story is the young lad Philip Fletcher, born in England but with French blood in his veins. Young Phillip sides with the Protestants, and Catholics are made to look entirely in the wrong.

Other Works Written by G.A. Henty include Winning His Spurs, A Tale of the Crusades;Wulf The Saxon: A Story of the Norman Conquest; Beric the Briton, A Story of the Roman Invasion; In Freedom's Cause, A Story of Wallace and Bruce; A Knight of The White Cross: A Tale of the Siege of Rhodes; Dragon and the Raven, Or the Days of King Alfred; The Young Carthaginian; and For the Temple: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem.

Sound Beginnings by Julia Fogassy

Intended as a reading, spelling, handwriting, phonics and listening program for kindergarten and up, Sound Beginnings was written by a Catholic homeschooling mother. Offering a step by step outline and daily lesson plans, this "Catholic" program is inherently flawed, as it recommends a 500+ page non-Catholic Bible reader. Modeled after the Spalding method, Sound Beginnings includes a 2,000 word spelling list with appropriate pronunciation helps, an audio tape, flash cards, notebook, parent manual, handwriting paper, worksheets, pencil and gripper. This program may become popular among the fundamentalist crowd because it will fit their "biblically based" description and copies the time-tested Spalding method. (Editor's Note: Some people feel the use of a Protestant bible, just as a supplement, is acceptable as long as one "doesn't use it for religion." The Church's response to that opinion is that it does not align itself with Church teaching, which clearly directs, "Religion must permeate the curriculum." (Militantis Ecclesia). The same encyclical also teaches that religion should "not be taught to youth only during certain hours, but the entire system of education must be permeated with the sense of Christian (Ed note: meaning Catholic) piety." Furthermore, �it is necessary that all the teaching and the whole organization of the school, and its teachers, syllabus and text-books in every branch, be regulated by the Christian (Ed Note: meaning Catholic) spirit, under the direction and maternal supervision of the Church; so that Religion may be in very truth be the foundation and crown of the youth's entire training; and this in every grade of school, not only the elementary, but the intermediate and the higher institutions of learning as well." (Divini Illius Magistri; in English, Christian Education of Youth, #80)

Titles by J.K. Rowlings - the "Harry Potter" Series - (for ages 9-12) Everyone in the secular world is "raving about Harry" - which ought to be a "Warning Flag" in and of itself. Those looking for literature or healthy reading will not find it in this trilogy (soon to become a "series" with a fourth book almost ready for release). Harry Potter (the dream child of J.K. Rowlings, a single divorced mother who writes these occult-like stories for a living), remains a highly controversial subject among homeschoolers.

There are all kinds of gruesome characters, like Nearly-Headless Nick, a ghost who is overwrought because he was rejected by the Headless Horsemen Club and bemoans the fact that he wasn't totally decapitated before he died, and the lady ghost who wants to commit suicide until she remembers she's already dead.

The most chilling scene, found in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (pp. 91-94) deals with the repotting of the "Mandrakes," literally "baby" plants that are used as a "powerful restorative," and which "return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state." The children, warned that the Mandrake's cry is always fatal to those who hear it, are instructed to wear earmuffs prior to a transplanting demonstration. The main character, Harry, doesn't undersand what his teacher, a witch by the name of Professor Sprout, means by the "Mandrake's cry" as he only sees plants lining the trays in the Herbology class' greenhouse. But Harry is taken aback in surprise as his teacher firmly grabs a plant and pulls it from its nest of earth.

"Instead of roots, a small, muddy, and extremely ugly baby popped out of the earth. The leaves were growing right out of his head. He had pale green, mottled skin, and was clearly bawling at the top of his lungs.
Professor Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and plunged the Mandrake into it, burying him in dark, damp compost until only the tufted leaves were visible. Professor Sprout dusted off her hands, gave them all the thumbs-up, and removed her own earmuffs...

"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet," she said calmly as though she'd just done nothing more exciting than water a begonia. "However, they will knock you out for several hours..."

The children proceed to transplant the remaining Mandrakes, and readers are treated to a repulsive description in which the children, not really concerned if what they are doing is morally right or wrong, are totally exhausted after struggling with the baby plants:

Their earmuffs were back on and they needed to concentrate on the Mandrakes. Professor Sprout had made it look extremely easy, but it wasn't. The Mandrakes didn't like coming out of the earth, but didn't seem to want to go back into it either. They squirmed, kicked, flailed their sharp little fists, and gnashed their teeth; Harry spent ten whole minutes trying to squash a particularly fat one into a pot.

By the end of the class, Harry, like everyone else, was sweaty, aching, and covered in earth. Everyone traipsed back to the castle for a quick wash and then the Gryffindors hurried off to Transfiguration.

This scene could very well by an allegory, one upon which many parents agree. The "baby-like" plant, the warning about its dangerous cry, the tearing from is nesting place into a compost pile, the struggles of the baby plant (which is also ugly and sports teeth) and the future plans to harvest the baby as a powerful antidote and restorative is extremely suggestive of abortion, fetal experimentation and fetal harvesting.

In addition to very graphic, disturbing and even macabre descriptive scenes, another problem with these books are the characters, who do not seem to improve morally over time.

Since Harry Potter and other characters employ the use "magic" in these books, there are those who have tried to liken them to some scenes found in the Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis or "The Hobbit" trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien (who was, incidentally, a Catholic). Lewis' and Tolkien's works are presented in a similiar fashion to "fairy tales," but they are, in truth, Christian allegories. The same cannot be said of J.K. Rowling's books.

The titles in the "Harry Potter" series by J.K. Rowlings include Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2), and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3). The fourth and newest book is scheduled for release in early July, 2000 and book companies are already taking orders.