Catholic High Schools and the Parish, Part Two: The Meddling Pastor?

In the old days, the pastor took responsibility for the Catholic education of the children in his parish through eighth grade.  After that (unless the parish also had its own high school) it was up to the various orders of brothers and nuns and priests who ran the Catholic high schools to take over this task.  Some Catholic high schools were better than others, some had better reputations for academics or athletics or all-around prestige, but few parents argued over whether their children were better trained in Catholicism at one Catholic high school versus another.  Brother Joseph died and was replaced by Brother Jonathan, Sister Mary Margaret finally turned the reins over to Sister Margaret Mary, but pastors and parents never bothered to check the religion teachers' credentials for teaching religion, to see if Sister Margaret Mary was more faithful to the Church than Sister Mary Margaret.

This scenario no longer exists, and yet two residual tendencies endure.  First, many Catholic high schools continue to expect pastors and parents to place unquestioning trust in the fidelity of their religion teachers and campus ministry staff.  (Just ask a few straightforward questions and poke around a bit and see how welcoming and open are the responses you receive.)   Second, many pastors themselves consider it rather impertinent to meddle in the affairs of the nearby Catholic high school.  Mind your own business.  And busyness.  There is enough occupying their attention around the parish for pastors not to stick their noses into another Catholic institution's business.

All of this is perfectly reasonable ... but who is overseeing the sound transmission of the Catholic faith to the high school students who, whether they know it or not, or like it or not, are still members of the parish and still under the pastoral care of their parents and their pastors?